Olowofela keen to learn from Nadolo as Tigers close on deal

Leicester are close to confirming the signing of Nemani Nadolo and 21-year-old wing Jordan Olowofela, their sole try-scorer in a 14-8 win over Worcester on Saturday, is looking forward to linking up with the former Fiji superstar.

The towering Nadolo, a devastasting runner who stands 6ft 5in and 20st, seems poised to join Leicester from French side Montpellier at the end of the season on a contract worth around £250,000 per year.

“It is [exciting], yeah,” said Olowofela, who latched on to Ben White’s delicate grubber kick to dot down in the 33rd minute at Welford Road and also had an acrobatic secondhalf effort ruled out by the television match official.

“This is an opportunity for me to see what he brings and what I can learn from him. I know he’s massive, but he might have other little bits I can take.”

Geordan Murphy, Leicester’s head coach, suggested that talks with Nadolo were ongoing, yet appeared hopeful that the switch would be finalised imminently.

“You don’t want to shoot your mouth before anything happens, but we’ve been linked with Nemani and he is a great player,” he said. “If we can get it across the line, that would be great.”

A move to the East Midlands would represent a second spell in England for Nadolo, 32, following a short stint at Exeter in 2011. After that he shot to prominence with Crusaders, the Super Rugby franchise, and finished his international career with 19 tries from 29 Test appearances for Fiji.

Murphy stressed that Tigers also remain in “constant conversation” with England duo Ben Youngs and Jonny May, who are out of contract at the end of the campaign.