Halafihi signs on with club in France
Just how long Taranaki player of the year Toa Halafihi remains linked to New Zealand rugby remains unclear after it was revealed he has signed with French Top 14 club Lyon.
Snubbed by New Zealand’s five Super Rugby franchises, despite his outstanding form in the Mitre
10 Cup, Halafihi has joined Lyon as an injury replacement for Englishman Carl Fearns, who has been ruled out of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere season.
Halafihi, 23, was on a one-year contract with the Hurricanes in
2017 but an extension to that deal was not immediately forthcoming.
While he has been prepared to stay in New Zealand without a Super Rugby contract when he was trying to establish himself, the Lyon offer was obviously too good to ignore.
He will join former All Black Rudi Wulf, as well as Southland lock Josh Bekhuis and former New Zealand sevens rep Toby Arnold at Lyon who currently sit top of the French Top 14 table after seven games.
Halafihi, who will travel to France at the end of the Mitre 10 Cup, will start at No 8 for Taranaki in their premiership semifinal against Tasman at Yarrow Stadium tonight in what will be his 34th appearance for the union.
Whether he returns to New Zealand at the end of the French Top
14 season remains unclear but it would be highly unusual for a player to leave the lucrative northern hemisphere market once they start playing in it.
Given his age, Halafihi could easily spend the next decade playing in Europe.
He is one of several frontline Taranaki forwards who are yet to be signed to a Super Rugby contract in 2018.