‘Chilled-out’ Nakarawa is red-hot threat
Dunbar wary of former team-mate
ALEX DUNBAr recalls former Glasgow Warriors team-mate Leone Nakarawa as a ‘chilled-out funny guy’ who likes to crack a joke or two.
However, the prospect of being on the opposing side to the man he claims has the best offloading game in rugby is currently no laughing matter.
Provided he passes a fitness test on a shoulder injury, the big Fijian will be one of the danger men in a star-studded racing 92 side who face Gregor Townsend’s men in Paris for the opening fixture of their crucial European Champions Cup double header on Saturday.
Dunbar admits he looked on in awe during their three years together at Scotstoun as the 6ft 6in second row produced his full range of skills.
One moment he’d be felling an opposition player in the tackle, the next offloading the ball from one hand to a team-mate.
it doesn’t surprise Dunbar that the French giants broke the bank to buy out of the final year of Nakarawa’s contract at Glasgow last summer. Or that the 28-year-old Olympic sevens gold medallist has continued to flourish in his first season at racing, regularly showing up well in the line-out and scoring tries.
‘He’s just an unbelievable athlete,’ said the Scotland international. ‘For someone as big and heavy, he’s dynamic in open play as well.
‘He can step, he’s played a lot of sevens and won an Olympic gold medal with Fiji, and he’s elusive.
‘His offloading game is probably the best in the world and it will be tough playing against world-class players like him on Saturday.
‘Leone is part of a massive racing forward pack and they’ll want to get boys like him into the game as often as possible.
‘We know how big a task it will be to stop him but we have to go out and play our game. ‘When he was at Glasgow, he was a chilled-out quiet guy, and a funny guy as well, but if he plays on Saturday he’ll show how different he is on the pitch.’
racing 92 were first alerted to Nakarawa’s quality when he scored a try against them in the Warriors’ 34-10 European Champions Cup defeat in Paris last January.
With New Zealand legend Dan Carter and Argentine star Juan imhoff also in their ranks, they have assembled one of the most experienced squads in world rugby.
Dunbar is only too aware that a full 80-minute performance is needed if Glasgow are to maintain their dream of reaching the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
Townsend’s men also have to shake off the damaging sequence that has seen them lose their last three Guinness Pro12 games in a row.
‘We can’t start as slow in Paris as we did in our defeats to Munster and the Ospreys in the league,’ said 26-year-old Dunbar.
‘Let racing 92 get away from us in the first 20 minutes or so and we’ll be facing an uphill battle to get back into the game.
‘if it does happen, then it’s up to us as the players on the pitch to fix it. if we don’t have the ball early on, or if things are not going well, we have to take it on ourselves to change that and get a foothold in the game.’
Dunbar is likely to partner Mark Bennett in the centre after his usual partner Peter Horne was ruled out for up to four months with an ankle injury.
Horne and wing rory Hughes were both stretchered off during the narrow Pro12 defeat to Munster last Friday night and the latter will also be sidelined for at least a month with a knee problem.
With two such experienced Scotland men out of action after undergoing surgery, it will fall on the shoulders of Dunbar to make sure the Glasgow back division keeps its discipline.
‘it’s a tough injury for Pete to take as he’s been playing well all through the autumn,’ said Dunbar.
‘rory, too, will be missing and, in their absence, we’ll all have to go across to Paris and do a job for the team. We can’t afford any yellow cards as racing will take full advantage so we’ll have to keep our discipline.
‘What we do have in our favour is that all the rest of the Scotland boys will be back after the autumn Tests and available for selection.
‘The team’s lost three Pro12 matches in a row but we’ll have maybe 15 guys back in the side this week.
‘That adds to the excitement of the occasion and there’s a great buzz ahead of the game.
‘Taking on the likes of Leone and Dan Carter, who i’d watch in my teens, will be a real challenge. But having players like them in the opposition will help us raise our game.’
“For someone as heavy, he is so dynamic in open play”