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'My old man was keen for me to go and play for Samoa, but he knew it wasn't for the best'

Otago's Aki Seiuli is heading to Glasgow before the end of 2019 (Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

Across the paddock, Aki Seiuli and Siua Halanukonuka locked eyes for a barely a beat, a fleeting look that heralded the gleeful, unremitting destruction these two monstrous specimens were about to visit upon the British and Irish Lions.

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With eight minutes of a sensational back-and-forth contest in Dunedin left, their Highlanders trailed by two points. The tourists had a scrum deep in their own territory, wide on the left flank. The home pack was tired, but they reckoned the Lions were worse.

Down the big men went. The forwards grasped each other then crashed together like rutting stags. Seiuli seized his moment. Steeling his huge frame, the loosehead surged forward, buckling Dan Cole and propelling his pack in an irrepressible navy tsunami. Cole, the great rock of the Leicester and England front row, was mangled like a twig underfoot. 

Penalty Highlanders. Dreadlocks sprouting over his headband, Seiuli roared like he had just run in a try from 80 metres. Marty Banks, a slight, mop-headed cult hero in those parts of South Island, banged over the match-winning goal. The killer blow forged by the behemoths, Seiuli and Halanukonuka – a near-quarter-ton of unstoppable Pacific Islands beef.

“I remember looking at Siua and we were looking at the posts, we knew we were in kicking range,” Seiuli told RugbyPass about that thunderous set-piece back in June 2017. “We were all pumped up for that scrum and we got that penalty. We knew Marty was going to get it.

(Continue reading below…)

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“It wasn’t a pre-planned shove; it was just one of those natural instincts. I kept joking with Marty that I asked him before the scrum if he wanted the penalty or not!

“The build-up to that game was awesome. We had people coming in who had beaten the Lions telling us about their experiences, seeing the town flow with more people, heaps of Lions fans, you could feel that atmosphere building into that game from the start of the week. It’s definitely up there as my No1 career moment.”

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Seiuli and Halanukonuka will be pulverising together again soon, not in Dunedin or on the arduous Super Rugby circuit, but half the world away in Glasgow. Halanukonuka has spent two years here already and is signed up for two more when he gets back from Tonga’s World Cup adventure. 

 

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Seiuli is the latest recruit of Dave Rennie’s Warriors, a bristling carrier of the ball who ought to fit seamlessly into his new team’s high-tempo strategy. “Siua and I were together when the Highlanders were doing well under Tony Brown,” explained the 26-year-old, who has played all of his professional rugby in Otago.

“He compared Glasgow to that and said it was pretty similar in how they like to play a fast-paced game, and that everyone just gets on really well in the environment. I was pretty keen after that.”

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Seiuli has long desired to play overseas. A dreadful anterior cruciate ligament injury last October meant he played no Super Rugby in 2019 and with his contract expiring, this was the perfect time to go.

He got back playing for Otago in the provincial Mitre 10 Cup last month – a rung below Super Rugby, but still a storied and prestigious competition in New Zealand – and will arrive in Glasgow when his side’s part in the tournament is done, likely in late October or early November.

“Rugby’s not going to be there forever. Using rugby to explore the world was one of my goals. Glasgow gave me an offer and it was too good to turn down. I want to go see the world and I love meeting new people.”

Were it not for the heinous blow of that knee injury, Seiuli could also be out in Japan just now. Although born and raised in New Zealand, his parents are Samoan, each having emigrated in their late teens in search of better work and more prosperous lives.

Steve Jackson, the Samoa coach, would have had him in his World Cup training squad. Seiuli longed to go, but thrusting his newly-recovered knee into a tumultuous camp was too great a risk, showcasing himself to the rugby world in anything but his finest light too big a worry.

“With my knee, I didn’t know if I was ready to go from a serious injury to playing, and then potentially playing on the world stage,” he said. “I thought it was best for me to slowly build into that and focus on Glasgow – getting my injury right, getting back on the field and playing Mitre 10.

“Then once I get to Glasgow, I should be ready for that. But the Samoa coaches respected that. My old man was pretty supportive, he was keen for me to go and play for them, but he knew it wasn’t for the best. It was a brave decision but hopefully I’ll get to the stage where I can play for Samoa again if the opportunity comes up.”

