Horacio Agulla looks like signing for Bath?

Yet another ex-Tigers player looks like joining the Bath retirement home for Tigers.

Yet I think he might still have a few miles in his legs.

Good signing if true, but we want/need a lot more.

Excellent signing for Bath if true, he is a real little wizard on the wing and sits down more people than you would think possible for a guy his size. Tigers fans are very sad to see him go but with his international ambitions he will be gone for the first half of every season.

Dear god no. Tell me it ain't so Hersh! No pace, no power, and not going to be around the the Tri Nations (or whatever it's called now). Worst signing ever if true.
I might start supporting Exe...

No power? He'll bump more people off than Banahan will I guarentee you that! Got more pace than you'd think as well.

He'll be playing in the 4N and then the AIs with Argentina so he'll be in the side for mid/late November.

I can't help but think the salary cap would be better spent else where.

That's very true Hersh. Bath have fairly decent options on the wings already with Banahan, Biggs, Woodburn and Cuthburt. Unless of course Agulla is also covering full back for you, it is his preferred position but he is a better winger.

I read that Agulla had several options, Bath (and I think LI) in england plus some french clubs. A sthe French transfer deadline has passed and I have not seen him signed up with anyone, the AP seems the most likely destination.

I desperately wanted Horacio to stay at WR.

What's the overlap between the SH international season and the NH IWs and HEC?

Bath's gain is Tigers' loss.

Portnoy wrote:I desperately wanted Horacio to stay at WR.

What's the overlap between the SH international season and the NH IWs and HEC?

Bath's gain is Tigers' loss.

first two rounds.

Not a winger, we need a centre god dammit! If this is true, I might mean that Banahan will be played in the centres again. It doesn't work, aaaargh.

Agulla has played 13 for Tigers and 15 for Argentina as well. He can cover several positions. His best position is on the wing though.

Yeah, cover for Bendy at FB would be good, but Agulla is good enough to start for any AP team, so would mean dropping Biggs, who has been in great form every game since he joined and Woodburn, who is a promising young talent and Banahan, who should come good again. Would be a waste of cap really, think it would be better spent on improving on Barkley or Hipkiss, rather than out wide.

Got to agree with you there Bathite a 12/13 would be a much better investment if the backline is where the coach wants to strengthen. I still think Bath are looking short in the backrow as currently they are far to relient on Louw to both carry and compete at the breakdown. The guy has been putting in some epic performances just to try and get Bath parity, it's about time he had a regular operator of a similar level in the backrow to help him out (Moody was obviously the intended option).

Agreed on the back row. Fearns form and injury free run should help, but neither him, Taylor or Skirving are big carriers or breakdown blokes. Louw was an absolute machine last year, even played 8 a few times for us as well. Apparently 2 signings left and if they aren't a back rower and or a centre, i'll be a very grumpy man!

More props I expect

Surprised at the tepid response to this news....Agulla was awesome for Leicester last season with players and fans campaigning to keep him at welford road....with the only reason they didn't keep him because of the rugby championship til Dec. He is only 27/28 and is a proven quality finisher in the AP...this is a great addition to our backline. We have Banahan, Biggs, Woodburn and Cuthbert its true but Agulla was better than all of these last season and will come back to the team in 2013 having played against Habana, Savea, Gear, O'Connor, Pietersen etc etc...

sirtidychris wrote:Surprised at the tepid response to this news....Agulla was awesome for Leicester last season with players and fans campaigning to keep him at welford road....with the only reason they didn't keep him because of the rugby championship til Dec. He is only 27/28 and is a proven quality finisher in the AP...this is a great addition to our backline. We have Banahan, Biggs, Woodburn and Cuthbert its true but Agulla was better than all of these last season and will come back to the team in 2013 having played against Habana, Savea, Gear, O'Connor, Pietersen etc etc...

It's been common knowledge for some months that Agulla was being released by the Tigers as he wouldn't be available during Argentina's national activities.

sirtidychris wrote:Surprised at the tepid response to this news

Good signing but....

Bath need to sort out the mess inside first. The pack needs to start performing, while the half backs and centres are iffy.
There are more dire needs in the squad than a Winger.
Signing ex Tigers has not worked for Bath so far.
Agulla will not have been cheap. He turned down offers from Racing Metro and Montpelier to sign for Bath.

Is this a late April fool's joke? Agulla's not a bad player but when there have been plenty of wingers on the market why him? I know the home away from home Tigers influence would have helped but still...

Signing players Tigers have cast off is not a good strategy! It certainly hasn't worked so far. Look at who the smarter clubs sign and follow suit.

Bath need strength in other areas much more.

