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Hulking Fijian Olympic Sevens gold medallist Kunatani on his way to Premiership

Fijian Sevens star Semi Kunatani. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

Harlequins have signed Fijian Olympic Games gold medal winner Semi Kunatani from Toulouse

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Kunatani was a member of the Fijian Sevens team that won the gold medal in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

He played in all six matches in the tournament and scored four tries in the final where Fiji defeated Great Britain by 43-7. He has also been capped the Fijian national team.

The 27-year-old, who is comfortable playing across the back row, joins the west London club from Toulouse where he has been based since the start of the 2015/16 season.

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Commenting on the signing, Harlequins Head of Rugby Paul Gustard said, “I am delighted to welcome Semi to the club.  He is a precocious talent and someone I have been watching for a considerable time.  I am confident that our exceptional supporters will relish watching him play and give him their support as he embarks on the next stage of his young career.

“Semi offers us something completely different to our other back row brothers and given the attritional nature of the playing position and impending international call-ups, his signing gives us much-needed depth and adds further quality to the squad.

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Speaking on his arrival from France, Semi Kunatani said, “I’m excited about joining Harlequins at the start of this new era for the club and looking forward to playing at The Stoop.   The club has many top players and this is a great opportunity for me to play with them and contribute to a successful team.”

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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