GLASGOW Warriors have been given a significant boost for next season with the capture of international winger Lelia Masaga. The 30-year-old New Zealanders, who has signed a two-year contract subject to a medical and a visa, will join from the Chiefs at the end of the current Super Rugby season.

Capped once by the All Blacks back in 2009, Masaga won two Super Rugby titles with the Waikato outfit in 2012 and 2013. New Warriors coach Dave Rennie, who like his new signing will arrive in Scotland once his current Super Rugby commitments are over, was Chiefs coach in both those years.

“I’m excited to be joining my new club Glasgow Warriors in August,” Masaga said yesterday. “I'm looking forward to being there under Dave Rennie as head coach, to be part of a great team of players and to meet all the fans who support the club. I can't wait to start this new journey in Scotland.”

Masaga is the team’s fifth signing for the new season following Huw Jones, Callum Gibbins, Oli Kebble and Adam Hastings. “Lelia is an experienced and powerful player who has proven himself at the highest level in Super Rugby,” new Warriors assistant coach Jason O'Halloran said. “He knows Dave well through their time together at the Chiefs and will be an excellent addition to our squad.”

Meanwhile, Mike Blair, who will stay as an assistant coach with Glasgow next season as well as working as part of Gregor Townsend’s national coaching team, is confident the dual role will bring him the best of both worlds. The 36-year-old, who will be with Scotland around internationals and on some selected other days, will still spend more than half his time with the Warriors.

The ex-scrum-half was a full-time coach for the first time last season after hanging up his boots in 2016 at the end of his first season back with Glasgow, and he is confident he can learn a lot over the next couple of years from working with both Townsend and Rennie. “The thing for me at this stage of my career is I’ve got one year’s coaching under my belt, and the opportunity to continue to work and build my relationship with Gregor through Scotland and have experience of coaching at that level is something that I’m really keen to do,” Blair said.

“From a club point of view, the opportunity to work with Dave Rennie, Jason O’Halloran and Jonathan Humphreys is brilliant learning for me. Hopefully that’s going to give me a good kickstart to my coaching career. I feel I’ve got lots to offer at the moment to both Scotland and Glasgow, but from a learning point of view as well it means that the extra work is definitely going to be worth it because of what I’ll learn from the two different camps.

“I’m pleased with my progress, but I feel I’ve got a long way to go. This two years is really key for me, because at the start of your career is where you get most of your learning from. I’m aware I need to keep improving.

“Hopefully I’ve been doing something right, but I’m not naive enough to think I’ve cracked it by any means. But at the moment I think I’ve got stuff to give and I want to keep on improving.”