Silly Season Transfer Rumours 22/23

First topic message reminder :

And.....off you go.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Wow effective immediately, this must be response to Singleton's surgery on a lower leg injury. Even so there must have been either a serious bust up behind the scenes at Falcons or there's one or two Walder is desperate to bring in for the betterment of the squad.

Well Blamire signed the extension two days ago. I wonder how significant that is. Walder has said he wants to put his Stamp on the squad...so I winder if he wants a more physical aspect . Blamire will bring that as will the young England u20 Ollie Fletcher. Just need to sort out Blamires core throwing etc.

McGuigan would also free up some salary for squad strengthening.

Might be some big changes at KP coming in thw summer....

Good luck to McGuigan if true, he's been a good servant to the club. Great opportunity for Blamire, who has much more about him and can could be become a regular in the England squad if he nails his basics. And, as you say GF, we have some good youngsters coming through at hooker too.

Anscombe off to France by all accounts, possibly Pau.

I guess Ospreys would try and get Owen Williams on a permanent deal, unless he gets a better offer. The trouble is that he's also struggled with injury. They also need another 9, maybe Blacker if they can give him more game time. Webb is too slow and ponderous at the breakdown.

McGuigan confirmed

mikey_dragon wrote:Max Llewelyn has signed for an unnamed English club, anyone know which one?

Think it is Gloucester.

I’d imagine it would always be one of those lot close to the border. Joe Jones is getting more regular rugby now, I think. Perhaps Cardiff can bring him back, I’m really not sure why he wasn’t given an opportunity sooner when they had guys like Scott Andrews around.

Oakdene wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Max Llewelyn has signed for an unnamed English club, anyone know which one?

Think it is Gloucester.

Gloucester are in need of centres. Mark Atkinson has picked up a couple of successive nasty injuries and will hit 33 before the end of the season, Billy Twelvetrees is 34 and an increasing bit part player. Chris Harris is about to turn 32. They've got the young Georgian lad who's a bit raw still and did well to pick up Seb Atkinson from the downfall of Wuss with the young lad their incumbent 12 at the minute. Adding a big young centre alongside them would make a lot of sense.

Sinfield to Wales.

mikey_dragon wrote:Sinfield to Wales.

Please don't mess around, I really hope this happens. I rate him massively!!

Oakdene wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Sinfield to Wales.

Please don't mess around, I really hope this happens. I rate him massively!!

He's going to take the Tigers head coach job after Borthwick goes apparently. Could probably use an experienced coach or two come in and assist but as a head man he's exactly the type of character Tigers would prefer. Maybe bring in a RL coach to assist as we could do with some help on the attack front, there's plenty of union options to come in and work with the forwards.

Finn Russell to Bath is a done deal according to L'Equipe.

For 850K per year. What a whopper.

mikey_dragon wrote:For 850K per year. What a whopper.

Stylish. Bath have been after a high end flyhalf for a number of years now. Cipriani was a stop gap, Priestland got better towards the end but didn't really work, Ford was good but for a short space of time and then you're heading back to Butch James. They've got their marquee finally and it's going to be interesting if it's the set up they need, Bath have certainly got enough talent in the squad once everyone's fit and with the new additions.

Russell is certainly a hefty marquee signing and Bath's aspiration to be mainly EQ squads has been put on the back burner by VG and priority for obtaining Test experienced players instead. Hopefully given Russell's general aversion to tackling he will stay fit and provide value for money.

Less heralded, it appears the huge Thomas du Toit is arriving next season and Stuart has also resigned a new contract, despite Glaws interest. That is a pretty handy TH stable. In other good news, Underhill is very close to being available for selection too.
The planning application for a new stadium, now that the last High court adjudication on the covenant has been positive, will be submitted next summer for building to start in 2024/25. Been a good week, apart from on the pitch of course....

I will add that at the recent supporters evening at the club, reference was made to a ten team premiership and a stronger Premiership Division 2 in the future. It doesn't appear the comment was made as wishful thinking either. It has been covered in the national press that the PRL is undertaking a strategic review, so perhaps one to watch.

AWJ is being linked with a move now. The clubs mentioned were Bath, Exeter and Sarries. Some Welsh players are reportedly going to have their wages cut by 50%.

mikey_dragon wrote:AWJ is being linked with a move now. The clubs mentioned were Bath, Exeter and Sarries. Some Welsh players are reportedly going to have their wages cut by 50%.

I saw a tweet that Toby Booth has said that more than half of the 70 players, from the 4 regions, who are out of contract at the end of this season are Ospreys players.

Oakdene wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:AWJ is being linked with a move now. The clubs mentioned were Bath, Exeter and Sarries. Some Welsh players are reportedly going to have their wages cut by 50%.

I saw a tweet that Toby Booth has said that more than half of the 70 players, from the 4 regions, who are out of contract at the end of this season are Ospreys players.

The Scarlets have 21 players out of contract in June too.