Rennie will not want for looseheads this season. Oli Kebble, the humungous South African, was his brilliant premier option last season, a titan in the set-piece and footballing juggernaut around the field. Alex Allan brings zip and soft handling in open play and young Charlie Capps and George Thornton have arrived eager to upset the pecking order.

Seiuli is wonderfully unique among his new team-mates and rivals. He has the immense power of a prop with the dynamism, pace and handling of a nimble back row. His strides are rapid, like a bloke who is constantly navigating his way through a speed ladder, and he wrenches his 118kg bulk from left to right with serious agility.

“I like to have the ball in hand and carry, I like fast-paced rugby, and while you have got to know your core roles as a prop with the set-piece, I also like to get the ball in hand and try to create a bit of razzle,” he continued.

“I’ve had a talk to Dave Rennie a couple of times and he told me all about that stuff, what I can bring. I’m happy to get in there and work hard and try and make something out of it, whether it’s starting, off the bench or not even in the team, I’m just happy to be in the environment and bring a bit of edge.”

Brutality in the tight, “razzle” on the open prairie. The results this season should be fun.

WATCH: Neil Back recalls England’s 2003 World Cup triumph in the opening episode of Rugby World Cup Memories, the new RugbyPass series 

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Eliza Galloway 1 hour ago
Geoff Parling: An Englishman roasting the Lions?

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JW 1 hour ago
James O'Connor, the Lions and the great club v country conundrum

Lol you need to shoot your editor for that headline, even I near skipped the article.


France simply need to go to a league format for the Brennus, that will shave two weekends of pointless knockout rugby from their season and raise the competitions standards and mystique no end.


The under age loophole is also a easy door to shut, just remove the lower age limit. WR simply never envisioned a day were teams would target people under the age of 17 or whatever it is now, but much like with Rassie and his use of subs bench, that day was obviously always going to come. I can’t remember how football does it, I think it’s the other way around with them, you can’t sign anyone younger than that but unions can’t stop 17 or 18 yo’s from leaving for a pro club if they want to. There is a transaction that takes place of a few hundred thousand for a normal average player. I’d prefer rugby to be stricter and just keep the union bodies signoff being required.


What really was their problem with Kite and co leaving though? Do we really need a game dominated by Internationals? I even think WR’s proposed calendar might be a bit too much, with at minimum 12 top tier games being played in the World Championship. I think 10 to 12, maybe any one player playing 10 of those 12 is the best way to think of it, for every international team is max, so that they can allow their domestic comps to shine if they want, and other nations like Japan and Fiji can, even some of the home nations maybe, and fill out their calendar with extra tours if they like them as a way to make money. As it is RA don’t have as good a pathway system, so they could simply buy back those players if they turn good. Are they worried they’ll be less likely to? We wait for baited breath for the new season to be laid out in front of us by WR.

It could impose sanctions on the Fédération Française de Rugby, but the body which runs the Top 14 and the ProD2, the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, is entirely independent.

It’s not independent at all. The LNR is a body under, and commissioned by, the FFR (and Government control) to mediate the clubs. FFR can simply install a new club competition if they don’t listen, then you’d see whether the players want to stay at any club who doesn’t tow the line and move to the new competition, as they obviously wouldn’t fall under the auspice of world rugby. They would be rebels, which is fine in and upon itself, but they would isolate themselves from the rest of the game and would need to be OK with that. I have no doubt whatsoever that clubs would have to and want to fall in line to remain part of the EPCR and French rugby. Probably even the last thing they would want is to compete with another French domestic competition that has all the advantages they don’t.


All those players would do good for a few seasons in France, especially the fringe ones, with thankfully zero risk of them being poached if they turn good. New Zealand had a turn at keeping all of it’s talent, and while it upticked the competitiveness of the Super Rugby teams into a total dominance of Australian and South African counterparts (who were suffering more heavily than most the other way at that stage), it didn’t have as positive an effect on the next step up as ensuring young talents development is not hindered does. Essentially NZR flooded the locate market with players but inevitably it didn’t think the local economy could sustain any more pro teams itself, so now we are seeing a normal amount of exodus for the availability of places again. Are Australia in exactly the same footing? I think so, finances where dicey for a while perhaps but I doubt they are putting money constraints on their contracting now. It’s purely about who leaves to open up opportunity.

62 Go to comments
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LONG READ Fur set to fly as Parisian duo dragged into Top 14 relegation dogfight Fur set to fly as Parisian duo dragged into Top 14 relegation dogfight
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