Why We Signed Nakarawa? Castres Official Tells

Beaten Top 14 finalist's Cas­tres have explained why they have gambled on sign­ing Leone Nakarawa, the Fijian forward whose career has been on a downward spiral since fall­ing out with Racing following the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

At the time, the now 34-year-old was one of the stars of the world game due to his brilliant offload­ing and his athleticism, a repu­tation honed at the title-winning Glasgow before he switched to Paris in 2016.

However, relations soured at the Top 14 club with his delayed re­turn following the World Cup in the Far East and it was December 2019 when they fired him.

“After a few days of thinking about the legal deadlines, Jacky Lorenzetti has decided to break Nakarawa’s contract,” read a statement.

“This decision, taken in consul­tation with the sporting director of the club, follows on from the proven disciplinary manoeuvres of Nakarawa who, in particular, did not show up at the resump­tion of the training programme on October 28.”

Comeback

That left Nakarawa trying to re­launch his career back in the old PRO14.

He got going at Glasgow in Feb­ruary 2020 only to then endure an 11-month wait in between games due to the pandemic stoppage and a troublesome knee injury.

Still, his eight appearances for the Warriors in the 2020/21 sea­son were enough to convince Ul­ster to sign him on a deal that was ultimately scuppered when he failed a medical at the Irish club.

That left Nakarawa returning to France, taking up a contract at Toulon where he made 13 appear­ances in his sole season there be­fore getting released at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

That decision left him unem­ployed but it was only temporary as Castres decided to gamble on offering the 65-cap second row a one-year deal. It was at the be­ginning of July that this contract emerged and the club have now explained why they opted to bring in Nakarawa.

Motivation

In a video published on the Castres website, team manager Pierre-Henry Broncan said: “He was on the list of unemployed be­cause he was not retained by Tou­lon where he played last season.

“At 34, he has a strong ambition which is to compete in the 2023 World Cup in France.

“His versatility, his experience at the very highest level and his motivation seduced us.

“Today, he is a player who really has an objective to finish his ca­reer and he knows very well that he needs to go through a big sea­son with Castres Olympique to be able to try to reach the 2023 World Cup.”

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