Glasgow Warriors’ protracted negotiations with Toulon over the transfer of lock Brian Alainu’uese have finally ended just a few days after the three time European champions suffered a thrashing at the home of Scottish rugby.
It has been known for several weeks that the 6ft 7in, 21-stone-plus New Zealander was a target for the French club whose fall from grace was highlighted when they were beaten 40-14 by Edinburgh at the weekend.
And the deal, which allows him to depart seven months ahead of the end of his contract, offers him a fresh start after what was an injury-ravaged two years at Scotstoun, while freeing up budget for the Warriors.
“It’s a decision that’s in the best interest of both the player and the club,” said Glasgow’s head coach Dave Rennie
“Brian’s had a number of injuries over the last couple of years and we’ve not been able to play him as often as we would have liked, but he’s a good man, is very popular among the squad and will be missed.
"When he’s fit and firing he’s an excellent player and we wish him all the best in France.”
It was telling that, even though Glasgow’s second row resources were stretched, the 24-year-old was left out of their Heineken Champions Cup squad and assistant coach Jon Humphreys noted that the timing of matters being concluded reflects an improving situation.
“Tim [Swinson] is going to be back, hopefully, in the next month or so, we have Kiran [McDonald] who is just round the corner. We were really struggling at the start of the season but now these people are coming back, so it is too good an opportunity for Brian not to take in terms of what it offered him, longevity and so on. We have enough cover, that is why the deal was done,” he explained.
“It is something that has been in the pipeline for a bit. Hopefully he can go and get a good crack over there.”
The imminent return to action of experienced internationalist Swinson and McDonald who, like fellow Kiwi Alain’uiese, has not had his troubles to seek in terms of injury issues since arriving at Scotstoun last year, will be timely as they head into a difficult period of the season when many first-team regulars will be on international duty.
That presents an opportunity for a number of players who have not featured as much as they would hope to in the early part of the season.
Humphreys emphasised that the focus has switched back to the bread and butter fare of Pro14 rugby and this weekend’s meeting with main Conference rivals Munster, following last weekend’s impressive Champions Cup win in Cardiff.
“We forget about that pretty quickly,” he said.
“We talked about that in the changing room. We have to get ready. We have a massive game this week.
"It obviously helps the confidence of the group but we have moved quickly on to Munster. We have a group of boys who are going to play for the first time in a while and are really excited about getting out there.
“(Sunday’s game) was important because of the fact that, if we didn't win we were probably out, we would have been left chasing shadows. So it was important in terms of that.
"We talked about Lyon back-to-back and potentially what that could mean but we are on to Munster now.
"That is what we have, we have Munster, Ospreys and then a 10-day break. We have moved on pretty quickly.”
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