Silly Season Transfer Rumours 19/20

First topic message reminder :

New year, new thread, new scuttlebutt, rumour and misdirection.

Quins are having a busy week: Newcastle lock Glen Young now signed for Quins.

Don't know much about him - over to you, GF...?

Tall rangy lineout / athletic lock forward. "A-Development" team player for several years but this season has really upped his game, and likes to get on the ball and carry with good pace and agility for such a tall lad.

Good acquisition for Quins.

Looks like we're overhauling our entire lock stables.

Witty - Gone
Davidson - Gone
Young - Gone
Green - Rumoured to Tigers, apparently a done deal.

Wasps have teased an announcement for midday.

Could be a retention or a signing. Rumour has it there are two wingers signed but yet to be announced. I'm assuming one is Kibirige, but as to who the other might be...

GeordieFalcon wrote:
Looks like we're overhauling our entire lock stables.

Witty - Gone
Davidson - Gone
Young - Gone
Green - Rumoured to Tigers, apparently a done deal.

Falcons announced any replacements - or is it contingent on you staying up, do you think?

Murphy did an interview yesterday in which he said Tigers have a load more signings to announce but will be waiting out of respect to the current players' clubs. He mentioned there were both UK-based players and abroad to announce.

Guessing he's referring to Green, Reid, Taute...?

Ricardo74 wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:
Looks like we're overhauling our entire lock stables.

Witty - Gone
Davidson - Gone
Young - Gone
Green - Rumoured to Tigers, apparently a done deal.

Falcons announced any replacements - or is it contingent on you staying up, do you think?

An Australian USA international who has hardly made much of an impression at previous stints at Glasgow, Leicester and now Bordeaux Begles.

Ricardo74 wrote:Wasps have teased an announcement for midday.

Could be a retention or a signing. Rumour has it there are two wingers signed but yet to be announced. I'm assuming one is Kibirige, but as to who the other might be...

I will truly be p1$$ed off if Kibirige is announced with Wasps!

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Ricardo74 wrote:Wasps have teased an announcement for midday.

Could be a retention or a signing. Rumour has it there are two wingers signed but yet to be announced. I'm assuming one is Kibirige, but as to who the other might be...

I will truly be p1$$ed off if Kibirige is announced with Wasps!

Well, hold that thought for now - the announcement was Tom Cruse signing a new contract. Thrilling.

Especially after you took Marcus Watson off our hands who was thriving with us...and has seemingly disappeared with you guys.

Ricardo74 wrote:Quins are having a busy week: Newcastle lock Glen Young now signed for Quins.

Don't know much about him - over to you, GF...?

Will Evans to Quins confirmed 

Ricardo74 wrote:Quins are having a busy week: Newcastle lock Glen Young now signed for Quins.

Don't know much about him - over to you, GF...?

Guess that big SA lock isn't coming then!
I presume this is a replacement for when Twomey left last season - unless one of the youngsters is heading out or Horwell is hanging up his boots!

Will Evans...interesting.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Especially after you took Marcus Watson off our hands who was thriving with us...and has seemingly disappeared with you guys.

Injured more often than not, although scored a blinder against Tigers the other week. His contract is up in the Summer, and while we're crying out for top wingers, Dai is on record as saying his injury record versus time on the pitch isn't in his favour. Shame, quality player.

propdavid_london wrote:Will Evans...interesting.

Built like a winger but with a very good skill set (better than most forwards). Good work rate, attacks the breakdown and punches above his weight. Which quite frankly he needs to as he's only about 14 stone. Very much an openside, you're not going to put him in anywhere else.

Sad to see him go. Don't think he's had a bad game for us but also hasn't quite reached his full potential yet. Thankfully there is a log jam of opensides coming through including the Welsh under 20s captain.

LondonTiger wrote:

The Oracle wrote:Josh Adams has signed for Cardiff Blues.

Good signing for Blues, hope the move does not stunt Adams development.

