Narraway off to Perpignan

http://www.gloucesterrugby.co.uk/news/8008.php

Well, there was the rumour of Saints and then Perpignan. Shame to see him go, but wish him well. I assume Glaws will now bring in Ben Morgan...

Obviously not serious about his international aspirations then. Glaws will definitely need a new number 8 now. Are the Delve rumours still going around?

It sounds like Delve is off to Toulon. The rumour mill is going overboard at the moment, but if my mate's goldfish's nephew is to be believed Ben Morgan has signed for Glaws

Sad to see Naz go. He is a very loyal player who on his day is as good as any. That is also probably the reason he is going, as his day doesn't come around as often as we'd like. Similarly, he doesn't offer the ball carrying ability our back row has lacked since Delve left. I would have loved for Naz to stay, as he and Morgan would have been a great combination, but the simple truth is we couldn't afford both.

I'm surprised. Lancaster liked him and invariably had Naz in the Saxons squad.
If SL was given the England job full time I would have thought that Narraway would have stuck around to see if he was selected for the EPS or SA tours.

This move to France though will surely hinder an chance of international selection - at 28 he could still have made the WC if he established himself.

Things it's pretty much a done deal that Ben will be going to you guys, at least that's what a lot of Scarlets supporters seemed to pick up on at the meeting they went to with the Scarlets management yesterday.

Well I hope he gets down the gym and sorts his fitness out, but otherwise will be a very satisfying replacement.

Where does this leave Saints as they seemed to have him lined up as a replacement for Wilson

Square one I would imagine Geoff. Only seems to be players leaving the Saints at the minute.

Im wondering then if Lancaster was aware this was in the pipeline and thats why he wasnt in the senior EPS.

I was surprised to see him missing as he had been Lancasters captain.

Its a pity Glaws couldnt have garunteed him the starting 12 shirt

thought i heard that ben morgan HAD signed on thursday for glaws, but for some reason they are delaying the announcment. How true that is I don't know.

Well if we go down much as i hate losing our players...the saints could do alot worse than looking at our Mark Wilson. Cracking young player....

EnglishReign wrote:Well I hope he gets down the gym and sorts his fitness out, but otherwise will be a very satisfying replacement.

He's already lost about 4 stone!

Seriously his fitness compared to what it as 2 seasons ago is fantastic. Still, always room for improvement I guess.

His fitness for club rugby is fine. People say hes struggled Internationally, personally i think he looks good .

He looks good at international level but was off teh pace by the time he was hauled off. But then Lawes could never put in 80 minutes either when he first started with England. Its not just about your fitness levels, but also the work rate. That was a really tough game on some of the England players, the first 25 minutes mustve taken a lot out of them.
Does suggest as a team they have something to work on there though.

rugbydreamer wrote:

EnglishReign wrote:Well I hope he gets down the gym and sorts his fitness out, but otherwise will be a very satisfying replacement.

He's already lost about 4 stone!

Seriously his fitness compared to what it as 2 seasons ago is fantastic. Still, always room for improvement I guess.

Fair enough, I saw him play for the first time v Scotland. Looks a class player though, can't wait!

GeordieFalcon wrote:Well if we go down much as i hate losing our players...the saints could do alot worse than looking at our Mark Wilson. Cracking young player....

SSSHHHHHHH!!!

Wilson just signed a three year contract extension last week, I'd say he's in it for the lang hall.

Ally Hogg on the other hand has been fairly heavily linked with Saints by some for a little while now.

Just answering a few questions. Naz's move fell through at Saints due to Mallinder not wanting too many backrow players in the EPS, but there is a rumour he failed a fitness.

Naz spoke to Lancaster about this move and interestingly reassured him he would still be considered, which seems to go against policy.

What about Johnnie Beattie for the saints if they are looking for a replacement for Wilson ??

He is not getting a look in at Glasgow and looks like he will be moving on next season. I think they could do allot worse

Though a problem might be that if he does recover some form he will be with Scotland during the internationals

Cumbrian wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Well if we go down much as i hate losing our players...the saints could do alot worse than looking at our Mark Wilson. Cracking young player....

SSSHHHHHHH!!!

Wilson just signed a three year contract extension last week, I'd say he's in it for the lang hall.

Ally Hogg on the other hand has been fairly heavily linked with Saints by some for a little while now.

Sorry marra....i need to keep my gob shut. Imagine Deano working with some of the young pack memebers we have....its exciting...

As a Saints fan I'm glad he didn't sign. Nothing against him as a player but just didn't think his style of play would have fitted with the current Saints game plan. Many Saints fans think that JM has decided to move Dowson over to 8 for next season to enable Clark to claim the 6 shirt as his own (with Wood at 7). That will still leave Saints a couple of backrow players short in the squad so I still expect strengthening there.

Beattie would be an interesting one. Obviously a decent player in need of a change of scenery, or at least he was decent before his injury and JM & DW tend to do pretty well with 'loose cannon' players with ego's (with one noticeable exception). Don't think the internationals would be an issue - he's currently not in the Scotland squad anyway and EPS squad members are lost a lot more than Scottish internationals anyway.

Geordie Falcon - thanks for the tip about Wilson, always appriciate the feeder clubs showcasing their talent . But you can keep Hogg thanks. In fact, please please keep Hogg.

I am amazed no ones tried to get one of Guest, York or the U20's 8/6 from Quins. York especially I could see doing very well at somewhere like Saints.

yappysnap wrote:I am amazed no ones tried to get one of Guest, York or the U20's 8/6 from Quins. York especially I could see doing very well at somewhere like Saints.

Are any of them out of contract? If not they'd have to pay a transfer fee. I know Glaws are doing this with Morgan, but I presume he will be classed as our marquee signing therefore the fee doesn't count against the cap, which otherwise it would do.

I think they've all resigned/still under contract.

Guest and Easter resigned earlier this season, York is still under his and the academy boy I assume has some kind of academy contract. I am amazed we've retained so many 8's though.

You do have plenty of decent 8's but it''s almost at the expense of other backrow positions as your squad isn't the biggest. Guest always looks okay at 6 but nowhere near as good as he does when I've seen him play 8 but with Robshaw either playing at 7 or away and with the Samoan who's name I could never spell in a hundred years out then he seems to get plenty of game time there.

Perhaps for the good of the England team you should release him from his contact and let him move to the Gardens for next season, especially as Easter plans on being around for a while yet