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Leone Nakarawa still in Fiji as PRO14 restarts but Glasgow insist it isn't the Racing situation repeated

By PA
(Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)

Glasgow will be without Leone Nakarawa for their Guinness PRO14 return to action against Edinburgh. The Fiji international will miss both of this month’s derby fixtures at Murrayfield after being allowed permission to remain in his homeland for parental leave.

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The 32-year-old played two games before the lockdown after returning to Warriors halfway through the season and signed a one-year contract in June, but was always scheduled to stay in Fiji until some time in August.

The return of Nakarawa has not been finalised and new Glasgow head coach Danny Wilson confirmed he would not be available for Saturday’s encounter or the second part of the double-header six days later.

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Former Scotland international Alex Grove guests on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

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Former Scotland international Alex Grove guests on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

Wilson said: “What happened with Leone, his wife was due at the end of July. He has been in Fiji and we gave him that grace to spend a little bit of extra time with his family, his wife and their first baby.

“On top of that, the first flight out of Fiji was this week because flights have been locked down in Fiji. So we are in the process of getting him back. With all these boys, they have to have the relevant time to return to rugby to be safe.”

The forward was sacked by Racing 92 in December following his late return from the World Cup but Wilson is relaxed about the return plans for the former European player of the season. “I don’t foresee any issues,” he said. “For the right reasons, we have given that grace like you would do with anybody to spend time with your family when needed during these milestone events.”

Glasgow will also be without centre Kyle Steyn (hamstring) and prop Aki Seiuli (broken thumb), while full-back presents a selection poser for the new Warriors head coach.

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Tommy Seymour moved from the wing to play at 15 on a number of occasions last season following Stuart Hogg’s departure and Ruaridh Jackson has retired since lockdown commenced.

Glenn Bryce is still training with the club but is yet to sign a new contract, while 20-year-old summer signing Rufus McLean can play at full-back and also on the wing. “It was never the plan not to have an out-and-out full-back,” Wilson said.

“It was obviously post-Covid we were hit with the restrictions we had. We were looking to sign a full-back and that unfortunately didn’t happen, so we have looked at that in a slightly different way. Without giving too much away you might see a little bit of a surprise at full-back, something that we have been working on.”

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J
JW 44 minutes 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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