Durban lands a two-time world champion
Forty-four years old. Eight professional clubs. And still no sign of stopping. Ma’a Nonu has put pen to paper on a short-term deal with the Sharks, and just like that Durban has one of the most decorated centres the game has ever produced. The United Rugby Championship side confirmed the move this week.
Before this, Nonu had already stacked up an almost unbelievable CV: Wellington, the Hurricanes, Black Rams Tokyo, the Blues, the Highlanders, RC Toulon, San Diego Legion. The Sharks make eight.
He comes straight from a second stint at Toulon, where he became the oldest man ever to play in both the Top 14 and the Champions Cup. Toulon finished ninth that year and still pushed to a European semi-final, where Leinster edged them 29-25.
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Brought in to raise the standard, not the scoreline
Money was never the point here. The Sharks kept the terms modest, and everyone involved knows exactly why. Nonu’s real worth sits off the ball, in the way he trains, prepares and carries himself. Twenty years of winning at the top tends to rub off on the people around you.
His focus will be the young midfield. Jurenzo Julius, 22, and Springbok Ethan Hooker are the two names the club want him alongside every day. Head coach JP Pietersen has already shifted Julius to inside centre, and a season next to Nonu could fast-track the whole thing.
“The best players do not just leave memories, they leave standards,” Pietersen said. It is a tidy line. It also happens to be the entire reason this signing exists.
A CV that silences the doubters
103 caps for the All Blacks. Two World Cups. 174 Super Rugby games and comfortably north of 400 senior appearances. The numbers border on absurd. What they hide is the reinvention. Early on, Nonu was written off as a one-trick crash-ball runner and nothing more. He answered by learning to pass, to kick, to read a game, until he had turned himself into one of the most complete midfielders of his era.
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