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Goneva admits he's 'slowly winding down'

Vereniki Goneva. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Vereniki Goneva has bid farewell to the Gallagher Premiership ahead of his move to Stade Montois in France.

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The Fijian announced last month that he will be joining the Pro D2 club, bringing his season with Harlequins to an end, as well as his eight years in England.

The 36-year-old joined Leicester Tigers in 2012 and won the Premiership in his first season, starting and scoring in the final against Northampton Saints. The following season he was named the Rugby Players Association players’ player of the year.

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He made the move to Newcastle Falcons in 2016, but their relegation in the 2018/19 season signalled the end of his time at Kingston Park as he joined Harlequins.

As is the case with many other players, Goneva’s contract with the southwest London side would have expired recently, allowing him to head to the south of France in preparation for the beginning of their season in September.

With the curtain drawn on his career in England, Goneva shard this message on social media:
“Thankful and very Grateful for all the opportunities that was given to me, being able to display God-given talent with other great talented boys, great clubs, great coaches and supporters throughout my Time in Premiership rugby.”

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Having been absent at the beginning of the season while playing for Fiji at the Rugby World Cup, and after having the second half of the season severely disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Goneva’s time at the Stoop may not have been as glittering as his time at Leicester or Newcastle, but that was out of his control.

With a Test career that began in 2007, the 59-cap Fijian admitted that he is “slowly winding down”, but will still bring class to whomever he plays for; few players have dazzled the Premiership in the way he did, weaving through defences with the ball in one hand.

As things have transpired, Goneva’s last Harlequins performance was a 41-14 win over Saracens in January, but he finishes his time in England with 58 Premiership tries, 14th on the all-time list.

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AM 8 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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