Edinburgh and Glasgow new signings

Been a few games now so had plenty time to take stock of the numerous new signings that Edinburgh and Glasgow have made. To me is looks like Glasgow probably edge it in terms of impact their signings have made, but mainly because Edinburgh have been crap so far!

Edinburgh

WP Nel - slow start, didn't look match fit and a bit underwhelming. Starting to come into his game now though and looks like he's going to be a good signing for us. 7/10

John Yapp - surprise package for me. Strong and aggressive and his scrumagging hasn't been that bad. 7/10

Titterell - Brings great energy and enthusiasm. Good impact sub to keep the energy up. Lineout throwing not great though. 6/10

PJ Parker - Big step up from the rugby he's been used to but looks a decent squad player. 6/10

Basilaia - great ball carrier but hasn't really had much chance to show what he can do. Again decent squad player. 6/10

Richie Rees - One of our better signings. Plays just like Mike Blair, but not quite as classy as him. Brings great energy to the team. 8/10

Ben Atiga - big disappointment so far. Not match fit at all and hasn't done much when on the pitch. Really needs to get his fitness up to speed very soon or he'll be a total waste of money. 4/10

Tonks - standout of all the signings so far. Great under the high ball, strong left boot, decent in defence and good in attack. Will be pushing for a Scotland place. 9/10

Glasgow

Ofa Fainga'anuku - looks a great signing from what I saw in the Cardiff game tonight. Decent scrummager and put 3 massive hits in. 8/10

Angus Macdonald - think his reputation has been more than his performances. Looks no more than a squad player and has struggled with fitness I think. 6/10

Tim Swinson - Good lock, will be a good player for Glasgow. 7/10

Strauss - Made a few mistakes last week but had a barnstorming game against the Blues tonight. Massive ball carrier - something Glasgow have been lacking. Going to be a great signing. 8/10

Sean Lamont - great signing for Glasgow and has had some strong performances. Great running tonight against the Blues. 8/10

Niko Matawalu - only got 5 minutes tonight so hard to tell. Ridiculously fast but can he control the game? N/A

Byron McGuigan - average squad player. Not really played. N/A

Taylor Paris - not had much game time at all so hard to tell. N/A.


So that's my view on things. From an Edinburgh perspective really looking for Nel to keep improving, and am crying out for Atiga to get fit and show us that he is worth all this effort.

Looking good for Glasgow though - got real strength in depth in the pack now.

not sure how you can award Byron mcGuigan 6/10 on the back of his one performance against Zebre when he did nothing in attack and was almost snapped on a couple of occasions in defence.
Picking him aghead of troy nathan for the HC is a bizarre Toonie choice, assuming troy has said/ done something to really p**s off the coaching staff.
Also taylor Paris may be worth 6/10 but dont hink he has pulled on a Warriors shirt since the start of the league, so again really hard to tell.
Sean Lamont hasnt really been scoring many tries, only one so far, so i think 8/10 is being a bit generous.

Sensi, agree totally - Paris is an unknown quantity so far so no mark. Would give Schlong maybe 7/10 for the Cardiff game as he looked lively. Matawalu certainly looks up for it in his 5 minute cameo - was unlucky not to get a try at the death !

I was basing my 6 out of 10s on either average performances, or not seen them enough to judge them yet.

And as for Sean Lamont, I don't think he's really renowened for his try scoring record but he brings a whole lot more to the team than that. He was really strong against the Blues so gave him an 8!

What about Penn the winger for Embra - has anyone seen him play?

Crap - knew I'd forgotten someone!

4/10. Says it all really!

Agreed that the clear standout signing has been Tonks, and Yapp and Rees have both brought a great deal to the party.

I'd pack off Atiga now personally, I don't think he's added anything on top of what we already had in Houston and King. He's a decent tackler and not a bad ball carrier, but really nothing special.

For Glasgow they are still living off the signing off all time - Cusack. A player barely anyone had heard of when he signed last season but who has transformed the Glasgow pack into a real force. This season I think Swinson will come good, as will Strauss and S Lamont, but I still predict the star of the show will be Matawalu. Their waste of money signings look like being MacDonald, Taylor Paris and Rory "sicknote" Lamont.

All in all I'd say I'm slightly disappointed this season with the signings at Edinburgh. Nel has been pretty average, the odd good sign, but generally par. Rightly or wrongly, he was marmalised by the ref on Friday. Hopefully it was just down to eccentric reffing.

Any chance the SRU's genealogy department could find Cusack some Scottish relatives!?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Crap - knew I'd forgotten someone!

4/10. Says it all really!

how can you give hima 4/10 when he hasnt played?

edit: same goes for Taylor Paris

I've seen him plat at least 2 games for Edinburgh!