Crazy situation. Phillips needs to resign immediately. In a normal world, his Exec board would have forced him to do this months ago. But the WRU isn't normal, and the board needs someone like Phillips in place to make sure them and their wives still get their free trips to Rome.

Olly Robinson is looking for a new club. Very good open side flanker, but Cardiff have a lot of those already.

Oakdene wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:AWJ is being linked with a move now. The clubs mentioned were Bath, Exeter and Sarries. Some Welsh players are reportedly going to have their wages cut by 50%.

I saw a tweet that Toby Booth has said that more than half of the 70 players, from the 4 regions, who are out of contract at the end of this season are Ospreys players.

That's absolutely mental. The place will empty. If I was a Premiership club, I would be sitting there with my shopping list and emails to agents ready to go. How does this change the international selection policy? Do you still need to be playing in-country?

Don't think the Prem clubs have got bags of cash to sling round currently. There's also a number of good EQ players (you need a certain average for a pay out from the RFU) that are available or temping in either the Championship or France.

Recwatcher16 wrote:Russell is certainly a hefty marquee signing and Bath's aspiration to be mainly EQ squads has been put on the back burner by VG and priority for obtaining Test experienced players instead. Hopefully given Russell's general aversion to tackling he will stay fit and provide value for money.

Less heralded, it appears the huge Thomas du Toit is arriving next season and Stuart has also resigned a new contract, despite Glaws interest. That is a pretty handy TH stable. In other good news, Underhill is very close to being available for selection too.
The planning application for a new stadium, now that the last High court adjudication on the covenant has been positive, will be submitted next summer for building to start in 2024/25. Been a good week, apart from on the pitch of course....

I will add that at the recent supporters evening at the club, reference was made to a ten team premiership and a stronger Premiership Division 2 in the future. It doesn't appear the comment was made as wishful thinking either. It has been covered in the national  press that the PRL is undertaking a strategic review, so perhaps one to watch.

Not sure what has given you that impression, but aversion to tackling is not something you can level at Russell - he punches well above his weight in defence and is a really brave tackler.

I'm not sure if it's a good move for Russell or not, certainly money wise it is, but he doesn't strike me as a Van Graan type of player at all.

I was going to say that - there's loads of footage of Russell dropping lock forwards and rucking over ball after tackles. Very strange accusation that there's something wrong defensively.

Tom English got it right in his BBC article - Van Graan is a very conventional, technically very able coach but he's be completely changing the way that his team plays with Russell.

Falcons have signed 32 year old Ealing hooker in loan from Ealing for 3 months

Geordie wrote:Falcons have signed 32 year old Ealing hooker in loan from Ealing for 3 months

Well that's erm underwhelming. I thought they might have picked up someone a bit more interesting. At least he'll be cost effective.

Damian Penauld signs for UBB.
Seems he wanted a change of scene and a better chance to win silverware.
Not sure Bordeaux Begles have a better chance of winning the T14 than Clermont
They have also lost some big names in the last season :
Alexandre Roumat to Toulouse, Cameron Woki to Racing and Ben Lam to Montpellier, and their head coach Christophe Urios has also been sacked only 10 games into the season.
Seems a bit of a strange move TBH

Clermont have looked stale in recent times. There's some old youngsters there and some exciting talent but also a lot of stodge. They could do with a shake up.

Bordeaux are 7th to Clermont's 10th currently and Bordeaux have some pretty handy players. Lucu and Jalibert (France's back up 9/10 that would walk into England's 15 were they EQ instead) are a good halfback pairing, the rest of the backline is pretty tasty as well. The pack could do some more work but the props are good and there is a little quality at lock and backrow though a bit more in those areas would help.

Still a shock as I thought a top team would have been desperate for Penaud.

There are only 7 points between 3rd and 12th in T14 just now. The competition in the league has never been higher so I don't think current league positions could have had an effect on Penauld' s decision to move to UBB.

There is definitely a changing of the guard at Clermont: Parra and Lopez gone, Yato about to retire with a broken knee, Fofana retired etc . Fritz Lee on his last legs

But  there are good experienced French players, three of last years French U20's (hooker, flanker and scrum half) and several quality overseas players: George Moala, Alex Newsome, Bautista Delguy, Thomas Lavinini  and Irae Simone.

They have lost heavily away at Racing and Toulouse but the rest of the losses have been by 7 points or less.
Jonno Gibbs is definitely on the right path with Clermont's rebuilt and IMO they are more likely to achieve success in the near future than UBB which makes Penauld's choice all the more puzzling
Perhaps he just wanted a change of scenery, and climate

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Geordie wrote:Falcons have signed 32 year old Ealing hooker in loan from Ealing for 3 months

Well that's erm underwhelming. I thought they might have picked up someone a bit more interesting. At least he'll be cost effective.

Not really underwhelming as hes a defent enough hooker at the core skills but this follows what I thought...Blamire takes over, Fletcher is ready to be brought through as will Charlie Smith In the lower comps. So we have three local academy lads at different stages of readiness and we have two solid guys to play / cover aswell...Walker and Maddison.

