Fijian outside half joins

By Jason Harris
August 1 2002

Nicky Little, the Fijian internaional outside half, has been confirmed as a Sarries player. The New Zealand-born player joins the Men in Black on a two year contract from Welsh side Pontypridd.

The 25 year old nephew of All Blacks centre Walter Little, has been capped 46 times by Fiji, the native land of his father and arrives with the full backing of enthusiastic head coach Wayne Shelford:

"Nicki Little is a fantastic player" said Shelford "He has tremendous ability and we’ve not seen the best of him yet. He can create holes and put other players into space."

A contemporary of no lesser lights than current Kiwi internationals Jonah Lomu and Doug Howlett during his time in the New Zealand junior set-up, Little decided to represent Fiji at senior level and hasn't looked back, scoring over 500 points in his test rugby career.

Little likes the physical aspects of rugby and cites the contact elements in the game as one of the reasons for playing. In short, he likes the big hits. Sale, a club with whom he played previously in the Zurich Premiership, rated him as one of their best defensive players during his stint up at Heywood Road.

Looking ahead to his new adventure with Saracens, he is very keen to get stuck in and travel with the squad to Japan later in August:

"I can’t wait to meet up with the rest of the guys and get involved in the pre-season programme, especially with the to tour to Japan" he said. "I know a few of the New Zealand guys that play out there, and I’ve played some Tests there with Fiji, so I know that we’ll face a challenge on the pitch."

Little is the third player to join Saracens from a Welsh club this season. Craig Quinnell came from Cardiff and Johnny Marsters, another with Kiwi connections, made his move from Swansea. And Little is seziing his chance to go places with what he sees as a big club and wants to give it his all:

"In this new age of professional rugby, I don’t want to let anyone down, particularly myself, my family, my employers or the fans. I want to do what I can do, and enjoy winning".

Having already joined his new team mates at the Bramley Road training ground, Nicky Little will battle it out with Andy Goode for the starting no10 shirt this coming season.