Leinster's Michael Ala'alatoa prioritising family in switch to Top 14

The 32-year old Samoan will join Clermont Auvergne.

ON THE MOVE: Michael Ala'alatoa during a Leinster Rugby squad training session at UCD this week. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Leinster tighthead prop Michael Ala’alatoa has confirmed that he will be joining French giants Clermont Auvergne at the end of the current campaign after what will by then have been three full seasons with the Irish province.

The 32-year old Samoan’s impending move had already been signposted by the French media but the player confirmed the news and gave his take on the switch this week ahead of Saturday’s Champions Cup meeting with Sale Sharks at the RDS.

Ala’alatoa admitted to mixed feelings and claimed to have spent more than one night weighing up the matter in his mind before opting for a move which, given the demand for Test-level tightheads on the open market, will undoubtedly pay well.

“It was far from an easy decision,” he explained. “I'm not young anymore and I had to think about my family and to put my family first and the more you're away from home as well... Home is so far away, so there were a lot of things I had to think about.

“And of course the quality of this team, there's not many teams like [Leinster]. To decide to leave was tough and I've tried to avoid thinking about it for now because I just want to be dialled in on what we're doing now and worry about the emotional side of it later.” 

The Samoan international has played 53 times for the province so far with 25 appearances made in his first campaign and 22 in the second. That’s a good stock of work although the sense is that he has not quite set the world alight since moving over from the Crusaders.

The low point to date was an obvious one: the red card received with mere minutes to go in last season’s Champions Cup final against La Rochelle when Leinster were on the French line and desperate for what would have been the winning score.

Referee Jaco Peyper was left with no choice but to send Ala’alatoa to the stands for charging into the ruck in a dangerous manner and making contact with the head area of replacement prop Georges-Henri Colombe.

Ala’alatoa managed a full 80-minute shift away to La Rochelle last Sunday, in what was Leinster’s first ‘European’ tie since that day in May, but he wasn’t of a mind to link the two occasions after that redemptive win.

“I did take the final pretty badly. Obviously [the red card] had a big bearing on the game. We were looking like we were going to score and all that, but to be honest [last Sunday] just felt like a different game altogether. I didn’t think it affected my preparation at all, to be fair.

“In terms of redemption, not really. We have bettered them and that’s good, but at the same time we’re still in the pool stages of Europe. We can’t get ahead of ourselves, we’ve still got a really important game this week to play.” 

Ala’alatoa will be moving to a league which features plenty of fellow Samoans and Pacific Islanders but he will be made to earn his corn and he could afford a little joke this week about the “grind” that will come with playing 40-odd games a year over there.

That’s after he finishes his work with Leinster and the fact of it is that he has yet to lift a single piece of silverware in his time with the Dublin-based club. Changing that will be a priority for player and for the club at large in the next six or so months.

“That's what is motivating me for this season, to leave on a high and do something really special. During my time here we've come close twice but haven't come away with anything, so that's my motivation for this season, to leave on a high.”