The new and improved Lote thread

Benji put the Tiger in my tank, says Lote CHRIS BARRETT
March 2, 2010
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LOTE TUQIRI has hailed the long-term re-signing of Benji Marshall at the Wests Tigers, revealing last night that the opportunity to play alongside the New Zealand captain was one of the major attractions of joining the club.

Preparing for his final match in rugby with Guinness Premiership ladder leaders Leicester against London Irish this weekend after being granted an early release by the club, the dual international said he had been licking his lips as he watched DVDs of Marshall's line breaks and tries sent to him by Tigers coach Tim Sheens.

Marshall last week signed a four-year extension at the Tigers, meaning he will remain at the club until at least 2016.

''He was definitely a drawcard and for him to basically sign his life away to the Tigers is great and a real stamp or mark of approval for the club,'' Tuqiri said last night. ''The chance to play alongside him was one of the reasons I signed, and to know he's going to be round for good is great.

''To be playing off him and that back line will be awesome. He is a class act in every way and I think he will only grow into a legend of the club and the game.''

Tuqiri said he and his family would fly to Sydney ''ASAP'' after Leicester's clash with London Irish on Saturday. He is likely to arrive about five days before the Tigers' round-one NRL encounter with Manly on March 15 at the SFS.

''I've been talking with [chief executive] Stephen Humphreys and Tim Sheens but I'm keen to get back and get involved with the team - get to know the guys,'' he said. ''Watching the DVDs that Tim has given me has been really good.''

Eight years after he departed rugby league for the 15-man game, Tuqiri says he is ''bloody pumped'' to return to a code in which he can test himself against a new brigade of stars such as Jarryd Hayne and Israel Folau.
 
I thought I might see him around London Heathrow since I am flying to Sydney this weekend - was going to try get my mug on TV when he is greeted by the media storm in Sydney…
 
@Centaur said:
I thought I might see him around London Heathrow since I am flying to Sydney this weekend - was going to try get my mug on TV when he is greeted by the media storm in Sydney…
Click to expand...

Let me guess….........Wests Tigers jersey....

P.S....Willow .........your Avatar was quite cute at the start....now it's just bugging the hell out of me.......stupid monkey.......

Go Lortay..... :wahoo:
 
@Geo. said:
@Centaur said:
I thought I might see him around London Heathrow since I am flying to Sydney this weekend - was going to try get my mug on TV when he is greeted by the media storm in Sydney…

Let me guess….........Wests Tigers jersey....
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

You got it! I was even going to offer to carry his bags…
 
I can see Tuqiri and Lawrence in the centres. It would be a dominant pairing.

I can also see Lote at fullback or on the wing.

When Tuiaki gets back and hits form we will have some weapons to attack with.
 
Benji can't wait to link up with Lote
GLENN JACKSON
March 4, 2010

LOTE TUQIRI signed with Wests Tigers partly to play with Benji Marshall, and yesterday Marshall revealed the feeling was mutual.

''I'm just as excited to play with Lote as I hope he is to play with me,'' Marshall said.

Marshall said one of the reasons he re-signed to stay at the Tigers until the end of 2015 was because of the recruitment at the club, which has netted Englishman Gareth Ellis and Tuqiri in successive years.

Tigers coach Tim Sheens has said the signings of Ellis and Tuqiri are part of a three-year plan. Another representative-class player is wanted as the third instalment, to join the club in 2011\. Marshall said he hoped his deal could attract the next player as it did Tuqiri, who told the Herald from Leicester that the Kiwi five-eighth was one of his main attractions at the club.

Marshall said yesterday: ''That's part of the reason I wanted to re-sign for so long, to attract other players to the club as well. To have him [Tuqiri] able to start the season, and he'll probably slot straight in, it's pretty exciting as a player to get the chance to play with him. You know what he's done in his career. I'll just do my job and get him some ball and we'll see what happens.''

