THERE HAD BEEN much speculation about his future in recent weeks and now tighthead prop Michael Ala’alatoa has officially confirmed that he will be leaving Leinster at the end of the 2023/24 season to join ASM Clermont Auvergne in the Top 14.
According to a report in the French newspaper L’Equipe at the beginning of November, Clermont had ‘concretely’ positioned themselves to recruit the Samoan international. The exact nature of his contract with the three-time European Champions Cup finalists hasn’t been revealed just yet – L’Equipe had reported it was set to be a two-year deal – but it is now known that Ala’alatoa will be bringing his rugby career in a new direction from next summer onwards.
Since joining the Irish province in 2021 in the wake of a five-year spell in Super Rugby with Crusaders, the 32-year-old front-rower has made 53 appearances and contributed five tries. While admitting it was a difficult decision to make, a couple of factors ultimately persuaded Ala’alatoa to join the Clermont ranks for their 2024/25 campaign.
“I have committed to Clermont, but my focus is still here for this season and putting everything in here. That’s an opportunity that’s come up over the last few months and it’s mixed feelings because I love it here. I love this team, but the opportunity to play in France was an appealing one and one I had to consider. It’s one I’m looking forward to next year,” Ala’alatoa revealed in a Leinster media briefing on Tuesday.
“It was far from an easy decision. I’m not young anymore and I had to think about my family and to put my family first. Home is so far away, so there were a lot of things I had to think about and of course the quality of this team, there’s not many teams like this.
“To decide to leave was tough and I’ve tried to avoid thinking about it for now because I just want to be dialled in on what we’re doing now and worry about the emotional side of it later.
“Just talking to some of the boys, there’s a lot more Samoans and Pacific Islanders there [France], so it would be good to connect with a lot of those boys off the field. I guess the rugby is something I’m looking forward to around the forward play and that sort of thing, and the grind of playing 40 games a year! I’ve mixed feelings about that, but yeah.”
Despite his impending departure – and the presence of promising tightheads Thomas Clarkson and Rory McGuire within their ranks – it is anticipated that Ala’alatoa will have a big role to play between now and the end of his time with Leinster. Having started last Sunday’s victory away to La Rochelle in the absence of Tadhg Furlong, the Australian-born prop is expected to once again occupy the number three jersey when English Premiership leaders Sale Sharks pay a visit to the RDS in Pool D of the European Champions Cup tomorrow evening (kick-off 5.30pm).
Whereas Leinster picked up five pieces of silverware in the four seasons that preceded his arrival on these shores, Ala’alatoa is yet to collect a major trophy with his current employers. He has played some part in four narrow knockout defeats across the United Rugby Championship and the Champions Cup, but is hopeful of getting over the line in his third and final season with the Blues.
“That’s what is motivating me for this season, to leave on a high and do something really special. The time I’ve been here we’ve come close twice [in Champions Cup finals], but haven’t come away with anything. That’s my motivation for this season, to leave on a high.”
There is a lot of rugby left to play in the current term, but Leinster did pick up a significant scalp when overcoming Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle at Stade Marcel Deflandre last Sunday.
Last May’s Champions Cup final defeat to the same opposition was a particularly tough one for Ala’alatoa to deal with as he was red carded in the 78th minute when Leinster were on the attack and only trailing by a single point. While it is tempting to look upon their latest bout with the Top 14 outfit as redemption for both Ala’alatoa and Leinster (they previously lost out to La Rochelle for three seasons on the bounce), the man himself doesn’t necessarily see it this way.
“I did take the final pretty badly. Obviously it had a big bearing on the game. We were looking like we were going to score and all that, but to be honest it just felt like a different game altogether [last weekend]. I didn’t think it affected my preparation at all, to be fair,” Ala’alatoa added.
“In terms of redemption, not really. We have bettered them and that’s good, but at the same time we’re still in the pool stages of Europe. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. We’ve still got a really important game this week to play.”