New Zealanders were distraught when they lost promising All Black Charles Piutau. The 23-year-old has a bright future, and when he signed a deal to come to Ulster it was seen as a big loss to New Zealand. That's how good a deal that Ulster got.
But given the IRFU's rules on the number of non-Irish qualified players in the squad, Piutau wasn't able to join the northerners until June 2016. The presence of Louis Ludik, Ruan Pienaar, Nick Williams, Franco van der Merwe, and Wiehahn Herbst meant that Ulster are already over their quota of NIQs, so Piutau had to wait.
But his contract with the NZRU will expire at the conclusion of the World Cup, so what is Piutau to do until next season? He wasn't chosen in New Zealand's World Cup squad, meaning that Ulster could have been getting a player who hadn't played much rugby in nearly a year.
Not anymore, as Premiership side Wasps have announced the signing of the versatile back on a six-month deal. It's probably as good a development as Ulster could have hoped for. Now their star signing will be getting rugby time - whilst adapting to the northern hemisphere style of rugby in the Champions Cup.
