In his heyday, Quinnell was a force of nature with his rampaging ball-carrying the stuff of legend in Llanelli and while impressive inheritors David Lyons, Alix Popham and Ben Morgan had their moments, the Scarlets have never quite been able to fill his void.
But Kalamafoni could be just what the doctor ordered with the 37-times capped Tonga international as abrasive as they come.
The back-row forward recently moved to the region from Leicester Tigers and will be a key figure when the Scarlets face one of the toughest tasks in European club rugby this weekend.
On Saturday night they will be at the Stade Felix Mayol to take on a gigantic Toulon side in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup – a clash that is live on S4C.
In his three seasons at Welford Road the 32-year-old Kalamafoni made an incredible 721 carries – that’s 87 more than the next best player while he also made 629 tackles.
Those are the sort of stats head coach Glenn Delaney will be hoping Kalamafoni can hit for the Scarlets as he looks to get his new region on the front foot.
“Growing up I knew about the Scarlets and I had a lot of respect for Scott Quinnell who was one of the top No 8’s around,” says Kalamafoni.
“His are big boots to fill but, hopefully, I can bring something close to what he did for the club.
“I’ll bring a high work rate to the squad and I can bring some extra physicality both sides of the ball.
“I would like to pride myself on my ball-carrying and physicality. As a back-rower, your work rate has got to be top notch and you have to carry hard which is what I love doing.
“I love the physical side of the game and I pride myself on getting over the gain-line and making an impact. I think I can bring something different to the other players and I want to help the Scarlets be successful.”
There’s a familiar feeling to this fixture against the French giants with the sides having faced each other eight times in European competition over the past six seasons.
The Scarlets have only won two of those contests, but have been highly competitive in all the fixtures.
Kalamafoni is adamant, however, the west Walians have enough to triumph this weekend.
“I’ve been really impressed with the talent we’ve got here in the back-row,” he adds. “Blade Thomson is somebody who has really stood out for me.
“He brought a lot of his experiences from New Zealand and he’s a top-quality player. He’s an absolute nuisance to play against and he’s so skilful around the park.
“I knew there’d be a lot of competition and there’s quality throughout the squad. We just need to use those qualities in the game on Saturday and I have every confidence we will do that.
“Toulon will be very physical as they have some big boys in their forwards. We have to match them physically and more to get on top of them because otherwise it will be a dog fight.
“This game will go to the wire and we need to really front up.”
Toulon may not have the star-studded cast of years gone by, but they still have quality throughout their team and huge experience with the likes of Italian legend Sergio Parisse.
“It will be a hell of a tough battle in the back-row because they’ve got some serious class and power there with guys like Facundo Isa and Sergio Parisse,” says Kalamafoni.
“This is an exciting time for us because these European knock-out games are really special.
“There is a big prize at the end of it. First we’ve got an extremely tough challenge ahead of us with Toulon, but I’m confident.”
A veteran of the 2011 World Cup, Kalamafoni moved to Parc y Scarlets in July and says he was eager to sample Welsh rugby.
“Scarlets were the first side who came in for me when I was out of contract at Leicester,” he said.
“My agent found the Scarlets and I had worked with Glenn Delaney in the past when I was at Nottingham which was my first professional club.
“When the Scarlets came up it was a no-brainer to reconnect with him. I knew Scarlets are a very good team who play an expansive style of rugby.”
