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Leinster set to lose Samoan international Michael Ala'alatoa

04 Nov 2023

Michael Ala'alatoa, left, and Andrew Porter of Leinster during the Heineken Champions Cup Pool A Round 2 match between Leinster and Gloucester at the RDS Arena in Dublin. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Leinster prop Michael Ala’alatoa is reportedly set to leave the province for French club Clermont next summer.

According to L’Equipe, Ala’alatoa has agreed to join the Top 14 team and is expected to depart from Leinster at the conclusion of this season.

The 32-year-old player has recently resumed playing for Leinster after representing Samoa in the Rugby World Cup. Samoa exited the competition during the pool stage after a mixed performance against Chile, England, Argentina, and Japan.

CJ Stander speaks about the value Jacques Nienaber will add to Leinster

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CJ Stander speaks about the value Jacques Nienaber will add to Leinster

News of Ala’alatoa’s negotiations with Clermont emerged last week, culminating in his reported two-year agreement with the French club.

The 6’3″, 126kg tighthead, who had extended his contract with Leinster in March, will complete his current season with the Irish province before the anticipated move.

The Samoan international initially joined Leinster in 2021 after departing from New Zealand Super Rugby side Crusaders and has since been a pivotal presence for the team, notably featuring in both Champions Cup final defeats to La Rochelle.

He made his Super Rugby debut for the Waratahs in 2014 and moved to the Crusaders in 2016. He played over 90 times for the club and won three Super Rugby titles as well as a Super Rugby Aotearoa championship.

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Andrew Nichols 1 hour ago

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Taylah Johnson doubling down on her strange assertion that the Aussie test players were outperforming NZs using the risible example of Rieko Ioane, follows up with opposing a kiwi born kid being eligible for the ABs and who wants to be an AB. Mmm Time to consider a new job?

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Lomax75 1 hour ago

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More rubbish from incompetent commentators…destroying super rugby for N.Z rugby fans…does she think heartland N.Z don’t know or understand rugby ?

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CO 1 hour ago

Kyren Taumoefolau All Blacks stance splits opinions on eligibility

Kyren Taumoefolau is born and bred in New Zealand, of course he should be eligible for the Allblacks. Technically he was poached by Tonga.

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BA 2 hours ago

Kyren Taumoefolau All Blacks stance splits opinions on eligibility

Play for whoever give all the pathways for young players to succeed rugby community help Tonga Samoa sort out there unions and get their players in a position where they can play and get rid of eligibility stand down

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YeowNotEven 2 hours ago

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Cullen grace seems to me like an old leathery veteran and he’s barely in his mid 20s

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YeowNotEven 2 hours ago

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Sux DuPont got hurt but it was a normal rugby incident. It’s a contact sport, accidents will happen, people get hurt.

We don’t need to go all Jan 6th with outrage every time someone breaks something or gets their head bumped.

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PT 3 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

The truth can sometimes sting a bit, so I fully understand your delusional take on it. Also, I'm sure you'd be aware of the list of opposition players Irish players have injured with this? To be clear, I don't believe the Irish players are trying to intentionally injure opposition players, certainly not. But they are reckless in a lot of their ‘clearing out’ maneuvers and tactics, therefore causing injuries to opposition players. I suppose they don't do it at training so they don't injure each other, but it really does appear to be repetitive aspect of their play.

So, why don't you get some batteries for your noddy train & go play for a while.

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BH 3 hours ago

'There's a lot of rugby knowledge': David Havili's reasoning behind in-form backline

Your hatred for ALB is borderline trolling at this point. He’s proven himself at test level for years.

Ennor is done and dusted. Too injury prone for years and years. Proctor is a better choice.

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BH 3 hours ago

'There's a lot of rugby knowledge': David Havili's reasoning behind in-form backline

Tele’a scored some wonderful tries on the end of year tour against England and Italy and played well against Ireland.

Reece is the liability at test level - he was shown up big time against France.

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PS 4 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

What you're asking for is an explanation for why the officials and citing officials don't make the same judgements on specific incidents as you do. What explanation can be given other than something along the lines of “the incident wasn't judged to have met the criteria for an illegal tackle”? What other explanation do you expect? Refs now give explanations for why an incident is judged to be illegal and why an illegal action may result in a card. If a card, or a penalty is not awarded. The only explanation possible is that there's no evidence of foul play. A coaching team can (and often do) seek clarity from the officials and WR on specific incidents in a game and they are free to share the outcome of such questions with fans. You should turn to the French coaching team for answers. The French coaching team should have raised any concerns in the appropriate channels instead of publicly accusing players of intentionally trying to injure another player. This incident has left a very sour taste and created a lot of bad blod

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JH 4 hours ago

Sky Sports commentator on why Wallabies players are outplaying All Blacks counterparts

““Rieko Ioane has struggled to find form in Super Rugby. We know what he can do at Test level, on the wing I’ll add that”

Exactly, and that was years ago now. Rieko is a liability with a seriously limited skillset, especially for a 13. Frankly, every opponent is outplaying him. He’ll still make the ABs though, every player over 50 caps will, because we don’t drop ‘leadership group’ players apparently.

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PS 4 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

I agree with your last sentence. In addition, I would like to add that I also wish you a speedy recovery from whatever made you write the first two sentences.

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Poorfour 5 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

I’m not looking for special treatment for anybody. If anything, I’m looking to dispel the perception that some teams are treated more leniently than others.

For instance, compare the tackle that ultimately earned Owen Farrell from the RWC warm ups with the one that only earned Eben Etzebeth a YC from head contact with Atonio in the QF. I have yet to see any reasonable justification for why two near-identical incidents (with Farrell’s if anything having the greater mitigation) produced totally different judgements.

Rugby has a long and inglorious history of dismissing these incidents without providing any explanation - remember the spear tackle on BOD on the 2005 Lions tour?

If Beirne wasn’t reckless, then he and Ireland should have nothing to fear, but the game benefits from having a clear explanation of why.

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Chiefs Mana 5 hours ago

Sky Sports commentator on why Wallabies players are outplaying All Blacks counterparts

She’s talking more about individuals, i couldn’t agree more with you though from a team perspective.

Aussies also have the motivation of a Lions series to fuel them through and a lot of wide open spaces in the WB team.

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Leinster set to lose Samoan international Michael Ala'alatoa

CJ Stander speaks about the value Jacques Nienaber will add to Leinster

CJ Stander speaks about the value Jacques Nienaber will add to Leinster

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