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All Blacks fly-half Lima Sopoaga agrees deal to join Wasps

All Blacks fly-half Lima Sopoaga has agreed a move to Wasps. Kevin Barnes - CameraSport via Getty Images

Lima Sopoaga has agreed a move to Aviva Premiership club Wasps for next season.

As reported by The Times, details of the Highlanders playmaker's switch to the Ricoh Arena have been finalised, and he will become the latest All Black to leave New Zealand in his prime.

His arrival in Coventry could also convince Danny Cipriani, whose Wasps contract expires in the summer, that his future lies away from the club.

Sopoaga, 26, has amassed 16 caps for the All Blacks since making his Test debut in July 2015, but only two of those have come from the start as he has played a back-up role to Beauden Barrett.

He will follow in the footsteps of Charles Piutau, Steven Luatua and Aaron Cruden in electing to pursue his career outside of New Zealand while still an All Black, rather than play second fiddle for his country.

Sopoaga will join countryman Jimmy Gopperth in vying for the Wasps No. 10 shirt. Cipriani, meanwhile, has been subject to offers from several clubs in England and France as he decides what to do with his future.