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Montpellier plug the Pienaar gap by recruiting a Samoan from the Premiership

Kahn Fotuali'i makes his way onto the Twickenham field with a mascot in April for their Gallagher Premiership match versus Bristol (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Vern Cotter’s Montpellier have bolstered their scrum-half resources for next season by recruiting a Samoan from the English Premiership.

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The French club entered the off-season light on No9 options after the departure of Ruan Pienaar, most probably to the Cheetahs, the retirement of Julien Tomas and the likely World Cup call up of Georgia’s Gela Aprasidze. 

However, they have now moved to plug that gap with the recruitment on a one-year deal of Kahn Fotuali’i, the 37-year-old last capped by Samoa in 2017 who will head to France off the back of eight consecutive seasons playing in the UK.

He spent the past three at Bath, making 10 appearances in the English club’s most recent Premiership campaign under the now departed coach Todd Blackadder. Prior to that, Fotuali’i spent three seasons at Northampton and another two at Welsh region Ospreys in a British adventure that began in 2011. 

The Auckland-born, 31-cap Samoan half-back, who checks in at 94kgs, had four seasons of Super Rugby at the Crusaders as well as spells at Tasman and Hawkes Bay before opting to ply his trade in the northern hemisphere. 

Bath had announced on May 8 that Fotuali’i, first capped by Samoa in October 2010, was among a batch of 11 players departing The Rec this summer ahead of the team’s takeover by incoming director of rugby, Stuart Hooper.

Tongan Cooper Vuna, another of those departures, picked up a contract at Championship side Newcastle earlier this week. 

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Bath had described Fotuali’i as “a fantastic player, and a serious competitor who loves to win” when they signed him in June 2016. He went on to play 47 times in the Premiership for them, as well as making another 15 appearances in the Champions Cup. 

He said at the time when he joined: “They have an exciting, attacking ethos, which I’m looking forward to being part of, and I really like the focus that is put on individual development of players. You can always continue to learn as a player.”

That learning will now continue in France.

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J
JW 1 hour 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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