Scarlets Rhys Thomas in negotiations with Worcester?

Rumours seem to be springing up that Ryhs Thomas s close to signing with Worcester in the English championship, it seems to be a cross between the Scarlets not matching his £180k a year deal he currently as, and him not being rated by Gatland enough to be included in the Wales squad.

Interesting if true...

*Edit - also a rumour Dominic Day has been offered £120k to go to London Irish next season.

ha, been on SF today at all Alyn?

Wouldn't be too much of a loss if we lose Rhys I don't think. Would be gutted to lose Dom Day though.

rugbydreamer wrote:ha, been on SF today at all Alyn?

Wouldn't be too much of a loss if we lose Rhys I don't think. Would be gutted to lose Dom Day though.

Scum V actually
Though it has been reported in todays rugby paper apparently.

oh really?! Ah they've been discussing it on SF all day.

Rhys, for all the work he gives around the park (which to be fair is a lot), he's still never really kicked on with scrummaging, although I will concede he's improved this season.

Still a big loss though, tight heads are a rare commodity in Welsh rugby at the moment. It's not as if you have a ready made one, unless they promote this kid called Samson Lee that I'm reading about.

Apprently he's a huge, nasty red head from a Gypsy family, so we have probably identified next seasons Welsh player who Ireland will try and steal, lol. I think he's like 18 stone and he's only just turned 19, lol.

I dunno we've got Manu (although he might be going), Peter Edwards and Simon Gardiner who are out and out TH. Rhodri Jones can also play there, although I prefer him at LH.

So no "star" TH, but if they are in the Peter Edwards mould, at least we know they'll be able to lock the scrum down.

The rumours sound about right. Isn't Phil Davies at Worcester? Didn't he initially sign Rhys Thomas when at the Scarlet's? If the rumours that LI lock Kennedy is going to France, then I guess they will be in the market for a second row.

Day would be a blow for Scarlets and Wales (unless gets contract sorted).

Never been a fan of Rollerskates though he has played well this season so I don't see that as a big loss to Wales.

The Scarlets have your Gardiner (is it) coming through who had good reviews before injury and maybe they looking at making a bid for Lewis Roberts.

What about this 19 year old Samson Lee to replace Thomas if he goes?

I've heard he's 18 stone and a mean red head from a gypsy family, sounds like a good one!

To be honest Rhys Thomas is a decent player, but if he can get the money playing else where there is no doubt that he will leave.

I think for Dom it will all depend on what happens when the welsh squad is announced, as supposedly he could be in contention for a call up. And if he does get capped/in the squad, maybe his welsh ambitions will keep him at teh Scarlets. That said maybe he has some scottish blood we don't know about and London Irish could be a stepping stone to a call up for them.

Just a small and pedantic point, but as there doesn't seem to be any Wuss supporters on this forum, they are actually in the Premiership and not the Championship

Bedford:

Think Eifion Lewis Roberts would need to take a significant pay cut to come to the Scarlet's. Would love for him to sign for us though. Got a few North Walian's in our squad (George North, McCusker, Iolo Evans etc) to help him settle in. But in all likelihood can see him signing for a team in the Jeff.

pioden,

I am guessing he would have to take a big drop where ever he went. Maybe the incentive of playing in Wales and possibility of getting further Welsh honours could be enough to sway him your way.

bedford - to be honest I would expect him to be looking at the Blues or Ospreys if he does see coming back to Wales as a chance to improve his collection of cap/s. After all if the rumour mills are true they would be in more despirate need of a quality/first choice tighthead.

SS,

I think all Regions are or could be in desperate need of T/Heads if rumours are to believed.

I suppose it comes down to who he feels can offer him the best platform to enhance his reputation, with the salary cap coming into force then that might not be as big a factor depending on what other players the Regions cut.

Does he still have his farm or family farm up North Wales (Ruthin way I think), that was one of his consideration when he opted for Sale.

Think Eifion Lewis Roberts would need to take a significant pay cut to come to the Scarlet's. Would love for him to sign for us though

I think he'll head back to Wales. He'll have lined his pockets now and so will be looking for a bit of international action as the Welsh propping stocks aren't that brilliant, especially if Adam Jones heads overseas.

Isn't the salary cap only relating to the HEC squads? £3.5m split between a 32 man registered HEC squad (I think that's the right numbers) is an average of just over £110k per player. Allowing for differences in reputation one of the teams should be able to slot Roberts in.

yep that's about it Sam. If we were going to buy in a new TH, then Eifion would get my shout.

We should def be able to afford Efion if this rumour of Rhys T going to Worcester is true and we let Manu go at the end of the season (that would be at a rough estimate £400k gone from our wages in 1 fell swoop) and that money could be put towards Efions contract - but I still don't feel we could afford to get into a p!ss!ng competition with the O's or particularly the Blues (if they lost Jenks, Tito, Fiilse, M Williams and the others, that's one hell of a cut in wage bill).

Rhys Thomas might be up against it if he moves the Warriors have got a decent tight head whose name I can't remember (Pacific Islander). He does very well in the scrum and though not the best carrier isn't short of effort in the loose. Thomas may spend some time getting splinters.

Priest, if the Scarlets decide quickly before the Ospreys know if they'll be in the market or not (Jones has yet to make up his mind) they might be able to seal the deal before the Ospreys know whether they want to bid or not.

true true if we moved quickly we could steal a march on other clubs (assuming Efion doesn't mull it over waiting for the best deal) - but we'd also need to wait to see if the Rhys T move materialises - or we'd run the risk of having 3 or 4 good TH's and being 3-400k over our wage budget.

priest:

in theory we should be able to afford "the fridge" if we lose rhys thomas, manu, renegotiate stevo's salary etc... unfortunately though all these savings would probably be absorbed in renewing jonathan davies, dominic day etc contracts.....players rarely resign for less money these days. think eifon lewis roberts nearly doubled his salary when he went to toulon. we couldn't get close to matching it, or what he'll get offered in the jeff. but hopefully im wrong and we do sign him.

sam:

isn't the warriors prop called Taumoepeau (spelling?) also aren't you guys taking matt mullans off their hands?

