Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
In a development that can only be described as comical, US Eagles forward David Tameilau has signed for the Utah Warriors of Major League Rugby. Numerous French media outlets had reported that the 28-year-old was to sign for Glasgow Warriors. Evidently they got the wrong Warriors.
Tameilau is currently playing for Narbonne in the French Pro D2 but poor results have seen the club fall to the bottom of the division standings. With only four games left in the regular season RCNM are 17 points behind Carcassonne and could see their relegation to Fédérale 1 confirmed as early as this weekend.
Also set to join Tameilau at Utah is cousin Siaosi Mahoni. The duo are signed until the end of next season but relegation would see them released from their contracts. It’s unclear exactly when Tameilau will join up with Utah but with Narbonne’s final game on April 13 he will be available for the entirety of the MLR regular season.
Tameilau, 28, burst onto the international scene during the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship. The 6’5″ (1.95m) No8 fell out of favor with former Eagles coach John Mitchell but earned a recall for the 2017 ARC and won five caps last year to bring his total to nine. He has been a regular at the back of the scrum for Narbonne over the past two seasons after signing as a medical joker in October 2016, signing a two-year extension in February 2017.
Second row Mahoni, 21, made his debut during the 2017 ARC as a replacement against Canada and earned his first test start against Chile. At 6’8″ (2.03m) and 295lbs (134kg) he is an imposing figure who has a handful of senior appearances for the club this season, making his run-on debut against Grenoble on February 23. He signed a two-year deal with Narbonne in May 2017.
