After his side's excellent victory in yesterday's Pro12 final in Belfast, Glasgow Warriors coach Gregor Townsend let us into a little secret.
"Before the game I said to Leone Nakarawa, 'Leone I just want you going forward. I'll be very happy if you don't make an offload today' - two offloads, two tries, he delivered big time."
There's no doubt that offloading is key to the Fijian's game. A year ago at the RDS perhaps it was a little bit too key for him as Leinster were generally able to negate his effectiveness.
But a lot can change in 12 months and as Gregor points out, Leone thoroughly deserved his man-of-the-match award. Over the past couple of seasons I have come to call him "The Octopus" for the way he can find a way to stretch out a long arm to get the ball to a team mate so long after the tackle...
Nakarawa's offloads are so late I swear we've seen a couple tonight from last week's semifinal. #MUNvGLA #Pro12final
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) May 30, 2015
Yet it seems offloading is not his only skill! How many locks do you see displaying the footwork finesse you see in the above clip? Pretty neat improvisation as well if you ask me.
And of course we all know what referee Nigel Owens was probably thinking as Nakarawa completed his pass..."Hang on...maybe this IS soccer after all!"
Once more, from all of us here at HoR Manor, sincerest congrats to all from the WarriorNation for a magnificent triumph. We'll be posting a full writeup on the match itself for Monday lunchtime. JLP
HarpinOnRugby
