{"id":158497,"date":"2025-06-04T21:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T21:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/158497\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T21:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T21:21:13","slug":"taulupe-faletau-makes-decision-on-future-amid-overseas-interest-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/158497\/","title":{"rendered":"Taulupe Faletau makes decision on future amid overseas interest : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary Cardiff, Wales and British and Irish Lions back-row forward Taulupe Faletau has agreed terms on a contract extension with the Welsh capital outfit.<\/b><\/p>\n

There were fears that the 34-year-old, who will be out of contract at the end of June, may head overseas, but he has signed a new contract and will continue his illustrious career at Cardiff.<\/p>\n

Faletau joined Cardiff in 2022 when he returned to Wales following a six-year stint with Bath in the Premiership, after previously representing fellow Welsh region the Dragons from 2009 to 2016.<\/p>\n

Battled injury setbacks<\/p>\n

Injuries have curtailed his appearances to a mere 23 since making the move to Cardiff<\/a>, but he impressed when he returned to action in December and was hugely influential in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy to be staying with Cardiff and continuing to play my rugby here at home. Being part of this group of players has been amazing,\u201d said Faletau<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a good vibe on and off the pitch, and I really enjoy working with Matt Sherratt. His insights and support have challenged me to grow and improve.<\/p>\n

Cardiff sign \u2018technically excellent\u2019 and \u2018really passionate\u2019 pair of international tightheads<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying at the Arms Park is also truly special and the support we receive is brilliant. I\u2019m grateful for the continued opportunity and I\u2019m looking forward to what is shaping up to be an exciting year ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardiff head coach Sherratt was delighted that Faletau will continue his stint at the United Rugby Championship<\/a> side.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all delighted to be able to keep Taulupe at Cardiff and in Wales \u2013 and we\u2019re also delighted to secure the services of Javan (Sebastian) and Sam (Wainwright),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018One of the greatest players to pull on a Cardiff shirt\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cTaulupe is one of very few players who has real quality in every aspect of the game. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest players to pull on a Cardiff shirt and the red shirt of Wales and we are delighted he is staying with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

News of Faletau\u2019s decision to stay on at Cardiff will be good news for fans in Wales after he was reportedly on the verge of leaving Welsh rugby with a host of French clubs said to be interested in his services.<\/p>\n

According to a Wales Online report in March, Pro D2 strugglers Nice were one of the clubs vying for his signature, with chairman Jean-Baptiste Aldig\u00e9 keen to make another splash on the player market after the club signed Fijian centre Waisea Nayacalevu for the 2025\/26 season.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The \u2018great appointment\u2019 Wayne Pivac wants as the new Wales head coach \u2013 and it\u2019s not interim boss Matt Sherratt<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary Cardiff, Wales and British and Irish Lions back-row forward Taulupe Faletau has agreed terms on a contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[13416,225,12,4151,79,20246,16,15,4510,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-158497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-cardiff-rugby","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-taulupe-faletau","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-united-rugby-championship","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114627194551832390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}