Not sure why it would stunt his development, but playing for a team that gets relegated might.

mikey_dragon wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

The Oracle wrote:Josh Adams has signed for Cardiff Blues.

Good signing for Blues, hope the move does not stunt Adams development.

Not sure why it would stunt his development, but playing for a team that gets relegated might.

Your fellow Welsh fans have already explained this on other threads. I will leave it to them to persuade you. Needless to say Wuss have done a really good job of developing him since he was deemed surplus to requirements by regional rugby.

I just hope his second stint at Cardiff works out better than the first.

Annoyed to see Evans go. He's an enjoyable player to watch as well as a very talented one.

Quins have recruited very well in the forwards.

Tommy Reffell re-signing what is rumoured a 3 year senior deal slightly dampens the blow of Evans going. I'd much prefer both at Tigers though.

king_carlos wrote:Annoyed to see Evans go. He's an enjoyable player to watch as well as a very talented one.

Quins have recruited very well in the forwards.

Tommy Reffell re-signing what is rumoured a 3 year senior deal slightly dampens the blow of Evans going. I'd much prefer both at Tigers though.

Agree with all of that. Taylor Gough hasn't had much of a crack yet and was a stand out in his academy class (undefeated season) so let's hope he steps up next season and between him and Reffell we don't feel the loss. Hopefully they'll suit the more mobile backrow we should have next season.

Still those Quins backs are going to live Evans link play and turnovers next season.

propdavid_london wrote:

Ricardo74 wrote:Quins are having a busy week: Newcastle lock Glen Young now signed for Quins.

Don't know much about him - over to you, GF...?

Guess that big SA lock isn't coming then!  
I presume this is a replacement for when Twomey left last season - unless one of the youngsters is heading out or Horwell is hanging up his boots!

We've signed Stephen Lewies, Prop. He's a SA lock who plays for the sharks and has some SA caps, apparently a very good lineout lock which will be handy I guess.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/47653040
Simon Kerrod - prop from Worcester coming to Quins.

Has anyone got a handle on who is leaving the Quins squad at the end of the season? With the numbers coming in it must be a fair few.

I know of -
Lewis Boyce
Merrick
Wallace - rumoured
Louamanu - rumoured
Ben Glyn - rumoured

who am I missing?
I assume one of our hookers perhaps...
Visser hasn't played for a long time and was out of form before injury...
Alofa hasn't had many chances.

I think that's pretty much the list Prop.

Plus Twomey and Matthews left last season without replacement. And there's talk Horwill may retire because of injury.

Personally I can see us losing Ward as well as he just isn't up to scratch at hooker and we have a lot of others. Visser i'd have thought will be off as he's never played, but I swear he just re-signed with us.

The american centre we signed may be off as well.

"Harlequins have agreed deals to sign Worcester's Simon Kerrod, Exeter's Tom Lawday and Cornish Pirates' Toby Freeman at the end of the season" according to the BBC.

Dragons fly half Arwel Robson apparently moving from Dragons to Gloucester.

Ryan Burrows has joined Doncaster from us till the end of the season and probably long term.

Family reasons have been stated.

Quins transfer extravaganza continues with Herron the Jersey flyhalf confirmed. The marketing people at the Stoop are clearly enjoying themselves this week.

Sounds like a bit of a clear out is going on at Falcons GF.

I guess with the Ealing boss joining the Quins staff that there were a few championship youngsters that he was keeping an eye on.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Quins transfer extravaganza continues with Herron the Jersey flyhalf confirmed. The marketing people at the Stoop are clearly enjoying themselves this week.

Sounds like a bit of a clear out is going on at Falcons GF.

Yeah looks like a lot of changes going on...

Exeter sign Tom Price from Scarlets. With Will Witty announced last week they look overstocked with locks, so guess some are leaving.

Rob Hunter was involved with the U20 team that Price played in and it's interesting how many of them Exeter have targeted.

