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Jordan Taufua decides his immediate playing future and it will be in France

(Photo by Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)

Former Leicester Tigers’ back row Jordan Taufua will be remaining in France after extending his stay with Lyon in the Top 14.

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Taufua left Welford Road in January, just six months after a long-running row with the club over salary cuts, was settled.  The row saw a number of players leave the club, although the management initially managed to convince Taufua to stay.

He joined Lyon as a medical joker, a replacement for the injured Matthieu Bastareaud.  In March Taufua was ruled out for the rest of the season after a tear in the left pectoral muscle, which has since been operated on.

He has now signed a new deal that will see him stay in Lyon for a further two years – Midi Olympique report.

A former Under-20s cap with both Samoa and New Zealand, Taufua played against the British and Irish Lions with the Crusaders in 2017 and also represented the Barbarians before being called into the All Blacks squad in 2018. He was never capped though, missing out due to injury. The Auckland-born back row has since said he would be interested in representing Samoa.

Noted for his physicality in the back-row positions, the 29-year-old made more than 80 appearances in Super Rugby since 2013 as well as playing club rugby with Tasman, Canterbury and Counties Manukau.

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AM 42 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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