Tomane: I took a shot at Leinster and hoped for best

By Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh

Joe Tomane knew what he wanted, and sitting in Dublin wearing the new Leinster jersey, he’s got it.

The Samoan-born former Australia back has signed for the European champions — and nobody can say he didn’t earn it.

Tomane moved to France two years ago, uprooting himself and his wife, but with one year to go on his contract after last season ended, he knew he was on the unwanted list in Montpellier as French rugby policies began to bite hard.

After years of unrestricted importation of overseas players who had huge sums thrown at them, Bernard Laporte and the FFR are now trying to regain control, limiting the number of foreign players a team can play each week, and cutting back on salaries.

Sensing the future was going to be too many weekends in the stands, Tomane took things into his own hands and wooed Europe’s most attractive team.

“I actually approached Leinster!” he said, with a smile. “When I found out the news about what was happening me in France, I called my agent and asked: ‘if Leinster had any spots available next year, like I’d really like to go there’.”

The retirement of Isa Nacewa was always going to be tough to take for Leinster, but it was the dream news as far as Tomane was concerned.

“I sort of just hit my shot and hoped for the best. It all seemed to work out, which was awesome,” he said.

“I called Scott Fardy and told him my situation and said I’d be pretty keen if there were any spots open for me to come over here. I think he said he’d have a word with Leo.

“I sent all sorts of people out there for me to try and make this happen.

“I knew where I wanted to be, I wanted to go to a club that had a winning culture and playing Leinster the last two years in the European Champions Cup there was, I guess an aura about how they went about their business.

“I knew where I wanted to be and I’m just grateful it worked out for me.”

Once Montpellier’s fate was known, Leinster was the team Tomane would cheer — all the way to the final in Bilbao.

Watching them beat Racing the hard way, after a season of champagne rugby, Tomane knew this was a team where he could take home silverware.

“That’s why I came to Leinster,” he explained, “I lost a [Super Rugby] final with the Brumbies, lost a final with Montpellier, lost a World Cup final with Australia and we got smoked by the Lions [in 2013].

“I’m not a good omen in Australia, so hopefully things change here! I wanted to come to a place with a winning culture.

“I also see Leinster as a side that’s unbelievably clinical when it has to be, and one that can just mix it up when the going gets tough as well. It doesn’t matter what the game is like, they can adapt.”

Having turned down a possible return to Australia, just one year out from a World Cup, Tomane is likely to be welcomed with open arms by the Leinster support who have waved goodbye to Nacewa.

The Kiwi sat down with Tomane before returning home, and the Wallaby knows better than to say he’ll be the ‘next Isa’.

“The thing I have been using to my advantage is his knowledge of how to play the game and his experiences of playing here, but you can never replace someone like Isa,” he said.

“What he’s been able to achieve and the way he’s done it is probably something that will never be done again.

“The thing I need to focus on the most is being myself and allowing the Leinster community to know me as a person and as a rugby player.

“Then the rugby will take care of itself.”

The 2018/19 Leinster home and alternate jerseys are available exclusively from Life Style Sports. To join the conversation and discover the design inspiration for the jerseys, follow @lifestylesportsrugby and #LIVELEINSTER. The jerseys are available to preorder at Life Style stores and online at www.lifestylesports.com