Nowell, Slade, LCD and Hill were all Chiefs products but they have added Hepburn, Devoto and now Price. Kvesic as well will have been familiar to Hunter from the year before with the U20s.

As for locks they are also linked with Jacques Vermuelen - a South African who plays lock/flanker. Toby Salmon has been linked with Falcons and Ollie Atkins with a move to France. Wilhelm van der Sluys has already returned to the Lions as well.

Shaun Edwards mentioned at the weekend that Twickenham was just a hop, skip and a jump from his house. I assume he was suggesting England as a possible move rather than Quins.

LondonTiger wrote:Shaun Edwards mentioned at the weekend that Twickenham was just a hop, skip and a jump from his house. I assume he was suggesting England as a possible move rather than Quins.

He's Gatland's +1

I know Gatland is a good coach but I really don't want him for England.

Please no, not for England. Gatlands a good coach but he's also coached Wales since about 1905.

I just don't think you can ignore his credentials and he'll work wonders with England with our resources. Just all seems to add up when you look at it.

No ta.

Not sure Gats would want to take the England job as it would be setting him up for a fall. Already people are saying that if he could achieve what he did with Wales what glory could he achieve with the extra resources England have to offer. Whether that is actually a fair reflection or not, it is the perception that would be out there.

When Gats took over with Wales they were at a pretty low ebb, and while his own reputation had been rebuilt at Wasps but there were still whispers about his time in Ireland. It was a win-win situation for union and coach.

Now his reputation is at a high globally, even if not so high in his home country (though surely they regret the appalling treatment the press gave him in 2017). If he does want to coach New Zealand a move to England would not bring that any closer and unless he turned us into serial GS winners during the next WC cycle. The money would be good but the risk to his reputation probably outweighs that.

I'm not a fan of the idea, although there are quite a few English pundits who think Gatland would be just the man to get the most out of England's resources.

I'm surprised to learn he's only 55, as I imagined he was older. If England did go after him, he'd be younger than Jack Rowell, and about the same age as Eddie Jones when they were appointed.

Still, I'd like to see some fresh faces running international rugby teams. You don't want (relative) youth for youth's sake but there's something a little bit off for me that so many coaches have run more than one international team, when we've had a relatively short history as a professional game. I can think of Henry, Hansen, Gatland, Jones, Robinson, Johnson, O'Sullivan, Ashton, Mallett, Kirwan and Brunel.

Gatland got his first international appointment at 35. Coaches like Henry, Hansen, Jones, Woodward, Lancaster were all in their early 40s. Meanwhile Rob Baxter and Richard Cockerill are both already 48, Mark McCall is 51, and Ben Ryan 47. As a sport, we are appointing national coaches at older ages on average. Andy Farrell and Gregor Townsend are welcome exceptions.

I can understand why unions want experience. Gatland is one of the few characters you'd imagine could be big enough to stand up to all that comes with an England job. However, the only way to get experience is to do the job, and learn how to do it better when you get it wrong. I wish a lot more England coaches were getting earlier starts to international careers.

Gatland + Edwards with Englands squad would be fantasy rugby imho.

The fact remains we lack leaders on the field when the going gets tough, yes we have well spoken guys (Not Farrell) who say the right things in front of cameras but until that is addressed or the right person steps forward then we will continue to struggle. I'd follow AWJ over the top, as I would POC, MJ, R.Hill, Greenwood, McCaw, Read etc etc

Would Shaun Edwards work with Eddie Jones?

If yes then I'd love to have him in there...but not Gatland.

Why do people dislike Gatland and why do they not want him to coach England?

I'm genuinely quite surprised at the opinions on him.

Scottish fans may respect his acheivements, it is hard not to, but they will never forget the way he treated the Scottish players over Lions selection.

Not so sure why the English fans are so against him though?

Let's not forget that Gatlands also master minded Wales losing to the likes of Fiji and Japan, probably Italy as well.

