One of the world’s most exciting wingers has joined Glasgow Warriors on a two-year-deal.

Samoan flyer Lome Fa’atau joins the Warriors from Super 14 side Wellington Hurricanes with whom he reached the final of last season’s Super 14 Championship, ending up as the tournament’s top try scorer to boot (9).

Warriors head coach Sean Lineen said: “Our growing number of supporters will be impressed with Lome.

“We are going to have exceptional pace on the wings next season and there will be great competition for places out wide.

“He came over for a three week period during the summer to show how keen he was before joining the Samoan Rugby World Cup squad.

“He’s a good lad and a good leader. I’m positive he’s going to entertain the crowd with his exciting brand of rugby.”

Fa’atau will join his fellow Manu Samoa internationalists Justin Va’a and Opeta Palepoi at the Warriors.

He said: "I’m really looking forward to the new challenge of playing rugby in the Magners League and in Europe in the Heineken Cup for Glasgow. Justin Va’a and Opeta Palepoi, my Samoan team mates, both talked very positively about playing and living in Scotland.

“When I visited last month I was impressed by Sean Lineen's ambition and vision for Glasgow and am really looking forward to arriving after the World Cup and making a big contribution to Glasgow's season."

One of the most visually stunning rugby players in the world, due to his pe’a – a traditional tattoo covering most of the skin from waist to knees – Fa’atau will arrive in Glasgow after Manu Samoa’s Rugby World Cup campaign.

Lome only started playing rugby after leaving college, where he specialised in basketball, but his elusive running style and pace soon saw his rugby career take off from playing with local Wellington side Marist St Pat’s to making his NPC debut for Wellington in 1999.

Following a stint with Taranaki, where he became the top try scorer in the province, he returned to Wellington and made his Hurricanes debut in the Super 12 in 2002.

He moved to the Chiefs in 2004 before again returning to the Hurricanes and in the meantime, made his international debut for Samoa in 2002 and appeared in all but one of Samoa’s Rugby World Cup matches in 2003.

He most recently appeared in Scotland last November as a member of the Pacific Islanders team who played in the Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Tests.

Lome Fa’atau
Position: Wing
Born: 23.10.75 in Wellington, New Zealand
Height: 6ft (1.83m)
Weight: 14st 6lbs (92kg)
Caps: 38 (33 for Manu Samoa, 5 for Pacific Islanders)

This article was posted on 13-Aug-2007, 12:04 by Hugh Barrow.