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Yorkshire snap up reinforcements from the Mitre 10 Cup, including a former NZ 7s star
By Alex Shaw
Yorkshire Carnegie have been given a boost after a dismal start to their Greene King IPA Championship season, with the addition of two Mitre 10 Cup players from New Zealand.
Yorkshire currently sit bottom of English rugby’s second tier, with just one win from their opening seven games. It has been a stark fall from grace for the former Gallagher Premiership side, although the club’s current injury crisis is firmly behind their lowly position so far this season.
The club will be hoping that the additions of Antonio Kiri Kiri and Jade Te Rure from the Manawatu Turbos can help turnaround their season.
Te Rure, a former New Zealand U20 and Scottish-qualified fly-half, returns to Europe after a short stint at Edinburgh between 2014 and 2016. Unfortunately for Te Rure, that time at Edinburgh was plagued by knee injuries and he never really had the opportunity to leave his mark on the Guinness PRO14 side.
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Kiri Kiri, a former New Zealand 7s representative and back row forward, will bring a dynamism to Yorkshire’s loose forward trio. He had been involved in the Blues’ preseason Super Rugby training camp earlier this year and has been a consistent force for Manuwatu in the Mitre 10 Cup Championship.
Director of rugby Chris Stirling was unsurprisingly pleased with the two additions to his squad, saying, “We are delighted to have attracted two players of the quality of Jade and Antonio. A great deal of work has been done in the last six months to develop our playing squad and it is nice to be able to begin the process of bringing those players in.”
“I would like to thank our board of directors for backing the vision for the team and I am sure Jade and Antonio will make a real impact in the coming months with Yorkshire Carnegie.”
Given Yorkshire lost their last match, 72-5, to London Irish, Stirling will be hoping that that impact comes sooner, rather than later, and that Te Rure and Kiri Kiri aren’t the last additions Yorkshire make this season.
Watch: James Lowe reflects on Leinster's stunning 52-3 victory over Wasps in the Heineken Champions Cup.
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Latest Comments
Reiko should be the dual winger guy as he should be used to playing either side given he's had to do both at 13 (pass and step left/right).
Maybe he has such a bad preference that that's why he's not a good center?
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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