NZ prop Seiuili heading to join Warriors but not until October
AFTER a summer where Glasgow Warriors supporters have been wondering when all their signings would come, the club have at last unveiled one of the deals they have been promising, bringing in a New Zealand prop.
It is a bit of a strange one, though. When all the attention has been on how clubs like Glasgow will cope without their World Cup players, they have brought in Aki Seiuili from the Highlanders knowing he cannot travel until after his commitments in New Zealand are complete.
That definitely takes him to mid October, and if his team reach the knockout stages of the ITM Cup, it could be the end of the month before he finishes with Otago and heads for Scotland at almost the same time as the World Cup players.
Dave Rennie, the Glasgow head coach, has known about Seiuili for a while and reckons he will make a difference with his ball-carrying ability, with the possibility that he could link up with Siua Halanukonuka, the Tongan international, in a formidably big front row.
His main competition looks like coming from South African Oli Kebble, who signed a contract extension two weeks ago, but all this adds to the national team’s problems. Pierre Schoeman is likely to remain top choice at Edinburgh, meaning no Scottish looseheads will start regularly for either Scottish club.
It is not a problem at hooker, where Michael Willemse at Edinburgh is the only non-qualified possible starter. When Glasgow needed to plug the gap caused by losing both Fraser Brown and George Turner to the World Cup with Grant Stewart on standby for injuries, they did it by bring another Scots-qualified player.
Not that Jonny Matthews’ Liverpool accent gives much hint of his Scottish mother, but he is keen to make a go of the opportunity after topping the scoring charts for Boroughmuir last season.
“To begin with, I was coming in for the unit days whenever I could because I was trying to balance my job with Boroughmuir. Then, Glasgow offered me the training contract, which I was buzzing to sign,” he said.
“Going from part-time training to full time obviously has an impact on your physique. I’ve definitely put on a bit more muscle and trimmed down a little bit. I’ve definitely picked up some things which will help my game.
“Long term has got to be the ambition, but I’m just taking it gameby-game at the minute. As it stands my contract runs out in December, so I’m going to do as much as I can to get that extended.”