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Vaea Fifita snubs New Zealand Super Rugby return
By Neil Fissler
The Scarlets have pulled off a massive coup after holding off the advances of Super Rugby outfit Moana Pasifika to retain the services of former All Black’s blindside flanker Vaea Fifita.
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Moana Pasifika head coach Fa’alogo Tana Umaga wanted to follow up the signing of All Blacks vice-captain Ardie Savea by luring Fifita, 32, away from South Wales this summer.
Scarlets boss Dwayne Peel had been fighting hard to keep hold of Fifita, who won the Super Rugby title with Hurricanes and was signed from Wasps just before they went out of business two years ago.
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Fifita, who earlier in the year was also linked with a move to Montpellier, has made 34 appearances in his two years with the Scarlets and is now likely to spend at least the next two seasons with the Scarlets – – report Wales Online.
Fifita won 11 All Black’s caps before switching his international allegiance to his native Tonga, playing two games in the World Cup last year before being banned after getting sent off against Scotland.
It is a blow for the Moana Pasifika, who were looking to take advantage of the Scarlets having £700,000 knocked off their playing budget for next season to operate with a salary cap of £4.5m.
Peel has done well to retain the services of big guns Fifita, Tongan lock Sam Lousi, Scotland second-row Alex Craig and Wales centre Johnny Williams while operating under such restrictions for next season.
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And Peel admitted earlier this year that he thought it was going to be difficult to keep hold of his big names who would be taking up between 10 and 15 per cent of his total playing budget.
“The budget is the budget, and like every other business, you have to adjust your cloth accordingly. It’s difficult in many ways because you’re competing with a market that’s way above what you’ve got.
“You have to try and manage that budget the best you can in getting the depth in the squad and the quality needed. Those big money contracts are difficult to compete with because we haven’t got the money,” he said.
Not sure why the article states it's a snub, Fifita was rubbish at the RWC n will probably be rubbish with MP, get new blood.
Strange priorities to fight to keep foreign stars when so many Welshmen have been leaving
They want their teams to be competitive.
They need to hang on to a bit of quality and x factor though to give them some hope and he has been exceptional for them.
Care to tell us which Welsh back/second row players have been leaving?
Maybe it would be reasonable to suggest that Dwayne Peel knows his squad, key players and how best to balance his budget challenges just a little better than you? Or perhaps you’ve got Scarlet’s pegged as a ‘strong team’ too, kinda in the same mould as Bristol perhaps…???