Last week we posted a clip of George Smith being smashed on his Premiership debut. Someone that contributed to the double tackle was massive Harlequins number eight, Mat Luamanu. On this occasion it was him with ball in hand, and Seremaia Bai on the receiving end.
The New Zealand born powerhouse was signed from Benetton Treviso just a few months ago. Before playing in Italy, he spent time with the Blues in Super Rugby in 2011, then went to Japan.
“In any squad you are always looking for a point of difference and we have no doubt that Mat can provide us with that,” said Harlequins Director of Rugby, Conor O’Shea.
“Mat’s sheer size, power and footballing ability will provide a very interesting challenge to teams in the Aviva Premiership and in Europe and we look forward to working with a player whose best years can still be ahead of him.”
Against Leicester Tigers 27-year-old Luamanu got the ball in space, so took on centre Bai.
It looks like a headclash (face clash?) was actually the reason for the Fijian falling to the floor, but there’s no doubt that the number eight is an absolutely huge unit, especially if the talk of him being around 140kg’s is to be believed.
Bai went way too high on a guy that powerful, and paid the price, as you can see in the video and gif. He actually had to leave the field after the clash, just five minutes into the match.
An impressive note is that Luamanu then got rid of the second tackler too, before offloading beautifully when he was actually taken down. He seems to be one to watch this season.
You can view the collision below, and a short highlights wrap beneath that
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