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Zebre sign New Zealand No.8 Taina Fox-Matamua
By Kim Ekin
Italian URC side Zebre have strengthened their pack with the signing of New Zealand born No.8 Taina Fox-Matamua.
Born in Auckland the powerful backrow plays for Tasman Mako, a club that last year reached the final of the provincial Bunnings NPC top national championship before losing to rivals Waikato.
The 24-year-old has signed until June 2022 and will arrive in Parma in the coming weeks, and will help fill the void of the temporary absences of injured backrowers Johan Meyer and Jimmy Tuivaiti.
“I am very excited to join the Zebras and to give my contribution for this second half of the season," said Taina Fox-Matamua. "I can't wait to reach the splendid city of Parma and to take the field to represent the territory and its fans with honor ”.
Of Samoan heritage, Fox-Matamua grew up playing for Auckland's oldest side, the Ponsonby Rugby Club. After captaining St Peter's College as a schoolboy, he moved to the south island and enters the academy of the Crusaders.
The 6'3, 110kg forward then played for Nelson Marists with whom he won the provincial Tasman Trophy.
He made his Tasman Mako debut comes in 2018, a year after his call-up with the Samoan U20 national team chosen to prepare for the World Cup in Georgia. Since then, Taina has made 12 official appearances, becoming champion of the New Zealand provincial top league in 2019 and again in 2020.
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Go to commentsI’d take the Sharks, Stormers, Bulls, and Lions back in a second. Super Rugby Pacific is improving and the conference system sucked ass and never should have been implemented but if you think the quality of rugby is better without the South African franchises, you are kidding yourself.
And there is nothing authentic about Moana Pacifika, it is a sixth NZ franchise. Almost all of the players are NZ citizens, born and raised in NZ, were developed by NZ secondary schools and play in the NPC. The players just happen to be of Pacific heritage (just as there are a very large number of Pacific heritage players on the original five NZ franchises). Moana Pacifika is a marketing ploy for Auckland’s second SRP franchise.
Fiji Drua are legitimately a Pacific island team. Most players are born in Fiji, the players live and train in Fiji, and they play their home matches in Fiji.
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