Saracens could face Ma’a Nonu, the two-time World Cup-winning New Zealand centre, in the Champions Cup last-16 after Toulon signed the 42-year-old as a medical joker until the end of the season.
Nonu’s last on-field appearance was in the July 2024 conference semi-final of Major League Rugby, where the New Zealander’s San Diego Legion lost at Seattle. Although the centre never officially retired, his return to the French Top 14 aged 42 still marks an extraordinary career revival.
Nonu, whose final and 103rd cap for New Zealand came in the 2015 World Cup final victory at Twickenham, has already had two spells on the Côte d’Azur, 2015 to 2018 and 2020 to 2021, and it was the centre’s presence among the coaching staff – Nonu spent a fortnight shadowing Toulon’s coaches – which compelled head coach Pierre Mignoni to bring the All Black on board.
The former Hurricanes centre, who played at the 2003 World Cup, has returned to his native New Zealand for a fortnight to continue training and to see his family with a view to returning to Toulon after the Six Nations. Nonu is nominally medical cover for France flanker Charles Ollivon, who is out for the season with a knee injury, but former Bristol centre Antoine Frisch is also a long-term absentee owing to a broken leg.
For Mignoni, it is simple. Toulon have not signed a “Panini figurine” but someone who Mignoni believes, after much testing, is ready for the rigours of the Top 14, even at 42. Saracens travel to Toulon in the European last 16 on April 5, meaning Nonu could theoretically be available for selection.
“When Ma’a came here, it was not to become a player,” Mignoni, himself a former Toulon scrum-half, told Midi Olympique. “That was not the plan. He came to immerse himself and observe the staff. That is the truth. But, then we learnt about Antoine’s injury – it is not clear whether his season is over or not – and then the idea came to me about Ma’a.
“After making a decision like that, we had to look at it closely. We had to assess whether he was psychologically ready. We also tested his fitness. We made him do some tests and we evaluated what he was capable of doing today, after training for less time than what he will do going forward. Then, medical tests, then mental. Does he really want it? Can he really be in the team day to day? I’ve seen how he’s integrated over a fortnight and there are very few players in the world who would have been able to do that. It’s rare.
“He will arrive during the Six Nations break, or just after. I am convinced that Ma’a, even without having played, can have an impact on the other players. I saw it over the past fortnight. People here have seen Ma’a just as he was during his first two stints with Toulon, when I was not here. The team will continue to operate with him or without him, but I think we will be a bit better with him. Maybe five or 10 per cent, I do not know.
“In Ma’a Nonu, we have not recruited a Panini figurine. Our club does not need that. We are on another course, we’re going pretty well right now and we have simply asked whether this man, this player, this personality could take us a bit further. Today, after mental and physical tests and the fortnight he has spent here, I say he can. He has not played, but I say yes, 100 per cent.”
