Tigers Take on Bad Boy Faumuina

Castleford are the latest Super League club to take a chance on Sione Faumuina, a maverick New Zealander who has previously left Harlequins in the lurch and whose checkred past includes dismissal by one club for "serious misconduct involving alcohol".

The 27-year-old, who was a huge disappointment to Hull during a three-match stint at the end of the 2005 season and was given a final warning by his current club, the North Queensland Cowboys, after rolling his car in a single-vehicle accident after a night out last month, has agreed a one-year contract with the Tigers despite interest from French rugby union.

"We're aware that there is a bit of history, but he's asked for an opportunity and the fact that it's a one-year deal is important here," said the Castleford chief executive Richard Wright. That history includes dismissal by the New Zealand Warriors in 2006 after a series of breaches of the club's alcohol code, one of them at a testimonial event for Awen Guttenbeil, the impeccably-behaved Kiwi veteran whom he will replace at The Jungle next year.

Faumuina then signed a three-year contract with Harlequins only to leave London for personal reasons without playing a game on the eve of the 2007 season, although he has since restored some of his reputation at the Cowboys. Castleford are gambling that their coach Terry Matterson, who has known the ball-playing forward since he was a junior, can tame one of the game's more notorious figures.

He will be the Tigers' third overseas recruit for next season, joining Rangi Chase and Dean Widders. With Mitchell Sargent, Michael Korkidas, Brent Sherwin and Ryan McGoldrick also signed the club are expected to release their long-serving hooker Andrew Henderson and the stand-off Luke Dorn.

Warrington confirmed yesterday that their 35-year-old Kiwi prop, Paul Rauhihi, will play for one more season in 2009, while the rugby union sevens veteran, Waisale Serevi, will make an intriguing league debut for Fiji in the Carnegie Floodlit Nines at Headingley next Wednesday.