Northampton sign pacy Fiji-born number 8 with 'enormous potential'

Northampton Saints have signed a promising 21-year-old Fiji-born back row.

Number 8 Tui Uru will join the club’s academy from Bury St Edmunds for the 2019/20 season.

He has played for the National 2 South side for the last two seasons after making the move from Ipswich in 2017.

Uru is regular member of the Eastern Counties set-up and has also represented England Counties at under-20s level in his fledgling career so far.

He cites Jonah Lomu as his rugby idol and you can see why when looking at his showreel put up on the Northampton Saints Twitter feed, with Uru showing plenty of pace, power and a sidestepping ability.

Here's a flavour of what to expect from the Fijian-born @EnglandCounties U20 international ???

? @BSERugby pic.twitter.com/0SmDo6sJn0

— Northampton Saints ? (@SaintsRugby) February 19, 2019

“I am delighted to be joining Northampton Saints, and to get the opportunity to develop as a player using the wonderful facilities at Franklin Gardens,” he said.

“It’s clear that Chris Boyd is looking to bring through young players through at the club which is really exciting to be a part of; and I’m looking forward to working with him and the rest of the squad from the start of pre-season”.

Uru is the second new signing of the season for Saints Academy, with centre Reuben Bird-Tulloch already putting pen to paper on a deal to switch to Franklin’s Gardens from Saracens last month.

And academy manager Simon Sinclair is relishing the prospect of seeing how far the ball-carrying No.8 can develop once he is introduced into a full-time environment at Saints.

He said: “Tui has enormous potential and the thing that has impressed me most about him is his attitude; he’s humble and dedicated to becoming a better player.

“He has strong attributes for a No.8 – he carries hard, he’s quick from the base, and his soft skills are impressive.

“He trains every day before going to a full-time job, in addition to his rugby training with Bury St Edmunds, so we’re extremely excited to see how far he can go within a professional set-up here in Northampton.”

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