Talk in the Irish press again about Ben Healey moving to Scotland next year and Townsend has been in touch recently with both Glasgow and Edinburgh potential destinations, both being a bit light on FH options.

Probably makes a lot more sense now than it did before, he having fallen down the Munster pecking order and an Irish cap looking less and less likely.

Could be a good move for him should he decide to jump ship.

Geordie wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Geordie wrote:Falcons have signed 32 year old Ealing hooker in loan from Ealing for 3 months

Well that's erm underwhelming. I thought they might have picked up someone a bit more interesting. At least he'll be cost effective.

Not really underwhelming as hes a defent enough hooker at the core skills but this follows what I thought...Blamire takes over,  Fletcher is ready to be brought through as will Charlie Smith In the lower comps. So we have three local academy lads at different stages of readiness and we have two solid guys to play / cover aswell...Walker and Maddison.  

Underwhelming in that I thought there may have been a signing elsewhere in the squad using McGuigan's salary space. Only a journeyman hooker coming in is a bit meh in the current market.

Ah right...I think they're just getitng some squad back up in there....

Walder will probably wait till the summer. Its known in the circles he wants to really put his own stamp on the squad so might not want to bring anyone I just now. We're not challenging for anything and he's giving plenty of youngsters a run out.....and Actually got De Chaves playing like a premier league lock...

Paul Gustard been rumoured as the new Wales defence coach for a couple weeks now. Sadly, Howley also rumoured to be in the mix as backs coach.

He has hopped around a bit after leaving Quins.

He’s pretty good though, isn’t he?

Well yes, there's no denying he's a good defence coach. I meant he's been hopping around so doesn't seem an unlikely choice. I assumed he was just waiting for the right head coach role. Maybe a stint as an international assistant might tempt him, at least for the world cup. Stade Francais would want some compensation though.

Falcons sign 20 year old Argentina International back 5 forward Pedro Rubiolo...6'3..

Interesting....

Geordie wrote:Falcons sign 20 year old Argentina International back 5 forward Pedro Rubiolo...6'3..

Interesting....

Nearly 18 stone and supposedly mobile. A physical addition with room to grow.

Yeah totally Sam.
Some added physicality hopefully. With Fearns, Chick etc it's slowly picking up.

Kolisi to Racing 92 for next season.

Strong rumours that Ben Healy is leaving munster to sign for a Scottish club next season. All the talk seems to be it's a done deal.

profitius wrote:Strong rumours that Ben Healy is leaving munster to sign for a Scottish club next season. All the talk seems to be it's a done deal.

So says the internet, the big question seems to be whether it is to Glasgow or Edinburgh.

What is the feeling in Ireland about this move?

I know it ruffled some feathers in Munster when it was first mooted a couple of years ago, but things have changed for the lad since then and maybe his career does need a re-boot

BigGee wrote:

profitius wrote:Strong rumours that Ben Healy is leaving munster to sign for a Scottish club next season. All the talk seems to be it's a done deal.

So says the internet, the big question seems to be whether it is to Glasgow or Edinburgh.

What is the feeling in Ireland about this move?

I know it ruffled some feathers in Munster when it was first mooted a couple of years ago, but things have changed for the lad since then and maybe his career does need a re-boot

Confirmed now by munster. Edinburgh the destination.

He ticks a lot of boxes. His passing and kicking are generally excellent and he is 6'3 and not far off 100kgs. It's a blow to munster but realistically they had to choose between Crowley and Healy. Van Graan preferred Healy while the new coaching team prefers Crowley.

profitius wrote:

BigGee wrote:

profitius wrote:Strong rumours that Ben Healy is leaving munster to sign for a Scottish club next season. All the talk seems to be it's a done deal.

So says the internet, the big question seems to be whether it is to Glasgow or Edinburgh.

What is the feeling in Ireland about this move?

I know it ruffled some feathers in Munster when it was first mooted a couple of years ago, but things have changed for the lad since then and maybe his career does need a re-boot

Confirmed now by munster. Edinburgh the destination.

He ticks a lot of boxes. His passing and kicking are generally excellent and he is 6'3 and not far off 100kgs. It's a blow to munster but realistically they had to choose between Crowley and Healy. Van Graan preferred Healy while the new coaching team prefers Crowley.

Time will tell if they have backed the right horse!

Baxter planning for life without Nowell supposedly. Rumours it may be France

With his injury history, the English cap coming down and Nowell hitting 30, can see why Exeter are willing to accept him leaving

Hazel Sapling wrote:Baxter planning for life without Nowell supposedly. Rumours it may be France

With his injury history, the English cap coming down and Nowell hitting 30, can see why Exeter are willing to accept him leaving

Nowell, Simmons, LCD all heading to France

Exeter having a right old clear out at the end of this season!

Heard the Nowell rumours a few months ago when LCD was being rumoured also.

I would be amazed if he didnt head across there. And Exeter will replace him well...they're an efficient recruiting side.

Northampton have signed Curtis Langdon from Montpellier.

Nathan Earle moves to Ealing with immediate effect.