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The ex-Saracens scrum-half that left a 15-year-old Maro Itoje in awe
By Liam Heagney
An On This Day tweet from Saracens has prompted an outpouring of genuine affection from Maro Itoje for a long-gone Fijian scrum-half. Moses Rauluni spent six years at the London club, bowing out at the end of the 2009/10 season.
It was a moment from this campaign that Saracens celebrated on Friday, posting a picture of Rauluni from their May 2010 32-23 win over Leicester at Welford Road.
The snap from a bygone era was well received, England star Itoje soon commenting: “The first time I saw Moji, I was around 15/16 and I thought he was a hooker. Someone told me he was a 9 and I was like there is nooooo waayyyy a scrum-half can be that BIG!!!!”
Itoje’s admiration for the now retired 44-year-old who played 65 league games for Saracens was quickly endorsed by a number of the club’s other current figureheads.
Skipper Brad Barritt tweeted: “He is a beast. Banned from weights, gets too big and strong. Only cardio.”
Billy Vunipola and Alex Goode also had their say. Vunipola added “What a man” while Goode tweeted “Mr Brisbane pal” in recognition of the Suva-born Fijian international’s upbringing in Australia.
That late-season 2010 win at table-topping Leicester helped Saracens to finish third and make the playoffs, something of a rare occrrence for them at that time.
However, while they defeated Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens in the following weekend’s semi-final, they couldn’t repeat their success over Leicester as they lost out in the final at Twickenham to the Tigers on a 33-27 scoreline.
That was the showpiece which Brendan Venter spent sat at home in St Albans babysitting his son as he was serving a ten-week touchline suspension and a one-match Twickenham ban at the time.
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Latest Comments
Neither can Razor. Must suck having your best days behind you.
Go to commentsI didn't think ARG's 1st yellow was a card at all, not even a penalty. The Irish player was lower than the tackler & actually raised his height, thus causing the head clash in my opinion. As we know, not all head clashes are foul play & for me, this was such an instance. And a double blow for ARG was that they had a legit try erroneously ruled out. A poor standard of officiating by Williams, & TMO.
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