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Toulouse target current All Black as replacement for Charlie Faumuina

Toulouse Captain's Run, Twickenham, London, England 21/5/2021.Romain Ntamack and Charlie Faumuina. Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

Toulouse are said to be on the hunt for a like-for-like replacement for giant former All Blacks prop Charlie Faumuina, who has announced his coming retirement from the sport.

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Faumuina has confirmed that he will call time on his career at Toulouse come the end of the current Top 14 season.

The 6’1, 130kg Faumuina signed for Toulouse back in 2017 and has since enjoyed five fruitful seasons with the club.

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The big tighthead turns 36 next month and is yet to decide whether he will continue on in France in a coaching capacity or if he will return to New Zealand.

Faumuina is one of the heaviest All Blacks of all time, with only the 136kg Neemia Tialata and 135kg Karl Tu’inukuafe tipping the scale at a heavier weight.

According to Midi Olympique, Toulouse are in the market for a replacement of a similar calibre and have their eyes on Nepo Laulala.

Last month Laulala committed to New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and the Blues through to the end of 2023. The 30-year-old prop has played 43 Tests and is one game away from bringing up 100 Super Rugby caps, having played 73 matches for the Crusaders and Chiefs, and 26 for the Blues.

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A trained builder and the younger brother of former All Blacks centre Casey, Laulala was born in Samoa, educated at Auckland’s Wesley College and is one of eight siblings.

A spot at the French giants after the Rugby World Cup is stage in France seems to make a lot of sense for both parties.

Toulouse were crowned Top 14 champions last season and boast a playing roster that includes such talents as Julien Marchand, Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack.

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2 Comments
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Sam T 725 days ago

Laulala is not a like for like proposition for Faumuina.

They may share similar weight, but Faumuina is the kind of prop that was ahead of his time in NZ. A rare breed who was mobile, a dynamic carrier and solid scrummager.

Laulala won't offer you much more beyond setpieces which doesn't suit what the All Blacks need and the modern game demands now.

Take the money and run Nepo. Don't hang around for a world cup spot.

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JW 37 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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