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Connacht set to sign Super 14 centre
Linley MacKenzie
Connacht are set to bag their biggest Southern Hemisphere signing.
Super 14 player, Niva Ta’auso, who is currently with the Otago Highlanders, is epxected to finalise his new deal with the province this week. He will comes to Ireland with an impressive CV, a big reputation, and is just the type of player the Irish province has craved for the last three seasons.
The 27-years-old former Junior All Black is a outside centre who has carved a reputation as a line-breaker and a destructive runner. Currently with the Otago Highlanders, a franchise that is struggling in the Super 14, the Samoan born Niva Ta’auso started his rugby career with Counties Manukau - the provincial side for which Connacht’s Troy Nathan also played.
He made his debut in 2001 when Counties Manukau was in division one of the NPC, and he has made 63 provincial appearances, bagging 105 points. In 2005 he made his first start for the Chiefs in the Super 14, establishing a regular place in the side during his three seasons. Although plagued by an ankle injury during that time, his solid form earned him selection on the Junior All Blacks squad in 2006 before he was drafted into the Highlanders this season.
Co-editor of
Rugbyheaven.co.nz, Mark Hinton, a former Qantas Award winner and New Zealand Sports Journalist of the Year, has described Niva Ta’auso as one “hell of a playerâ€.
“He’s a line breaker, a physical presence, and a reasonable sort of creative force down the midfield channels. He’s got a bit of speed in his make-up, too.â€
Hinton believed the Highlanders got the “steal of the whole selection process†when he was drafted into the Dunedin-based outfit at the start of the season.
Now after four seasons in Super 14 rugby, the hard-running 185cm centre is transferring to the Northern Hemisphere and Ireland to join fellow New Zealanders Ray Ofisa and Troy Nathan in the Connacht squad. Still contracted to Counties Manukau till the end of the NZ season, he is expected to travel in early October to Galway.
The hope is that his presence will give Connacht some much-needed penetration in a backline that has struggled this season to make the necessary impact. And there will certainly be a new look to that make-up for next season with the addition of three more players who have signed this week.
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If true, Ta’auso will be Connacht's 6th addition to their squad against 5 departures (Mostyn, Yapp, Durcan, Fogarty and supposedly McPhillips). I know next to nothing about Ta’auso but he must bring something extra to their centre because, to be honest, they've been pitiful in that area this season.
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