Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie has confirmed that the club is interested in re-signing Fijian lock Leone Nakarawa, who spent three years in Glasgow from 2013 to 2016 and was an integral part of the team which won the Pro12 in 2015.

It was announced yesterday that Nakarawa has been sacked from Racing 92 after returning to the club late following the World Cup in Japan, with a move to Warriors certainly of interest to Rennie. However, it remains early days.

“He’s a fan favourite, he loved it here, the boys loved him, so if we can make it happen that would be brilliant.” said Rennie about potentially bringing Nakarawa back to Warriors.

“But obviously it’s only just become official (that Nakarawa has been sacked from Racing 92). So there’ll be a bit of follow-up now.”

Nakarawa’s late return to France was reportedly due to him building as house in Fiji, which was not yet finished. He was suspended at that point, but has now had his contract terminated, with Racing saying in a statement that the 31-year-old, who was named European Player of the Year last year, had demonstrated ‘a total lack of team spirit and a marked insubordination’ before then accusing him of ‘abandoning his post’ by not responding to messages from the team’s management.

Warriors will not be the only side fighting for Nakarawa’s signature but the fact he retains a number of good friends in Glasgow, in particular Ryan Wilson who he is extremely close with, should surely help Rennie’s cause.

The head coach confirmed he has not spoken to Nakarawa personally but contact between the club and the player or his representatives will certainly be made. And the budget must be made available to sign a player of such quality but Rennie knows Warriors will face stiff competition to secure the Fijian’s services.

“We’ll be dipping into everyone’s pockets,” Rennie said of getting the money to entice Nakarawa.

“From what I understand though, the whole of Europe are making phone calls to his agent, so we’ll see how that pans out.”

Were Warriors to persuade Nakarawa to return to Glasgow, it would be perfect timing for a club which has a less than perfect start to their season. Currently, they are lying in fourth place in their Pro14 conference with only three victories to their name, while in the European Champions Cup, they defeated Sale in round one before suffering a heavy defeat to Exeter two weeks ago.

With a brace of Champions Cup games against La Rochelle coming up, as well as a double-header against Edinburgh fast approaching, the signing of Nakarawa would be a timely boost for the club.

However, Rennie’s immediate focus is Saturday’s clash with La Rochelle, which he admits is vital if they want to keep their Champions Cup hopes alive but that will, he says, not be easy.

“We need to win both these games against La Rochelle to still be in the mix going into January,” he said.

“They’re a pretty good team with a lot of impressive athletes. We’re aware of what’s coming, we expect them to be at full strength and we’re going there to give it a decent lick.”

Rennie has made ten changes in total to his side, with Fraser Brown in at hooker, lining up between props Alex Allan and Zander Fagerson. Callum Gibbins returns from injury at openside while

Scott Cummings will be alongside Jonny Gray in the second-row for the first time this season for Glasgow. Matt Fagerson comes in at number eight while behind the scrum, George Horne and Adam Hastings return after being rested for last weekend’s defeat by Leinster. Nick Grigg also comes into the side, as does DTH van der Merwe.