Taumoepeau's coming up to 37 so i'd imagine he'd be retiring soon and their other options are a mix of inexperienced youngsters and not so good players. Looks like there would be an opening for Thomas

also aren't you guys taking matt mullans off their hands?.

We've been linked with him for several years. Think the Tigers see him as the perfect foil for Marcos Ayerza. Debatable whether we can fit him under the salary cap though. Whether he joins or not will probably have a bit to do with how Brookes is recovering from his nasty injury and how the short term deal for the Samoan international Mullipolla goes. The Samoan lad is an average scrummager but a Castro esque beast in the loose with Cockers coming out and saying his 'streamlined weight' is 20 stone.

The arrival of Miles Benjamin seems more certain than Mullan at the moment but both might arrive.

Taumoepeau's coming up to 37 so i'd imagine he'd be retiring soon

Didn't realise he was that old. Then again you can never tell with tighthead props, Julian White is still going part time at 38 not far off 39.

With the Welsh squad announced, I guess it will now take some doing to persuade Dom Day and Rhys Thomas that there is any point in staying in Wales

Am not sure about Dom Day. He has a niggling calf injury so mayhaps that why he was left out of the squad, as there's a chance he won't make it through training?

I dunno. Still not bothered about Rhys T leaving, but would be gutted to see Dom leave.

ss:

thought exactly the same when the welsh squad was announced. agree with dreamer about only being concerned about dominic day, hopefully it is due to the calf injury.

By the way I heard on the Wales squad announcement that both Turnbull and McCusker were unavailable for selection - I hadn't heard anything about them being injured - any news from anyone?

Yeah, Turnbull has been selected for Scotland and McCusker for Ireland.

Maybe the blues should sign Dom Day, keep him in wales

I always thought Reed had the better chance of getting selcted than Day, there's always some players going to be disappointed and its how they use that disappointed is what makes them.

He could take the 'easy' option of more money that may damage his International chances or he may think to himself 'right I'll stick with it and show the coaches they were wrong not to pick me'.

Davies, Evans and R Jones were always going to get picked to I guess it was a choice between Day Reed and even A Jones I guess with pissibility of AWJ being added later on.

This time the decision came down on Reeds side, don't mean it always will.

Ireland and Scotland may have selected them but unfortunately these two actually have been capped by Wales - unless of course the IRB rules aren't clear and the nations the 2 played against hadn't actually declared they were nations, or declared that it was an actual rugby game 4 years previous to the game...

Shame really Rhys is very good around the pitch and scores tries, but until he becomes better than average at scrummaging "which is his first and foremost job" why would Gatland select him?

He is improving a lot viewtothegym - I used to wholeheartedly agree with the rollerskates tag but this last year he's been improving greatly and has matched a few people - my one issue with him is sometimes he wins the scrum battle in a way which sometimes isn't exactly legal, and he's also prone to bouts of loosing his head and getting carded

Bedford - I didn't mean the comment to come across as if I was upset Dom was not selected. To be honest I expected Shingler to be selected ahead of either Dom or Lou due to his ability to play on the flank and second row (a better bench option). I was just wondering in Dom will see this as his best shot (with locks out injured) at a Welsh jersey and say sod it lets get the money instead. I really hope he doesn't as he has been improving game upon game for us, as has Lou.

View to a gym - I think that Rhys has improved no end at scrum time. He did a job on Tonguhia (sp) when we played in Northampton, so he must be doing something right (even if as Smirnoff says it may be illiegal). I wouldn't have expected him to have been selected, but that said neither would I have expected Bevington or Rhodri Jones to be in there.

I'm quite glad Rhodri has been selected, expect him to come back to us after the Poland camp, but it will be good experience for him, he's looking very good and I'm reckon he may have a few stormers for the Scarlets while the 6N are on

Smirnoff - Will Rhodri even play during that time, as he is second/third choice behind Iestyn and Phi.

I think they're just picking Rhodri Jones for the Training camp, possibly to try and speed up his development likewise with Harry Robinson.

I'm wouldn't be surprised if Thomas went to Worcester at all. The Scarlets offered him a ludicrous £540,000, 3 year contract to bring in a tight head prop who had played for Wales and was still young enough to be a key player to the scarlets and Wales. Unfortunately, they didn't bank on him being sooooo unprofessional off the park. Gatland gave up on him after a few incidents in bars and. Thomas would have been a legend back in the amateur days, but he's a completely wasted talent. He smokes, he drinks and is known for being an awful trainer.
Even though Thomas signed for the Scarlets, he was more keen on the Blues, until the Scarlets came in with silly money. He still commutes from Newport and I presume he'd do the same if he went to Worcester.

I'd say Rhodri is ahead of Phil John by now as Phil (unfortunately as he's a nice bloke) seems to be going backwards and Rhodri is improving - also we've been rotating our props quite a bit this season, so I'd be suprised it Rhodri didn't start a few games during the 6N

Smirnoff - I hope your right on that. Unfortunately we have Glasgow away and Leinster away during the 6Ns and those are matches where we will really need to pick up the points, especially as they will be weakened (but still have stars like Nacewa, Van Der Merwe, Strauss etc).

True but I'd hope he'd get 20minutes in at least 1 of those games - but we'll see, either way I hope the training camp helps him