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Fehi Fineanganofo: Uncertainty over wing’s Newcastle Red Bulls move
New Zealand Rugby has denied any involvement in a reported U-turn by Fehi Fineanganofo over a move to England to join Newcastle Red Bulls for next season.
The prolific wing, who has equalled the single-season Super Rugby record by scoring 16 tries for the Hurricanes this term, was announced as one of Newcastle’s incoming signings in January.
Fineanganofo’s form since has put him firmly on the radar of New Zealand coach Dave Rennie, but a move aboard would make the 23-year-old ineligible for the All Blacks.
A report in New Zealand last week, external claimed that the country’s rugby authorities had found a solution to keep Fineanganofo down under, leaving Newcastle officials “very, very upset”.
In 2015, New Zealand Rugby reached an agreement with Clermont Auvergne to tear up a contract that would have taken wing Waisake Naholo to France and out of Test contention.
However, the union insists there will not be a repeat in Fineanganofo’s case. It says its stance is unchanged since an interview given by chief executive Steve Lancaster a fortnight ago.
“We don’t really do that. These are player choices,” Lancaster said, external of the possibility of buying Fineanganofo out his Red Bulls contract.
“There’s nothing stopping Fehi from doing that, but it’s not a space we get into, looking to buy players out of contracts.
“Things have changed a lot for him since the end of last year. He’s taken every opportunity he’s been given so good on him.
“If he has a change of heart, that’s absolutely up to him.
“The ball is in his court around that. But even if he does honour his contract to Newcastle, he’s still young. He might well be back.”
World Rugby rules prohibit a union inducing a player to break their club contract, just as clubs are banned from offering players extra money to end their international careers.
However, uncapped Fineanganofo, who has spoken of his desire to earn enough money so his parents can retire, will be aware that representing the All Blacks would boost his pay.
The New Zealand Herald estimates, external that, even with international recognition, his two-year Red Bulls contract – at a reported £200,000 a year – would still trump what he would earn by staying at home.
But the rise in profile from playing Test matches, particularly with the Rugby World Cup taking place in Australia in 2027, could lead to a lucrative contract later in his career.
Fineanganofo’s agent Bruce Sharrock, who was also Naholo’s agent when his deal with Clermont was annulled, insists it is up to New Zealand Rugby to negotiate with Newcastle if it wants to make his client available to Rennie.
“NZ Rugby had the opportunity to contract Fehi,” he told the Rugby Direct podcast. , external
“What they put on the table was nowhere near the match of what it was. His performance has then ramped up and they have said they now want to hold him.
“That’s fine. Go and have a commercial conversation with the person with the contract and see if you can do a deal.”
Newcastle Red Bulls declined to comment.
The statistics are not a surprise to Umar Ali, who plays for Route One Rovers – a semi-professional team in Bradford.
During Ramadan last year, he was racially abused by a group of opposition spectators as he was waiting to come on as a substitute.
“It was our first game playing while we were fasting,” he said. “So obviously we were hungry that day and I was a bit less patient.
“Then when I was getting ready to come on, one of the fans said I should shave my beard off and that I looked like a paedophile.
“One of them picked up a child who was about six, seven years old, and said ‘I bet your wife’s the same age as this child’.”
Umar described the men as in their sixties.
“It’s quite distressing, because they’re older than my dad,” he added. “They’re my grandad’s age, and they felt comfortable enough to stand there and make comments like that.”
Umar said the assistant referee heard the comments and told the referee, who he claims did not take any action.
The police were eventually contacted and the spectators identified. Umar has not been informed of an outcome.
His manager Mohammed Patel was in the dugout during the match and said – while the opposition coaching staff apologised on behalf of their fans – he felt the officials fell short and should have removed those spectators shouting racist and Islamophobic abuse at his players.
Patel said: “It was a really emotional day for us, because the question we asked ourselves after that game is ‘Why is it still happening?’ Some of the things that were said were absolutely horrific.
“In my opinion, more needs to be done from the top down. We’re actively engaging and working with local FAs to try and navigate this problem, but it absolutely needs to be mandated.”
The Northern Counties East Football League fined the opposition club £300 and gave them nine disciplinary points. But Patel says that does not address the real problem.
“We’ve seen harsher punishments for violent conduct on the pitch or red cards, even administrative mistakes,” he added.
“Something as serious as this, we were absolutely not happy with the result.”
Patel has been lobbying the Football Association, but has not yet received a response.
He said: “Precedents need to be set, harsher sanctions need to be introduced. This comes from the top down.”
The FA said in a statement: “We have introduced tougher sanctions for clubs and individuals, a new behaviour improvement programme, and penalty points accumulation charges in the grassroots game.
“This builds on the steps taken to allow for deductions of league points from clubs that are repeated offenders of serious misconduct.”
Gymnast Ruby Evans has won Wales’ first Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow with victory in the floor final.
Evans, 19, performed the final routine of the women’s programme and defeated England’s Abigail Martin into silver, with her team-mate Shantae-Eve Amankwaah securing bronze.
Evans left the arena in tears on Sunday after her disappointing sixth in the all-round individual competition, that after Wales finished fourth in the team event.
Now, after Welsh identical twins Abigail and Emily Roper won bronze medals within a couple of hours of each other on Monday, Evans has delivered gold.
It was the first victory for Team Wales in Scotland and a ninth medal alongside two silver and six bronze.
There is also a guaranteed podium position for boxer Connor Williams after he reached the semi-finals.
An amateur cricket match has made global headlines after a fielder was accused of cheating by clicking his fingers to get a wicket.
The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has started an investigation into a second XI Division 2 game between Saltburn and Norton.
A viral video on social media appears to show a Saltburn fielder clicking his fingers as the ball passes Noman Shabir’s bat before being caught by wicketkeeper Josh Bowes. Saltburn appeal and the umpire gives Shabir out.
It has been suggested that the finger-clicking was designed to trick the umpire into thinking the batter edged the ball.
Saltburn won by 159 runs and are top of Division 2 by 17 points.
“The league have received a formal complaint regarding alleged incidents in a Division Two game on Saturday,” the league said in a statement on X.
“A full investigation has been initiated and until such time as the formal processes are complete no further comment will be made.”
Last week Bowes took eight catches in Saltburn’s 22-run win over Shildon Railway. The men’s Test record for catches by a keeper in an innings is seven.
Bowes leads the league standings with 31 catches, 10 more than any other player.
Rory Cotterill, who captained Middlesbrough second XI during a 29-run defeat by Saltburn last month, responded to a social media post containing the video and alleged two further incidents of cheating by Saltburn in that match.
The original video of the incident has had more than three million views on X, with publications in Australia and New Zealand among those to report it.
The BBC has contacted the league and Saltburn. Norton declined to comment.
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