Guys the exact scores aren't overly relevant- just meant to be a focus for discussion, not picking apart ky scores!

RDW_Scotland wrote:I've seen him plat at least 2 games for Edinburgh!

Guys the exact scores aren't overly relevant- just meant to be a focus for discussion, not picking apart ky scores!

Mustve been pre season, he certainly hasnt played league games. And i wouldnt read too much into the pre season performances

Yeah it was. Just lacked the basics like catching high balls and defence.

Basing a players rating on total of an aggregated 5 mins playing time is somewhat unfair to put it mildly

Jeezo - wish I hadn't put scores on it now with you Bawbags picking it apart!!!!!

As I said earlier I classed 6 as either average or not had a chance to judge them yet!

Right - changed it to stop the abuse!

speaking of short game time - when is van der Westhuizen rocking up ?

Start of November when the Currie cup finishes

Im sorry RDW, but you have brought this upon yourself, surely as an experienced forumite you know that we all love to jump on numbers?

Moment of weakness...

Numbers aside - the signings have been underwhelming thus far at Edinburgh.

Hopefully VdW can rock up and add some consistent nasty to our pack, which was completely dominated by Treviso on Friday.

Edinburgh tight five have looked worryingly soft. VdW is quite a rangy character rather than a big lump of beef but if anyone can add some yappy dog, it's going to be him.

McGuigan and Paris look to be mystifying signings to me. Like a couple of years ago when Edinburgh signed every centre in Western Europe and didn't know what to do with them all.

Aren't we being a but harsh? Isn't 50% a good percentage for signings being worth the money? Still think that Glasgow have done well with Niko, Strauss and Swinson. I am in the process of eating my words about Yapp and Rees, whom I was sniffy about in the off season but who have been very consistent performers.

Forgot about the fact that players who have a new professional lease of life tend to play better.

The Paris one is strange - is he not only 19 or something? He won't be on much money but might as well use it for a young Scottish winger than one who is already capped by Canada. DTH must have had some influence in it.

Was there a young Scottish winger knocking on the door for pro-team selection?

Not that I can think of (not really up to date with top young players) but it's not really the point. Why sign someone, who has obviously been brought in on a development type contract, who is already capped by another country? We struggle to develop our own talent never mind trying to nurture that of another country!

Glasgow aren't short of wingers either and there must be a young Scottish player, or two, who would have benefited?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Not that I can think of (not really up to date with top young players) but it's not really the point. Why sign someone, who has obviously been brought in on a development type contract, who is already capped by another country? We struggle to develop our own talent never mind trying to nurture that of another country!

HOORAY!!!!

Basically, I think the Scottish teams need to bring in quotas so as to redress the horrendous inability of Scotland to produce world-class players. I see the argument on here all the time that there aren't many players ready to make the step up from Premiership to Rabo level (is there really that much of one when a lot of teams put out second- or third-string teams in the Rabo vis-a-vis their Heinken teams). I don't really think many of those players are given a chance. Hogg and Gray are probably Scotland's two most revered players at the moment and both could easily have been passed over for foreigners.

Don't get me wrong - I've got no problem with the pro teams signing established foreign players who will make an immediate impact, I just don't see the point in signing a young development player who will never play for Scotland

RDW_Scotland wrote:Don't get me wrong - I've got no problem with the pro teams signing established foreign players who will make an immediate impact, I just don't see the point in signing a young development player who will never play for Scotland

Agree. We do need NSQs, but there's a balance to strike, and signing young development players who'll never play for Scotland is pointless.

I'd far rather there was a more fluid transfer system between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Why sign either of Penn or Paris when we have Fleming, Farndale and Fife as options?

Captain_Sensible wrote:Was there a young Scottish winger knocking on the door for pro-team selection?

Yeah there are quite a few young scottish wingers that could have been signed up instead.
Kerr Gossman who is now at Ayr looks a great prospect on the wing and is only 20/21, was with Edinburgh but never got any game time.
Tom Steven a big winger at Hawks who scored a few for SCotland u20s at last years world cup.
James Fleming who again was at Edinburgh but mostly played for the 7s, he seems good in attack but could do with work in defence.
Barry Mansfield who was with Currie last season and i think the top try scorer in the league was Scottish qualified despite being Zimbabwe born, he looked a great prospect with rapid pace and solid in defence.
Also James Johnstone who is a glasgow apprentice and probably should be given a f/t contract now good at 13 and the wing.
Looking at even slightly younger there are a few going from u18s to u20s now who are promising like ed farquahson, damien hoyland from muir.
There is lots of young talent on the wings so still find it weird to give taylor paris a f/t contract unless it was a way to keep DTH at Glasgow longer?