Northampton Saints today announced that Kahn Fotuali'i has signed on to wear the black, green and gold from the start of next season.
The 30-year-old scrum-half, capped 13 times by Samoa, has won rave reviews for his recent performances in the Heineken Cup and is regarded by many commentators to be the best player in his position in world rugby.
The 6ft, 94kg Fotuali'i joins the Saints from the Ospreys. In his two seasons at the Liberty Stadium he has played 39 times, including in the Pro 12 final success over Leinster and earning the man of the match award in the recent Heineken Cup game against Leicester.
Born in Auckland, Fotuali'i had been tipped for full All Blacks honours after making his mark in Super Rugby for the Crusaders, for whom he played 28 times. Instead Fotuali'i chose to represent Samoa, and after a man of the match performance in his 2010 debut he went on to play in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Fotuali'i has experience of playing both scrum-half and fly half at international and provincial level.
Director of rugby Jim Mallinder is excited by the signing.
"Kahn is a player who has attracted a lot of positive headlines and attention throughout his career," he said. "He has a superb set of skills and is a powerful and dynamic runner who will add to our options in one of the team's crucial positions.
"We're delighted that he has chosen to sign a long-term contract to play his rugby at Franklin's Gardens, and we're looking forward to welcoming him to the club in the summer."
That really is good news - Saints not beaten by mega-bucks from across the Channel - and welcome Kahn . Now excuse my ignorance but, in view of the rumored value of his contract, is he eligible to be the marquee player or am I totally off track?
well done to JM and the management team. really hope that Kahn enjoys being part of the Saints 'family' and gets the success that he, and we, all hope for him.
btw what is a 'long term contract' these days for a prem rugby club?
Yeah whateva.... but can he pass off his left hand, downhill? *
"sup·port·er"
Noun:
1.A person who approves of and encourages someone or something (typically a public figure, a movement or party, or a policy).
2.A person who is actively interested in and wishes success for a particular sports team.
Salary cap? Word was xxx was being offered around 250-300k in France so they've done to tempt him.
Someone look at their books!
You'll have to expect questions to be asked I'm afraid. Your resigning guys on increased contracts plus luring big names from other clubs on improved deals.
GaryB Salary cap? Word was xxx was being offered around 250-300k in France so they've done to tempt him.
Someone look at their books!
You'll have to expect questions to be asked I'm afraid. Your resigning guys on increased contracts plus luring big names from other clubs on improved deals.
Good signing though!
Carlos Nieto and John Smit are leaving at the end of the season. He wants to work with Andy Farrell. His best mate plays for the club. His brother plays for the club. All valid reasons.
Awesome news. King, Corbs and Khan showing our intent for next year. Plus if Dicko needed an incentive to get back to his best then this is it! Plus with Khans reported salary: is he the marquee player?
Like many ill be truly happy when we announce a world class 10 though.
And with regards to his nickname, I know it's not much surely someone has already done a Captain Kirk-esque "KKKHHHHHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!"
Noun:
1.A person who approves of and encourages someone or something (typically a public figure, a movement or party, or a policy).
2.A person who is actively interested in and wishes success for a particular sports team.
It might just be where the player sees his future too and he has played there at international level, but to be honest its all part of the great rumour mill at the moment, nothing confirmed just paper talk about his position and it being one of the reasons he joined us.
“I'm only going to say this once, there is nothing special happening at Saracens, and I don't want to be any part of it.” - Soane Tonga'uiha
Having watched the You Tube clip i cant decide after 3 mins whether he is a 9 or 10.
What i do see is one very powerful, quick thinking big unit who will give us "go forward" ball.
As far as a supporter side of things we don't actually know what he has been signed for on the basis of the press comments in the last week.
However we do know he can play both half back positions and we all look forward to seeing how he fits in next season.
It could be that he becomes the reserve fly half and the bench spot is opened to another back for positional switching.
As for the You tube clip, i'm excited by what he might be able to bring but also wary that half of them clips are at least 3 years old and could well be older with the exception of the samoan international ones as he only started them since 2010. The question is can he bring all that for a whole season in a tigher game than the southern hemisphere? I certainly look forward to finding out.
He's a superb SH. I've watched quite a bit of him playing for the Chavs and he is an absolutely cracking player. Works very well off the base, great game management, box kick, break, complete package.
He's the sort of 9 that makes an average 10 look good.
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