Captain Robbie Farah, part of a nucleus of players at the club locked in long-term, until the end of 2013, believed the recruitment drive had given the Tigers their best roster since 2005, their premiership year.

''Gareth is one of the best back-rowers in the world, in my opinion, and Lote's a superstar. Hopefully next year we can add to that with another player of representative calibre,'' Farah said. ''Hopefully that'll take us a long way to getting another premiership.

Farah said it would be the ''ultimate failure'' should the Tigers miss the finals this season, as they have done every year since their triumph. And he believed Sheens had assembled a squad capable of not just making the finals, but winning the competition.

The core of the Tigers squad is based around their hooker, halfback, five-eighth and fullback combination, and the club took another step towards stability in the positions by re-signing No.7 Robert Lui for two more seasons yesterday.

Sheens plans to play Tuqiri on the wing initially, with a view to shifting him to fullback eventually.
 
Tuqiri warns flashy Tigers to stop leaking points
CHRIS BARRETT
March 6, 2010

AMID the hoopla surrounding Wests Tigers' acquisition of Lote Tuqiri comes a reality check. Tuqiri's arrival at Concord Oval promises to light up further a back line of unquestionable pizzazz and scoring potential, but the dual international says the Tigers must improve the other major dimension of their game if they are to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time since their premiership year of 2005.

''You can score all the tries in the world but the one thing they really need to pick up is their defence,'' Tuqiri told the Herald from Leicester before his final rugby game with the Guinness Premiership leaders this weekend. ''That's only [said] from a long way away but if we can get that right, anything is possible.''

Figures from NRL Stats prove the Tigers' attack lacks little in strike power - they placed third (23.2 points scored per game) in that category last season, and fifth (22) in 2008\. However, they missed the play-offs on both occasions, and even though a succession of agonisingly close defeats last year was chiefly to blame for their ninth-placed finish, leaking points has been a concern for the Tigers ever since they lifted the trophy 4½ years ago.

Even when they won the competition in 2005, on the back of the league's most potent attack, the Tigers conceded 22 points per game, far from the benchmarks set by premiers Melbourne last year (14.3), Manly in 2008 (13.6) and the Storm in 2007 (10.9).

In the three seasons that followed, the Tigers finished each time with the sixth-worst defence (conceding 23.5 points per game in 2006; 23.4 in 2007; and 23.3 in 2008). There was noticeable improvement last season, with the Tigers cutting their average to 20.1 points conceded each match - the seventh-best in the NRL - but there remains work to be done.

''We sometimes put pressure on our defence because of our attacking style,'' Tigers captain Robbie Farah said. ''Dropped ball and sets not completed … that stuff can really put extra pressure on you. I'm not saying we won't be playing any less entertaining but at some points we've got to be a little bit smarter.''

Tuqiri is likely to arrive back in Sydney on Tuesday or Wednesday and will suit up on the wing for the Tigers if he is deemed fit and ready for their first-round match against Manly on Monday week.

''We're going to have a pretty exciting back line when he gets here,'' Farah said. ''He might take a couple of weeks to adjust to the intensity and speed of the NRL but he'll slot in pretty well, I think.''

Tuqiri, who has scored three tries in 13 appearances for Leicester leading into his farewell match against London Irish in the early hours of tomorrow morning (Sydney time), said he was excited to lend an experienced hand to a Tigers back line brimming with ability. ''Blokes like [Chris] Lawrence, [Tim] Moltzen, [Blake] Ayshford … there's some real talent there,'' he said. ''They are young but with the experience I've got I hope I can sort of help out.''

He said he was grateful Leicester had granted him a slightly early release from his contract in England to allow him to be available for the NRL first round.

''It's quite fortunate that [Leicester] have been knocked out of a few competitions,'' Tuqiri said. ''I'm quite lucky, the boys have a week off next week, and the club has been really good in letting me go. It will be a sad farewell - my family and I have had a great time over here. But it's good to be going back.''
 
