Racing 92 have sacked Fiji international Leone Nakarawa after the player returned to the club late following his involvement in the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Nakarawa was due back at the club on Oct. 28 but instead returned over two weeks later without permission, with the club saying that the 31-year-old showed a “total lack of team spirit and a marked insubordination.”
“This decision, taken in consultation with the club’s sporting director, follows on from breaches of discipline from Nawarawa, who notably, was not present for the start of training scheduled on Oct 28,” the club said in a statement.
“Nakarawa refused to answer the messages that the club sent him after noting his unjustified absence and simply set his own date of return.”
Sources have told ESPN that English Premiership club Sale are interested in signing the forward, but it is also understood that another option could be a return to Glasgow Warriors, Nakarawa’s former side.
“The only star is the team and the individualistic attitude of Nakarawa is inconceivable,” the club added. “It denotes a total lack of team spirit and a marked insubordination.
Nakarawa, who joined Racing in 2016 from Glasgow Warriors, won the 2018 European Player of the Year award, which the club has said should have “encouraged him to be exemplary.”