Taqele sure Boyd’s ‘super’ style will bring success
GIANT Northampton wing Taqele Naiyaravoro admits his fitness must improve if he is to take his Super Rugby try-scoring form into the Premiership.
Former Waratahs star Naiyaravoro, 26, notched 15 tries in this year’s Super Rugby competition, just one behind Hurricanes try machine Ben Lam, whose former head coach Chris Boyd now oversees affairs at Franklin’s Gardens.
An imposing figure standing at 6ft 5ins (1.95m) and 18st 1lb (115kgs), Naiyaravoro bagged his first Saints try at Bristol three weeks ago but knows he must work harder around the field in order to make a similar impression in England. Naiyaravoro said: “This past Super Rugby season was one of my best and I feel I’m improving, but the Premiership is a different challenge.
“I’m touching the ball a lot more than I used to and getting into games more in repeated efforts, and a lot of that comes down to fitness, which is something I’m always looking at.
“I had that as a work-on at the Waratahs and I’ve implemented that here as well, because the game Chris Boyd wants to play is very similar to Super Rugby.
“I’m a big boy and I tend to put on quite a lot of weight if I’m not on top of it, so I’m just trying to keep moving and Saints are on board with it as well.”
Fiji-born Naiyaravoro is looking to settle at Saints after a nomadic career that saw him move to New Zealand in 2011 before trying his hand at Rugby League in Australia with Wests Tigers and then making his name in Union.
Spells at Glasgow and Japan’s Panasonic Wild Knights were sandwiched by two stints at the Waratahs, during which time he was capped by Australia twice but failed in his quest to make their 2015 World Cup squad.
Naiyaravoro said: “I didn’t have the chance to play for Australia for the last two years so I’ve pretty much left that behind now.
“It’s time to put family first and that’s what attracted me to Northampton. The town’s not too big and not too small and one of the boys here, Api Ratuniyarawa, went to school with my brother and told me it was a good place to be.
“It’s a family-orientated club where I can bring up my kids and I can also help my parents who are back home in Fiji.”
Saints’ early season results have been inconsistent, but Naiyaravoro added: “Change takes time but having Chris in charge is a big bonus because his leadership is superb and I saw what he did with the Hurricanes.
“While our last couple of results have been disappointing, we’ll stay tight and keep working hard as a group. We’re still at the learning stage, but we’ve got some exciting players who I’m confident can be successful.”