:laughing: :laughing: A Rugby Winger giving his 2 bobs worth on defense….Priceless....

I'm liken' Lortay ......More and More by the minute!!!!!!
 
Media reports suggest he got through ok. Set up a slashing try apparently. But that wouldn't be to hard in a game like Yawnion.
 
i think with folkes here now our defence will be vastly improved by round 10, id expect us to be in the top 4-5 defensively this year, and lote is only saying what we are all thinking/been saying for the last 3 years
 
from the BBC:

Leicester then scored one of the tries of the season, with a breathtaking move, started from a stolen line-out by Calum Green well inside their own half.

The ball quickly found its way to Lote Tuqiri who powered forward in a weaving run at speed before feeding Hamilton, who cut back outside to finish brilliantly in the corner.

It was a fitting tribute to Tuqiri's distinguished Leicester career in his last appearance in a Tigers shirt before he leaves Welford Road to play rugby league for Wests Tigers in Australia.
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Bring in on Baby!!!!!!
 
I just had a quick squiz of the Leicester forum and the fans are gutted that he is leaving.
He will be a GREAT buy for us!
not long!
 
Injury-free Tuqiri farewells rugby union

By David Beniuk AAP Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:24:49
Rugby league fans can lick their lips in anticipation after Wallabies discard Lote Tuqiri came through his farewell to the 15-man code unscathed and began preparations for his dramatic return to the NRL.

Tuqiri played strongly in English side Leicester's 35-19 win over London Irish on Sunday morning (AEDT) but, more importantly for the Wests Tigers, appeared to finish his seven-year stint in rugby injury free.

Sacked by the Australian Rugby Union last year after a controversial 67-Test Wallabies career, Tuqiri is now almost certain to be named by Tigers coach Tim Sheens for the NRL club's premiership opener against Manly on Monday week.

"Chances are I'll name him on Tuesday and then we'll work back from there," Sheens told AAP on Sunday.

Tuqiri is expected home midweek and Sheens said he would be checked by club doctors before a likely first training run with the Tigers on Friday.

The former Brisbane superstar's return will be a massive shot in the arm for the NRL and the Tigers' marketing machine, but Sheens is wary of the expectations on the 30-year-old.

"We've got a three-year contract and we expect him to work back into his rugby league rather than jump straight in.

"If he scored early and did well, it's still a long way before he settles back down into our game, it's been seven years or more.

"At the end of the day he's still got to settle down and get over that hype that will be around him arriving, let alone getting into the game and playing.

"I don't care who you are, those things can sidetrack you very easily and I'm not expecting and nor am I asking people to expect the world from him."

Asked if he was relieved Tuqiri had come through his last game of rugby union uninjured, the coach said: "I'm more relieved that he's on his way back and we can get on with sorting out our season."

English media lauded Tuqiri for his contribution to rugby union.

"He was banished from Australian rugby union for unspecified naughtiness, his time at Leicester is up and he now returns to rugby league as one of two players from that code out of about 90 who managed to step up to union as proper world class performers," The Times' Stephen Jones wrote.

Tuqiri told media in the UK he would miss the English Premiership.

"My wife and I are both quite sad and it will be tough to leave," The Leicester Mercury reported him as saying.

"The fact that I was going back home clinched it but Leicester made it very hard.

"It has been really cold and the experience with driving a car in this weather and clearing the snow and ice off the windows is something that will stay with me.

"I was only here for a short time and I enjoyed the novelty of it. If I was here for a year or two, I suppose I would quickly get sick of it.

"When I get home, I will get off the plane and go to the beach pretty quickly.

"Despite the weather, I have enjoyed playing here a lot more than I thought I would."
 
Is that a gee up…

Don't see Lote flying back cattle class do you...Skybed all the way...

A true Athlete sould be able to arrive Wednesday and good to go Monday...

Wasted Bench spot if he is on the bench...
 
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