He will only be available for half the season and is a winger who makes strettle look prolific (34 caps, 4 tries ...48 tigers games 8 tries). I can think of better ways of getting a reputation for signing leicester rejects

Bathite wrote:Agreed on the back row. Fearns form and injury free run should help, but neither him, Taylor or Skirving are big carriers or breakdown blokes. Louw was an absolute machine last year, even played 8 a few times for us as well. Apparently 2 signings left and if they aren't a back rower and or a centre, i'll be a very grumpy man!

Fearns is an excellent carrier and good at the breakdown. What do you think he does do if neither of these things?

If the rumour is true this is a decent signing for Bath - a really competent winger, not many thrills but will just do a consistently good job.

I wouldn't say he was renowned for huge carries or poaching on the deck. A very complete player, with no obvious weaknesses, but I guess that's why no one can really work out if he is a 6 7 or 8

Fearns needs a personal conditioning coach for the next couple of months. You can't know what the guy can do because he's blowing out of his backside after 30 minutes of a game. He's a big boy in the Haskell sort of mold, hard work and big tackles as well a hard yard carries seem par for the course. I haven't seen him show much at the breakdown but then again he also keeps a fairly low penalty count. Seems like he could fit in nicely at 6 or possibly 8 if his engine is upgraded in the summer and he shows he can make those carries all game.

sirtidychris wrote:Surprised at the tepid response to this news....Agulla was awesome for Leicester last season with players and fans campaigning to keep him at welford road....with the only reason they didn't keep him because of the rugby championship til Dec. He is only 27/28 and is a proven quality finisher in the AP...this is a great addition to our backline. We have Banahan, Biggs, Woodburn and Cuthbert its true but Agulla was better than all of these last season and will come back to the team in 2013 having played against Habana, Savea, Gear, O'Connor, Pietersen etc etc...

Is he really though? I think he's a very solid player, good in the contact, runs smart lines, reliable in the air, good kicking game, sort of like a younger Scott Hamilton, but he doesn't seem like much of a finisher to me. He only scored 7 tries in 33 games for Leicester.

gowales, he took some time to settle in but he really isn't a Hamilton like figure. Hamilton runs good lines and finshes well, an all round Mr Solid. Agulla is more vibrant than that, he gives a team a lot of go forward off the wing, he will sit more people down over the course of the next season than any forward will. The guy is great at making yards in rubbish situations. He is more pinball than rugby player. He needs to be appreciated and focussed though otherwise he loses concentration and lands his fb in bother.

"Will sit down more players than any forward" - That's a bold claim, but not one that would be difficult with our pack!

I'd say he sat down more players than either Tuilagi player last season. He bumps off players left, right and centre and has a massive hand off for such a little chappy (the way he just pushed Nacewa to the floor mid tackle in the HEC the other season was brutal). If you've seen Camacho play then Agulla is very similar but with more power and a lovely little chip.

Well it is official, we've signed Agulla, sigh

So he doesn't arrive until December, quite possibly will be injured and/or tired
Banahan looks likely to be a centre again
Woodburn won't play as much
Agulla isn't a huge try scoring threat

Struggling to see why this makes sense?

Tries are what we need! Granted we need to sort out the source, but a proper finisher would be nice. Let's hope this is not our "marquee" signing!!!

You could stick the entire salary cap down his pants and send him into a brothel and he still wouldnt manage to score.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:You could stick the entire salary cap down his pants and send him into a brothel and he still wouldnt manage to score.

hahah! brilliant

bathmad wrote:Tries are what we need! Granted we need to sort out the source, but a proper finisher would be nice. Let's hope this is not our "marquee" signing!!! :shock:

I don't think if we had Habana and Jane on the wing we'd score that many more tries, its the centres that our causing the issue and even moreso now that Carraro has gone! Donald is the marquee signing mate, just moved him across to free up some cash. I'd imagine Agulla wouldn't be cheap though, could be on £100k quite easily

I'm going against the grain here as I think he's a good signing but totally agree that we need players in other positions more. We have some decent starters but the depth is poor and across a season this is as big a deal as top end starters.

I see us as being weak at prop, a flanker or two shy, an 8, a back up 9, and a couple of centres.

When I read the team sheets from the Internationals at the weekend and saw only a couple of Bath players (on the bench) you realise how far off the pace we are. And there aren't many who you would say were hard done by.

Joking aside he will be missed by Tigers, he has strengths. His leaving boils down to a lack of availability due to the 4Ns. Hes both a good and bad signing in that context.

Well. I'm not sure Agulla was a long term target, I kind of get the impression that this was a cheeky dabble along the "He's available - why not?" line.

