AT a time when leading rugby players are crying out for a break, Newport's new captain, Simon Raiwalui (pictured), thrives on the sport being a 12-month game.

He is just back from playing for Fiji in the Epson Pacific Rim tournament ready to start his third season at Newport, this time as leader.

He made 31 appearances for the club last season, a few more in the Pacific Rim, which, together with friendlies and trials took his match total to around 45 in the year.

Yet players with the big Southern Hemisphere countries limit their appearances to around 30 and today the RFU and the English clubs struck a deal limiting their top players to 32 games a season.

"I've done it for the past five years now, but it doesn't seem to affect me," said Raiwalui, who regularly travels around 50,000 miles a year, spending 100 hours in the air between the UK, Fiji and Australia.

"You've just got to try to keep as fit as you can," he added, though something unusual happened this year -- he was injured twice.

He damaged ribs helping Newport win the Principality Cup final, missing the first Pacific Rim game against Tonga, and against Samoa he broke his nose and suffered cuts and concussion, forcing him to miss the Tonga return.

But he played in the other matches and helped his side beat Samoa 28-14 in the final. On the way he came up against Newport team-mate Rod Snow in the Canada match, but says, "We chatted before and after because we were staying in the same hotel in Japan, but we had a gentleman's agreement to stay away from each other during the game!" Raiwalui is looking forward to the challenge of captaining Newport, and has kept in touch with the club during the summer.

"Joost van der Westhuizen is a great boost, he's been one of the great players in world rugby for the last five or six years," he said.

"I've played against Chris Anthony, and he's a very good player as well. "Ian McIntosh came here last year and he's a great coach who will bring a lot of confidence."

Of his captaincy style, Raiwalui says, "I'm pretty quiet and I'll talk it out rather than slug it out.

"It's a great honour and a big responsibility which I'm glad to have. I learned a lot from Gary Teichmann, but I'm not stepping into his shoes.

"I've got to do my own thing and play my own game, not try to emulate Gary. It's going to be hard, but I'm looking forward to it."

And that will herald the start of another 12 months of rugby for the irrepressible Raiwalui.

New Zealander Henry Paul today officially makes the switch from rugby league to rugby union by joining Gloucester from Bradford Northern.

If Paul makes the elite England squad of 50-60 players (he has a residential qualification), he will play a maximum of 32 matches a year, including not more than 10 internationals.

That is part of the deal the RFU and Premier Clubs Ltd, sensitive to accusations that the games' stars are suffering burn-out due to too many matches, hammered out in the climax to more than four years of negotiations.