Transcript
JUSTIN FITZPATRICK - One of my old team mates at Ulster, Joe Veitayaki, a multi-capped international who is currently coaching and living in New Zealand currently and Joe and I got speaking and I said I was in the hunt for some outside backs and he said, what about Osea and I was very excited and we started a conversation with them and several conversations and here we are. We are very excited and pleased to have Osea join the strikers.
KORO VAKA'UTA - When will he be joining the team?
JF - In the next couple of months, we've just got to go through the best process with him, so as soon as we get all that paper work done and all the boxes ticked, we'll have Osea over here in Houston.
KV - He's obviously well known around the world and you guys were looking for some outside backs, what is it in particular that [you] thought, oh he's going to be a great fit for the club?
JF - Well it's multifaceted and obviously he's a lovely footballer. He brings a certain x factor that is invaluable to any team. Outside of that, he's a leader of men and comes with a lot of experience, dealing with pressure, playing in different environments and we felt that was very important to what we are building here.
KV - What kind of level will he be playing at with the Houston Strikers?
JF - We're one of the inaugural teams for Major League Rugby, this is going to be the highest club of rugby in the United States. Hard to gauge where that compares with New Zealand and club rugby, or Mitre [10] Cup or something like that, but we've got a range of guys here that play for the national team, that have played professionally overseas etc etc, so we're hoping to grow and expand the level of rugby along with the other clubs that are going to be playing in the inaugural season.
KV - And this pretty much in terms of commitments will take him out of Fiji Sevens representation?
JF - That's my understanding, yes. He's going to be here on a full-time basis and taking an exciting new step in his career.
KV - And speaking of Sevens, in your release you cited Olympic gold medal coach Ben Ryan for being amidst the discussion, what was his part?
JF - Ben was a great help for both parties in terms of helping understand where Osea was coming from in terms of negotiations and vice versa and helping us understand the premises that we were working at. I can't speak highly enough of Ben's role in helping us make this happen for both parties.
