Chiefs winger Etene Nanai-Seturo could celebrate his 26th birthday next week by clinching an eve-of-season move to Top 14 outfit Perpignan before they kick off their campaign by entertaining Bayonne on September 6th.
The Stade Aimé Giral-based outfit parted company with former Wasps and Saracens ace Ali Crossdale and Louis Dupichot, who joined Agen at the end of last season, and are in the market for some more pace out wide. And they have got their sights on former All Blacks sevens star Nanai-Seturo.
The Auckland-born star, who has won New Zealand U20 honours, was part of the New Zealand 7s squad which won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics and gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast. Nanai-Seturo also won an All Blacks XV cap in 2023, scoring a try against a Japan XV.
He has played 64 times for the Chiefs in Super Rugby, scoring 20 tries, and played in the 2024 Super Rugby Final defeat to the Blues.
The winner of the Duane Monkley medal, as the best player in the NPC for Counties Manukau in 2023, has played 26 times for the Pukekohe side and scored 12 tries.
Nanai-Seturo, who also plays full-back, is the cousin of former Samoan international fly-half Tim Nanai-Williams, who has extensive experience of playing in France for Clermont Auvergne, Toulouse and AS Béziers Hérault.
He looked set for a career in the NRL after signing a five-year contract with the New Zealand Warriors as a 15-year-old, but wriggled his way out of it when New Zealand Rugby won a much-publicised tug-of-war.
Nanai-Seturo is now fit again after he injured his hamstring in the Chiefs’ first game of the season against the Blues and missed the next 15 rounds, returning for the win over the Highlanders on May 30th.
He has played in Counties Manukau’s first two games of the NPC season against Hawke’s Bay and Bay of Plenty, but might not play many more if he switches to France’s southernmost city.