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Glasgow

CONFIRMED: Glasgow sign powerhouse ball carrying Italian backrow

Samuela Vunisa

Glasgow Warriors have signed Italy international back-rower Samuela Vunisa from Saracens.

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The soon to be former Saracen joins on a two-year deal, pending a visa and medical.

According to the club website Fijian-born Vunisa qualified for Italy through residency and has gone on to play 11 times for the Azzurri and was a member of their 2015 Rugby World Cup squad.

Capable of playing across the back-row and renowned for his hard ball carrying, Vunisa began his playing career in New Zealand playing for Taranaki in the Mitre 10 Cup.

Speaking with glasgowwarriors.org, Vunisa said: “It’s really exciting, I enjoyed my time in the PRO12 before and I can’t wait to get started with the Warriors.

“Glasgow has made a name for themselves. Winning the PRO12 and reaching the Quarter Finals in Europe shows that on and off the field it’s a great club and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.

“Dave Rennie is a world class coach, he is respected in New Zealand and across the world. I’m looking forward to working with him as I know he’ll get the best out of me.”

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Comments on RugbyPass

j
johnz 13 minutes ago
All Blacks talk late-game adjustments after clutch England win

I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.


Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.

11 Go to comments
C
ColinK 13 minutes ago
Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

Whatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.

1 Go to comments
j
johnz 21 minutes ago
All Blacks talk late-game adjustments after clutch England win

Ratima did look rattled, compared to Roigard who looked like a boss when he came on. But that's been Roigard in test rugby so far. Ratima is only really starting because of Roigard's injury, otherwise surely Roigard was the incumbent. So it's not just one outing of the pine, that just points to Roigard being ready to have a start. As good as Ratima has been, Roigard just offers more.

11 Go to comments
G
GL 1 hour ago
How surprise opportunities led Harry Plummer to debut for All Blacks

Cody Taylor is a more significant loss than BB, not even close!

1 Go to comments
J
JD 1 hour ago
'I never heard from Gatland... It kills me to this day'

Won't see a player like him nor, hopefully, an arsehole like him either. Odious kant.

22 Go to comments
C
CO 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I agree largely and I rate McKenzie as a wonderful utility at his best but now at twenty nine I wouldn't take him to the next world cup. I've never seen him as a a ten or a starter either at top tier test level. The bench needs a serious rethink with ideally a hybrid halfback/wing or a hybrid halfback/ten or a hybrid ten/centre to release that need for two relatively small guys on the bench.

32 Go to comments
R
RW 1 hour ago
“He’s given Connacht everything” – Bundee Aki’s future, and an exciting tactical innovation

Starting a go fund me for Bundee to Leinster 😜

3 Go to comments
C
CO 1 hour ago
How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Unbelievable, the penalty count was so lopsided in last week's first half I'm certain the conspiracy theorists have already had a field day.

25 Go to comments
J
JWH 1 hour ago
How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Good idea, but to move a lock to 6 now with no previous experience save Scott Barrett (who is still our best lock) ahead of the 2nd best equal team in the world may cause more harm than good in terms of confidence, in both caoches and players.


Re lineout options, the ABs have the most innovative lineout in the world, with FOUR lineout options (Barrett, Vaai, Sititi, Savea), compared to Irelands maybe 2 (Beirne and Ryan). ABs will absolutely cause issues at the lineout, and definitely at scrum time. Those Irish props eat to much salad compared to our boys 💪

25 Go to comments
J
JWH 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I never said boring was bad, but it doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with the ABs style. The ABs 10 looks like this: a little magic, good offloads, tactical precision kicking, draw and pass, and a cool head to level it off.


A game manager isn't exactly necessary, as the ABs should all know what they are doing, and the 9 should be directing the forwards. However, considering the youth of our best 9s currently, a more vocal, directive, and logical player like Harry Plummer would make more sense than someone like DMac, who is in his own right a good 10, but tends to sit in wider channels where he can threaten the line more directly, so has less influence on the postioning of the narrower forwards.

32 Go to comments
K
Kia koe 1 hour ago
How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Yep yep I agree

25 Go to comments
I
Icefarrow 2 hours ago
The ‘unsung hero’ who helped All Blacks’ bench make a telling difference

B-but all the armchair critics tell me he's useless and does little for the team but get penalised... This simply cannot be!

2 Go to comments
T
Thomas K 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

So you think you’d definitely have scored way more tries if it wasn’t for all the off the ball shots? 🤣🤣

8 Go to comments
M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 2 hours ago
How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.

Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.

Give the conspiracy theorists a win.

25 Go to comments
S
SK 2 hours ago
England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit

England played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ

10 Go to comments
M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 2 hours ago
How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Good back row… If Ethan can stay injury free for more than 20 minutes.

Someone once theorised that Ethan always gets injured because he bulked up and isn’t playing at a natural weight.

I’d really like to know if there’s science behind that theory.

Or maybe he’s was just taking a dump when the good lord was handing out the good luck.

25 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Agreed, I'm getting sick of poor field position that's been created with little dink kicks, etc. Need to go back to really working hard to be inside the opposition half.

32 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Boring can be good, need guys like that. Cam Smith for the Melbourne storm springs to mind. I know it's a different sport but pivots with the knack to setup and strategize can be highly effective combined with lethal finishers and line breakers.

32 Go to comments
S
SC 2 hours ago
How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

And who covers fly half if Damain gets injured with your 6-2 bench?

25 Go to comments
M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 2 hours ago
How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

True enough, but the articles are about the current teams so recent history and players are major factors, historic results are not particularly relevant.

It’s to give a current overview of this time and place, not a historical one.

(It does annoy me a bit when they do it in the NRL talking about the same season so I get what you mean.)

None of the 1905 teams will be playing this weekend.

2016 was also when the narrative changed. (I would argue it changed in 2013).

25 Go to comments
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LONG READ “He’s given Connacht everything” – Bundee Aki’s future, and an exciting tactical innovation “He’s given Connacht everything” – Bundee Aki’s future, and an exciting tactical innovation
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