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The newly renamed Austin Herd have announced the signing of former All Blacks winger Frank Halai for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. He arrives at the rebuilding club from France, having spent the last two seasons in the Top 14 with Pau.
Halai arrived on the international season in a big way when he scored 30 tries in just 7 tournaments during the 2011-2012 World Sevens Series. The 6’5″ (1.95m) specimen was immediately snapped up by the Blues on a Super Rugby deal and spent three years with the Auckland-based regional side. In November 2013 he won his first and only test cap against Japan.
After a sluggish year with the Blues in 2015 Halai moved to the English Premiership on a two-year deal with Wasps. The switch to Pau followed two years after that, and the 31-year-old will now try his had in the North American game.
Austin are looking to turn around a struggling franchise that lost all 16 of their matches in 2019. Todd Clever has taken over as Director of Rugby and the team has returned to their original home of Round Rock Multipurpose Complex. Earlier this week they confirmed that their moniker was changing from the Elite to the Herd for 2020.
