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Leone Nakarawa closing in on a return to Glasgow - reports

Leone Nakarawa has headed home to Fiji after clearing his locker at Racing (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Star Fijian lock Leone Nakarawa is reportedly on the verge of a sensational return to his former club Glasgow Warriors, according to French media.

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Nakarawa was sacked by Top 14 club Racing 92 after he returned from the World Cup in Japan two weeks late, with a statement from the club slating the 62-test international for setting “deplorable example” for his now-former teammates.

Widely regarded as one of the world’s premier second rowers, Nakarawa’s newfound free agency has spurred interest from clubs around the globe.

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However, French newspaper Midi Olympique reported on Monday that the Glasgow managing director Nathan Bombrys has made contact with the 2016 Olympic gold medallist while in France for the Warriors’ Champions Cup victory against La Rochelle on Saturday.

An approach has allegedly been made for Nakarawa to return to his former club, of whom he played 69 times for between 2013 and 2016, and Midi Olympique are reporting that the 2018 European Player of the Year has verbally accepted the offer to move back to Scotland.

Premiership side Sale were thought to be interested bringing the 31-year-old to England, but their director of rugby Steve Diamond ruled them out of the race to acquire his signature over the weekend.

Premiership rivals Wasps are also believed to be chasing Nakarawa’s services, as are Top 14 club Bayonne – who Midi Olympique claims have offered a six-month contract which would commence on January 1 – and the one-time Super Rugby champion Waratahs.

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Rugby.com.au reported on Saturday that while the Waratahs wouldn’t be able to match the financial sums thrown Nakarawa’s way by European clubs, it is believed that the three-time World Cup attendee is interested in testing himself in Super Rugby, a competition of which he has never played in.

Moving to Australia to play in the 2020 Super Rugby competition would then pave the way for Nakarawa to return to the northern hemisphere in August ahead of the 2020-21 domestic campaign.

Given his damaging offloading ability and impressive athleticism that few forwards worldwide possess, it’s no surprise to see that Nakarawa is a man in demand across the planet.

Since his departure from Racing 92, the Paris-based club have been left short on locking options, with only35-year-old Irish international Donnacha Ryan, former All Black Dominic Bird and young Frenchman Boris Palu left as their primary second row options.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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