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Exeter confirm midfield signing despite Super Rugby injury setback

Tamati Tua has joined Exeter from the Brumbies (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images for Super Rugby)

Rob Baxter has bolstered Exeter with the signing of Brumbies’ Tamati Tua for the 2024/25 season, as per July’s RugbyPass exclusive transfer story. However, Chiefs fans will have to wait a while before the Super Rugby Pacific recruit is available for selection as he arrived in England with a neck injury that will need an operation.

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A statement read: “Exeter Chiefs have added powerful centre and former Junior All Black, Tamati Tua, to their ranks ahead of the 2024/25 season. The talented New Zealander makes the switch to the Gallagher Premiership from Australian Super Rugby side ACT Brumbies, for whom he made 31 appearances and scored five tries.

“Growing up in Kaitaia in north New Zealand, he started his rugby journey at a young age before his senior career began in 2016 with Northland, the National Provincial Championship side.

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“Following strong performances in over 60 appearances, his talent was recognised by Super Rugby Blues, who gave him his debut in 2018 against the Crusaders. Moving to the Brumbies in 2023, he formed a deadly partnership with Len Ikitau in the backline.”

Baxter said: “People will be aware that centre is a position that we have had great strength in over a number of years. Through age, and players moving on, that is slowly changed in terms of experience.

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“We have got some great young players in that position now with guys like Zack Wimbush, Ben Hammerlsey and Tommy Wyatt being able to play there, and a guy like Nick Lilley who has played England age-grades.

“So, we have got good players but they are younger and slightly inexperienced, so it’s an area we have been wanting to strengthen. We had a really good look at Tamati as he was playing very well for ACT Brumbies – he played right through to the late stages of the season – with him being one of their stand-out players.

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“Unfortunately, he has arrived with a neck issue which he picked up towards the end of last season’s campaign, so we are now in a position where we have had to address that and it’s likely that he will need an operation shortly which will require a period of rehab.

“So, unfortunately he is going to miss the start of the season for us, but we are very confident he will be back on the pitch fairly early in the season and will be a player that will bring an awful lot to how we want to play, both in attack and defence.”

Tua added: “I have always wanted to play overseas, and I had heard good things about the club from coaches and boys that had played in the Premiership before. I’m excited to be here and I’d like to do what I can to help to get more trophies in the cabinet.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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