A short-term fix with a big name
Clermont have signed Ofa Tu’ungafasi on a three-month contract, the club confirmed today. The 34-year-old New Zealand prop is expected to join training on Thursday.
The résumé is long: 68 caps for the All Blacks, two World Cups (2019 and 2023), and a frame of 1.95 m and 128 kg. He can also scrummage on both sides, a rare skill among props. He packed down on the loosehead side for the Auckland Blues in Super Rugby this year, then moved to tighthead for the provincial NPC.
no renewal
Free for 2 weeks.
Why now
Clermont are short up front. Cristian Ojovan and Sacha Lotrian are injured, and Regis Montagne will be gone for several weeks with the France squad for the Nations Championship. Three props out at once is a serious hole in the middle of a Top 14 season.
Head coach Christophe Urios said Tu’ungafasi told former Blues team-mate Harry Plummer last summer that he wanted to try the Top 14, which opened the line to the club. Urios describes a solid scrummager who is also comfortable with ball in hand.
Short deals like this have become a standard answer to the autumn windows that strip French squads of international players. Whether a 34-year-old adapts quickly to the French scrum is the open question.
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