Marcus Smith sent Harlequins fans into over-drive and salivating about a potential of a raid on Brisbane Broncos for second-row star Jordan Riki with a six-word post on Instagram.
Riki tagged the England fly-half into a reply after Quins posted about their Champions Cup win over Glasgow Warriors at the Stoop on Saturday, saying, “@marcussmith10 that’s my dawg.”
Smith replies, “Appreciate you, brother, see you soon”, using signing and looking emojis, sending some fans into a frenzy at the prospect of New Zealand league international Riki making his way to London.
It seems unlikely that Riki, 25, who hails from Raglan on New Zealand’s North Island, will leave the NRL for the Premiership because he is under contract to the Broncos until 2027.
Riki, who is 6ft 3 in and weighs 16 stone, has made 89 appearances and scored 18 tries for the Broncos since his debut in 2020. He was an NRL Grand Finalist in 2023, but the Broncos were defeated 24-26 by the Penrith Panthers.
He picks up between £152,000 and £178,000 and is known for being one of the best kick chasers in the competition, but it seems a deal is unlikely to be happening.
Instead, was Smith referring to Riki’s club buying a stake in the Rugby League championship London Broncos, whom they had a controlling share in after buying into the then London Crusaders in 1994 and rebranding them as the Broncos?
Three years later, they sold the club to Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, who later sold it to David Hughes in a deal that saw them sponsor the club for two years in a deal worth £1m.
It’s not the first false start this weekend about an NRL star being linked with a cross-code after it was revealed in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph that Rugby Australia had been offered the chance to sign Parramatta Eels star Dylan Brown.
It was reported that Brown’s agent emailed Rugby Australia and 16 NRL clubs about his availability, but a union source told them: “There is little or no interest from our end.”
