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Bristol statement: The signing of Viliame Mata

Viliame Mata in action with Fiji (Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images)

Pat Lam’s Bristol have won the race to recruit Fiji No8 Viliame Mata for next season. The Pacific Islander is currently playing his eighth season with Edinburgh in the URC, but he is now a confirmed signing for the Gallager Premiership.

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A statement read: “Fijian back row sensation Viliame ‘Bill’ Mata will join Bristol Bears from Edinburgh ahead of the 2024/25 season. The 32-year-old, one of the game’s most exciting superstars, was a standout player at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, scoring against England in the quarter-final.

“Mata, who stands at 6ft 5ins and weighs in at 125kg, was nominated for EPCR player of the year and named Guinness PRO14 players’ player of the year in 2018/19 and won Olympic Gold with Fiji at Rio 2016.

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Sam Warburton on Leinster and Jacques Nienaber

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Sam Warburton on Leinster and Jacques Nienaber

“Big Bill has made more than 100 appearances for Edinburgh, becoming the first non-Scottish qualified player to become a club centurion.”

Bristol director of Rugby Lam, said: “Viliame is one of the most powerful and exciting back row players in the game, so we are delighted to be bolstering our forward pack with a player of his world-class calibre next season.

“While he is destructive and brings gain line on both sides of the ball, he also possesses the passing/offloading skills and experience that will add real value to our team.

“His performances as a centurion for Edinburgh and at the recent Rugby World Cup in France for Fiji showcased his experience and ability at the top level. We are pleased to be bringing him to the Bears and the Premiership next season.”

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Mata added: “I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Bristol Bears next season. I’m excited for the challenge of playing for a different team, in a different environment and a different league.”

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Sumkunn Tsadmiova 304 days ago

The Pat Lam charitable retirement home for ageing Pacific Islanders. With a nice sideline in buying up props then stalling all their scrummaging ability to cost England RWC’s. When relegation is re-introduced they can vie with Newcastle for the trapdoor. And all on Stephen Lansdown’s chequebook.

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Tom 304 days ago

Great player but Bristol already have a lot of explosive power players. They really lack ballast. They have a lot of lightweight players and the heavy guys are mostly power guys like Genge, Sinckler, Vakatawa. They need some big gnarly grunts to glue it together. Mata would be a great signing for any other team but Bristol keep spending big on the type of player they already have.

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AM 11 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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