He has a good pedigree, whilst not best in class he's certainly worthy of mention, and with the ability to play as a utility back he offers a go to option off the bench or as an injury/tactical switch during a game if he starts.

I'm OK with this, unless Gold comes out and states that he intends to build the New Bath around Agulla, I'm going to say welcome to Horacio (great name by the way) and look forward to his first appearance (fitness permitting) sometime just before Christmas.

I'm just itching to find out who the big name signing is that Blofeld keeps hinting at...

It's going to be a Saffer I reckon.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Joking aside he will be missed by Tigers, he has strengths. His leaving boils down to a lack of availability due to the 4Ns. Hes both a good and bad signing in that context.

I'll miss him. However as Bath are paying him more than we did, and he is available for less matches it makes sense for him to have left.

Not sure I would describe him as a world class player as Gold does though.

PJHolybloke wrote:Well. I'm not sure Agulla was a long term target, I kind of get the impression that this was a cheeky dabble along the "He's available - why not?" line.

He has a good pedigree, whilst not best in class he's certainly worthy of mention, and with the ability to play as a utility back he offers a go to option off the bench or as an injury/tactical switch during a game if he starts.

I'm OK with this, unless Gold comes out and states that he intends to build the New Bath around Agulla, I'm going to say welcome to Horacio (great name by the way) and look forward to his first appearance (fitness permitting) sometime just before Christmas.

I'm just itching to find out who the big name signing is that Blofeld keeps hinting at...

It's going to be a Saffer I reckon.

Jamie Roberts would be nice....

bathmad wrote:
I'm just itching to find out who the big name signing is that Blofeld keeps hinting at...

It's going to be a Saffer I reckon.

Jamie Roberts would be nice....[/quote]

He said a big name. More likely Henson

Sadly he is a cricketer, but this Fijian has a very big name:

Ilikena Lasarusa Talebulamainavaleniveivakabulaimainakulalakebalau

LondonTiger wrote:Sadly he is a cricketer, but this Fijian has a very big name:

Ilikena Lasarusa Talebulamainavaleniveivakabulaimainakulalakebalau

Yep, that's a big name - potentially an alphabet...?

I'd be very happy with Roberts joining the family, but I'd still be looking for one more signing to justify the "marquee campaigning" Craig has done over the last 12 months.

Bath still have a couple of key positions to fill and none of the signings so far could come close to being a major coup, I'm watching this space.

Think Paul James, arguably one of the best LH in the British Isles, certainly in terms of scrummaging is a bit of a coup

He's a great addition to the front row Bathite, totally agree, I can't wait to see a front row of James, Webber and Perenise come together.

But Blofeld was on BRtv a couple of weeks ago talking about an "exciting" signing to replace Matt Carraro - maybe he was talking about Agulla, if so, I can only say I'm a little disappointed.

oh, I've missed this 'exciting signing' chat. Thought that we were done and dusted. I wonder who it could be?

Swansong season for Mortlock? Would Nonu come for a year?

Guess it is more likely to be someone like Andrea Masi or Regan King, down the pecking order at Clermont

Rgan King is the bench option for Clermont, Masi the star player for Arioni now Zebre. Canale might be an option as his contract with Clermont is up (I think) though he's not really a like for like replacement for Carrarro as he's more of a stylish 12 rather than a 13/wing.

Canale is who I meant, cheers, got confused. Was pure speculation anyways, was trying to think of players who might fancy it and aren't automatic first choice, but still 'exciting'.

Brainwave - maybe Booth could convince Mapasua to come back from Japan?

I would imagine the location of Japan in respect to his home in Samoa and the massive wages might make Mapasua a bit hard to get hold of.

The Brive 12/15 with gigantic boot (can't remember his name now) would surely be worth looking at if Brive need to trim the sails following relegation.

Gavin Henson might be available on the cheap and with some of the Welsh regions looking to save money there might be other Welsh bargains to be had.

Stop taking every pipe dream signing I have so bloody literally! Speculation is meant to be fun!

Enough of this Gavin Henson drivvle. He is a disease!

I'll seriously start supporting the Chiefs if Henson comes along....

Riaan Swanepoel was the Brive guy I was thinking of. He'd be a good signing if available.

If Bath were after a big bruising centre than perhaps a bid for Newcastle's Fitzpatrick should they get relegated could be on the card. He's basically like having another backrower but with the running lines of a centre. Could add some serious beef to the Bath backline, though he is an IC and combined with Hipkiss at OC your wingers might not see much of the ball.

Rate Williams miles ahead of Fitzpatrick, who is pretty limited. Talking of limited, apparently we are playing Banahan at 12 anyways, so Fitzy would be a terrible signing and a waste of time and cap