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Nemani Nadolo said he faced the prospect of early retirement when he told Leicester Tigers that he wanted to leave and return to Australia.
The Fiji winger, 34, told head coach Steve Borthwick of his desire to cut his time with Tigers short before last season’s play-offs as they closed in on an 11th Premiership title.
His mid-season exit to join Waratahs was not confirmed until August.
“I am lucky, I count my stars that I managed to get a club,” Nadolo said.
“I’ll be brutally honest with you, I went to Steve and told him my situation – it was my family first.
“In a normal world you would have something lined up to go to. I didn’t have a club,” he added to BBC Radio Leicester.
“I had a few conversations with my wife about potentially, maybe, retiring. It wasn’t until five, six months down the track, that I was fortunate enough to sign with a club in Australia.
“You can imagine, at the time we were doing really well, on our way to potentially playing in the semi-finals. It was nerve-wracking at times, I was weighing up either retirement or finding something in Australia.”
Nadolo signed for Tigers from French club Montpellier in 2020 – a move which saw him relocate to the East Midlands during a period of heavy Covid restrictions to join a Leicester side that was struggling on the field.
He has gone on to score 16 tries in 35 Premiership appearances for Leicester, helping in Tigers’ remarkable rise from being a relegation-threatened side to champions.
Nadolo was Tigers’ top try scorer in the league last season with 10, but did not feature in the Premiership final win against Saracens.
The winger has scored two tries in four games this season and says the decision to leave midway though the campaign has “made me work harder”.
“It wasn’t an easy call,” he said. “I am leaving midway through the season.
“The biggest factor was my family. We’ve endured some stuff off the field. It was a move for my wife to move home, we’ve got some stuff we need to address back home in Australia.
“The toughest thing for me was that fact I don’t have that long left here.
“I am kind of torn, if that makes sense. Happy that my wife and my family are going home and going to be closer to my family. But Tigers have been my family here as well.”
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