Club Rugby

Racing 92 sack former European Player of the Year Leone Nakarawa

A total breakdown in relations between Racing 92 and Leone Nakarawa has led to the sacking of the Fiji star

by
The Rugby Paper Team
6 December 2019

Racing 92 have terminated the contract of star lock Leone Nakarawa.

The Top 14 club suspended the Fijian after he returned from Rugby World Cup two weeks later than the scheduled date of October 28, 19 days after Fiji’s final pool match against Wales in Oita.

Rather bizarrely, it was claimed by a Pacific Rugby players’ body last month that Nakarawa had prolonged his stay in Fiji because he had not finished building a house. A matter Racing 92 were aware of, it was claimed.

In sacking Nakarawa, a Racing statement said the player had demonstrated ‘a total lack of team spirit and a marked insubordination’.

Going further to accuse the 31-year-old of ‘abandoning his post’ by not responding to messages from the team’s management.

Named 2018 European Player of the Year, Nakarawa is now free to sign for a new club.

Sale Sharks boss Steve Diamond recently made public the news that they had talked to the 62-Test forward about a move to the Premiership.

While Scotland Rugby have cultivated links within Fiji with the recent signings of Eroni Sau and Mesu Dolokoto to Edinburgh and Glasgow, respectively.

Nakarawa has been one of the form players in world rugby for close to a decade, winning plaudits at Glasgow prior to joining Racing in 2016 and a 2019 European Player of the Year nomination.