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https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/springbok-manie-libboks-next-move-has-been-confirmed\/ <\/p>\nmens<\/p>\n
united-rugby-championship<\/p>\n
PARIS, FRANCE – OCTOBER 15: Manie Libbok of South Africa reacts during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between France and South Africa at Stade de France on October 15, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Franco Arland\/Quality Sport Images\/Getty Images) https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/springbok-manie-libboks-next-move-has-been-confirmed\/ <\/p>\n
Japanese Second Divsion outfit, Hanazono Kinetsu Liners, have confirmed the signing of Manie Libbok<\/a> for next season.<\/p>\n RugbyPass first reported that the 20-times capped Libbok was heading to the Osaka-based club back in May, as Quade Cooper\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n The Japanese Second Division outfit missed out on promotion to Japan<\/a> Rugby League One last season after losing in the play-offs and have made some serious moves in the transfer market to capture the 2026 title.<\/p>\n Libbok will be joined amongst others by once-capped All Black, Peter Umaga-Jensen. The Hurricanes<\/a> midfielder\u2019s only Test appearance was against Australia<\/a> in October 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really excited to be joining the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners. It\u2019s a great opportunity for me to contribute to the team\u2019s success and do everything I can to help get the club back into the top division of Japanese rugby,\u201d said Libbok.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m also looking forward to working with the younger players and sharing my experience to help them grow and develop.<\/p>\n \u201cMost importantly, I can\u2019t wait to connect with the fans and become part of the Kintetsu community \u2014 both on and off the field. Thank you for the warm welcome. I\u2019m ready for the journey ahead!\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to Libbok and Umaga-Jensen, the Liners have announced six more new signings.<\/p>\n Two players have been recruited from the Gallagher Premiership, South African centre Burger Odendaal<\/a> (Northampton) and Scottish second-row, Kiran McDonald<\/a> (Newcastle).<\/p>\n South African loose forward Ryno Pieterse<\/a> has left Grenoble<\/a> to become part of the squad, while prop Shohei Hirano<\/a>, lock Shouma Makinouchi and scrum-half Keita Fujiwara have made the switch from rival Japanese clubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"mens united-rugby-championship PARIS, FRANCE – OCTOBER 15: Manie Libbok of South Africa reacts during the Rugby World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-282186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114896272356460867","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282186","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=282186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}