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Sale Sharks' pursuit of Nakarawa intensifies as lock's career at Racing in tatters

Leone Nakawara

Sale Sharks will this week step up their bid to sign Fijian lock Leone Nakarawa, the former European Player of the Year, who is currently in dispute with Racing 92 to solve a secondrow crisis at the Gallagher Premiership outfit.

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Sale’s need for extra secondrow options has become acute following Jean-Luc du Preez’s sending off for use of the shoulder to the head of an opponent in the 20-13 loss to Worcester and he could be out for six weeks. Steve Diamond, the Sale director of rugby, told RugbyPass: “Our immediate thought process is to get Nakawara in.”

Diamond is already operating without World Cup-winning Springbok lock Lood de Jager who is not expected to join the club until the spring after undergoing shoulder surgery for an injury suffered as South Africa beat England in the final in Yokohama. Josh Beaumont, the former Sale captain, is recovering knee reconstruction surgery and is out for an extended period further depleting the secondrow options.

As a result, Jean-Luc’s twin brother Dan will be asked to play lock rather than No6 in the Heineken Champions Cup clash with Exeter at the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday with the teams meeting against a Sandy Park a week later.

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Nakarawa is currently back in Fiji having made a short return to France where it is understood he was told his career at Racing 92 was all but over following an extended absence after helping Fiji in the Rugby World Cup. Nakarawa, a former Fijian army officer, is currently overseeing the construction of a new family home in Waila and negotiations with Sale on on-going.

Diamond is keenly aware of the need to bolster his pack and added: “Dan du Preez will go into lock against Exeter and we will have James Phillips and the situation with Nakawara is that he has to be given a two weeks grace under French regulations and if we can get him then we will.

“Initially it would be a case of getting him in with the view of signing a longer-term deal. We are not going to panic about the current secondrow situation and we could say that we lost against Worcester because of the red card and, in hindsight, we probably did. Equally, there were areas of the game where we did deal with things as well as we could, but we lost four line outs late in the game. That is suicide.

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“We are the most disciplined team in the Premiership and we have to look at the offences we gave away. We fully respected Worcester and knew they were a good side and had to be at our best to beat them. We scored a great interception try from Faf de Klerk which is something we had worked on all week, but down to 14 men in the second half, Faf had to operate in a different position in the defence.”

WATCH: The Season 5 – Episode 4

A must-win fixture against neighbouring Tauranga Boys High School puts the team’s success in the firing line.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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