They've been pushed far too close by minnows as well in the past, and done poorly in other 6N's tournaments, he's just coached them long enough for the odds to balance.

Then look at Wales results versus SANZA, pretty poor reading.

And this has been a pretty impressive time for Wales player wise, some of the quality of their players that have come through is just brilliant, I don't know how much Gatland has had to do with that tbh but you get the idea that guys like Warburton, AWJ, Williams would all be great no matter who coached them.


Yes he's a good Wales coach, but he knows the team and clubs inside out. He's had a huge amount of downs as well as ups in his career and he'd never get the same amount of time from the RFU or the chance to just pick the majority of one club side and hope for the best like he did with Wales when he started.

BigGee wrote:Scottish fans may respect his acheivements, it is hard not to, but they will never forget the way he treated the Scottish players over Lions selection.

Not so sure why the English fans are so against him though?

Because they've watched his team play. Wales are brutally efficient but they are dull and are not punching their weight in attack. No TBP in the 6N tells a story, defence and set piece are their strengths.

I'm sure Gatland could get England winning but we're all romantics at heart and want to see England's attacking talent flourishing and scoring lots of tries. We also have enough issues with mercenary Englishman (Te'o and Hughes) without Gatland recruiting more Kiwis in the likes of Parkes and Anscombe.

yappysnap wrote:Let's not forget that Gatlands also master minded Wales losing to the likes of Fiji and Japan, probably Italy as well.

Wrong.

Kiwi mercenaries, speaking of which, Halaholo and McNicholl each put pen to paper to remain with Blues and Scarlets. Parkes probably won't be playing international rugby after the world cup but I expect Wales will poach these two. Both great backline players and would improve any teams attack. We know we currently have the attacking players to score lots of tries, we've seen it on many occasions. Gatland must have decided it was best to play a different sort of way right now and it's worked. I get the feeling it wouldn't work against NZ but hopefully we'll improve by the summer, I expect that we will. I also expect Gatland will try something different, he even kept a few idea in reserve in the 6N and that was released against England, and then Ireland.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

BigGee wrote:Scottish fans may respect his acheivements, it is hard not to, but they will never forget the way he treated the Scottish players over Lions selection.

Not so sure why the English fans are so against him though?

Because they've watched his team play. Wales are brutally efficient but they are dull and are not punching their weight in attack. No TBP in the 6N tells a story, defence and set piece are their strengths.

I'm sure Gatland could get England winning but we're all romantics at heart and want to see England's attacking talent flourishing and scoring lots of tries. We also have enough issues with mercenary Englishman (Te'o and Hughes) without Gatland recruiting more Kiwis in the likes of Parkes and Anscombe.

Or maybe he adapts a style for the players he has available to win. Yes it hasn't all been highs but he has a pretty impressive record with one of the smallest player pools available in the NH.

I can't think of anyone more qualified to coach England currently.

He didn't really adapt at all on Lions tours. Bit slow to change things and stubborn? Thinking his lack of refreshing coaching staff as well.

No 7&1/2 wrote:He didn't really adapt at all on Lions tours. Bit slow to change things and stubborn? Thinking his lack of refreshing coaching staff as well.

But he implemented a style that brought a win in Aus and a series draw in NZ with a scratch side, that's pretty impressive. I'm not sure any coach could get these results with amazing attacking rugby in the same circumstances.

He took the same style he developed in Wales. He failed to integrate the larger pool of players as well which would be his main issue with England. I'm pretty sure a lot of coaches would have come back with better results with more entertainment.

He s a good coach but I'd be disappointed should he be the best option applying for England.

yappysnap wrote:Let's not forget that Gatlands also master minded Wales losing to the likes of Fiji and Japan, probably Italy as well.

Has he?

Japan was Mcbryde. Fiji was Gareth Jenkins and I am pretty sure he has never lost to Italy (as well as Scotland).