New Force recruit lets scoring do talking
Fijian flyer Napolioni Nalaga doesn't say a great deal - he's more comfortable letting his try scoring speak for itself.
And the Western Force will be more than happy for their marquee overseas signing for 2012 to do just that.
The Fijian World Cup winger, who arrived in Perth this week, made a name for himself as a try-scoring machine in his four years with French Top 14 club ASM Clermont, scoring 61 tries in 90 appearances.
He was the competition's leading try scorer in both the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. He was the Top 14 Player of the Year in 2009 and a member of the French Dream team.
Force coach Richard Graham saw Nalaga's try-scoring abilities when coaching the Saracens club in England.
"He's got proven try-scoring ability, he proved in his four years in France that he knows where the try line is and we've identified that we need to score tries," Graham said.
"He's shown himself to be one of the best wingers in Europe. He's an out and out winger, he's strong, he's a big man, he shifts nicely and he's quick. He'll work hard for the team. He's very motivated to be a part of the team and that's important.
"One of the really appealing things is that as a young Fijian boy he went to France and showed he has the ability to adapt to a new climate.
"I was very familiar with him and when his name popped up through agents this year I didn't waste any time in talking with his previous coaches at Clermont.
"Judging by his personality, the conversations I've had with him and the time I've spent with him, he'll fit very nicely into our culture. The way we will be playing he will be very involved in the game."
The 105kg, 191cm Nalaga, who played as a back-rower as a youngster and was used at No.8 on occasions by Clermont, has no intention of pulling on anything but a Force jumper with double digits.
"I'm here to play wing," he said. "It was an easy decision to leave Fiji. I always wanted to play Super Rugby. It's a different type of game to France but I'm looking forward to it.
"I watched players like Nathan Sharpe and David Pocock playing for the Wallabies in New Zealand and I'm looking forward to playing with them."
Nalaga, whose father Kavekini was a winger for Fiji, played in the same Auckland Grammar School side as another new Force signing, centre Winston Stanley.
And he's looking forward to a pre-season of summer training.
"It's just like Fiji," he said.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...ng-do-talking/
