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The San Diego Legion have stunned the rugby world with the signing of All Blacks centurion Ma’a Nonu for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. A two-time Rugby World Cup champion, the Wellington native is generally regarded as one of the world’s premier centers in the professional era.
Nonu made his test debut for New Zealand against England in June 2003. He would go on to win 103 test caps, winning 89% of those matches and scoring 31 tries. After collecting more than 100 Super Rugby caps for the Hurricanes and spending seasons with both the Blues and Highlanders, Nonu signed for French powerhouse Toulon following RWC 2015.
In his three seasons at Stade Mayol, Nonu played 58 Top 14 games and started 19 Champions Cup matches. He then made a surprise return to Super Rugby in 2019 with the Blues. Nonu’s impressive form led to calls for a return to the All Blacks for RWC 2019, but the 37-year-old ultimately missed out on what could have been his fourth World Cup.
The signing shades that of France star Mathieu Bastareaud in terms of profile. While the New York-bound Bastareaud is six years younger than Nonu, both remain formidable competitors who would be welcomed in any professional competition across the globe.
San Diego have assembled an impressive cast of characters since the close of the 2019 season, which saw them narrowly losing out to the Seattle Seawolves in a nail-biting final. Nonu will find himself in a backline with South African standouts Joe Pietersen and JP du Plessis, Eagles caps Dylan Audsley and Ryan Matyas, and new Australian signing Luke Burton.
