Welsh Regions Signings/Departures/Rumours so far (A King and Lion heading to the Scarlets?)

First topic message reminder :

Cardiff Blues

In

Jason Tovey (Newport Gwent Dragons)- Confirmed
Lou Reed (Scarlets) -Confirmed
Robin Copeland (Rotherham Titans)- Confirmed
Benoit Bourrust (Perpignan)- Confirmed
Campese Ma'afu (West Habour)-Confirmed
Andy Kyriacou (Ulster) -Confirmed
Phil Davies DOR (Worcester)- Confirmed
Gerwyn Price (Cross Keys) - Rumour
Rob Lewis (London Welsh)-confirmed





Out

Gethin Jenkins (Toulon) -Confirmed
Martyn Williams -Retiring - Confirmed
Rhys Thomas (Wasps)- Confirmed
Dan Parks (Connacht) Confirmed
Casey Laulala (Munster)- Confirmed
Deiniol Jones -Retiring -Confirmed
Paul Tito- Released - confirmed
Manna Molitika -Retiring- Confirmed
Ben Blair (Agen)- Confirmed
John Yapp (Edinburgh) Confirmed
Richie Rees (Edinburgh)-Confirmed
Ryan Tyrell (Melbourne Rebels)-Confirmed
Xavier Rush (Retiring/Defence Coach) - Confirmed


Scarlet's

In


Lewis Rawlins (Cross Keys) - Confirmed
Barry Davies ( Ospreys) - Rumour
Jason Eaton ( Hurricanes)- Rumour
Adam Byrnes ( Melbourne Rebels) -Rumour
Manuel Carizza (Biarittz)- Rumour
Kristian Phillips (Ospreys) - Confirmed
Davit Zirakashvili (Clermont Auvergne)- Rumour
Danny Wilson (Newport Dragons-forwards coach)- Confirmed
Daniel Carpo (RC Timisoara, Romania) - Rumour
Joe Tuineau (Montpellier) -Rumour
Cambell Johnstoe (Biarritz)- Rumour
George Earle ( Cheetahs) - Confirmed
Simon Easterby (New DOR) - Confirmed
Richard Kelly (Ospreys) - Confirmed
Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys) - Rumour
Gavin Henson (Unattached) - Rumour
Tomas Vallejos Cinalli (Harlequins) - Confirmed
Pat ciliers (Lions) - Rumour
Gareth Owen (Ospreys) - Confirmed

Out

Ben Morgan (Gloucester)- Confirmed
Steven Jones (Wasps)-Confirmed
Dominic Day (Bath) Confirmed
Lou Reed (Cardiff Blues) -Confirmed
Dan Evans ( Dragons) - confirmed
Rhys Thomas Retiring- Confirmed
Iestyn Thomas (Retiring/Dragons forwards coach) - Confirmed
Simon Gardiner- (Rotherham Titan) - Confirmed
Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) -Confirmed
Damien Welch (Exeter Chiefs)- Confirmed
Vernon Cooper (Forwards Coach) - Confirmed
Garin Jenkins (scrummaging Coach) - Confirmed
Nigel Davies (Gloucester -DOR) - Confirmed
Andy Fenby (Newcastle) - Rumour (signed new contract)
Matt Gibert - (Mogliano,Italy) - Confirmed
Liam Davies - Released - Confirmed
Mark Jones (Gloucester - Skills Coach)- Rumour


Newport Gwent Dragons

In

Dan Evan (Scarlets) -Confirmed
Peter Grant (stormers) - Rumour
Tom Prydie (Ospreys)- Confirmed
Iestyn Thomas (forwards coach/scarlets) - Confirmed
Ian Nimmo (Cornish Pirates) -Confirmed
Tim Ryan (Cavalieri Prato) - Confirmed
Rhys Downes (Pontypridd) - Confirmed
Josh Tyler (UWIC) - Confirmed
Stewart Maguire (Connacht) - Rumour
Hywel Stoddart (Newport RFC) - Confirmed

Out

Jason Tovey ( Cardiff Blues)-Confirmed
Aled Brew (Biarritz)- Confirmed
Tom Willis (Retired)- Confirmed
Ben Castle (Retired)- Confirmed
Martyn Thomas (Gloucester) -confirmed
Luke Chateris (Perpignan) -Confirmed
Hugh Gustafson- Released- Not confirmed
Rhys Buckley- Released- Confirmed
Nigel Hall- Retired- Confirmed
Hugo Ellis- Released- Confirmed
James Leadbeater- Released- Confirmed
Mathew Jones (Bristol) -Confirmed
Tom Riley- (Cornish Pirates)- Confirmed
Lloyd Burns- Retired- Confirmed
Danny Wilson (Scarlets) - Confirmed
Gavin Thomas- Retired - Confirmed
Scott Morgan -Released - Confirmed
Trystan Davies (Carmarthen Quins) - Confirmed


Ospreys

In

Steve Tandy (Bridgend RFC)
Sam Lewis (Swansea RFC)
Sam Davies (Swansea RFC)
Shaun Connor ( Dragons - Ospreys Academy Coach)
Jonathan Spratt ( London Irish) - Confirmed


Out

Tommy Bowe (Ulster)- Confirmed
Sean Holley (Released)
Scott Johnson (SRFU)
James Goode (Newcastle Falcons)-Confirmed
Shane Williams (Mitsubishi Dynoboars )-Confimed
Huw Bennett (Lyon) -Confirmed
Nikki Walker (Worcester Warriors) -Confirmed
Dan Bigger (Racing Metro) -Rumour
Cai Griffiths (London Irish) -Confirmed
Barry Davies released - Confirmed
Chauncey O'Toole- Releases - Confirmed
Sonny Parker- (London Welsh) -Confirmed
Mefin Davies- Retiring- Not Confirmed
Tom Prydie (Dragons)- Confirmed
Will Taylor (Wasps)- Confirmed
Kristian Phillips (Scarlets) -Confirmeed
Rory Pitman (South Wales Scorpions)-Confirmed
Paul James (Bath) - Confirmed
Gareth Owen - Released - Confirmed
Stefan Watermeyer- Released - Confirmed
Craig Cross- Released - Confirmed
Dai Flanagan - Released - Confirmed

606 - the thing is Smith is a very good defensive player a bit like Bishop (before he got over hyped for being under-rated), and you need a bit of ballence in the centres. Owen and Hughes are both very good attacking threats, however I don't think they are as solid going backwards as Smith.

It mite mean whitebeach but i dont know even tho quite a bit of my gcse geography was roughly to do with the gwendraeth

Can someone please help. Trying to keep up with this thread but it has a few pages now. What's this Kelly from the ospreys title about?

From twitter

@DWGeorge86: @Bobbylew9 How's the Blues going Kiff? Miss me yet?

‏@Bobbylew9: @DWGeorge86 going well butt. Tough. Reminds me of my first preseason at welsh.

Been rumoured for a while but i would say this means the blues have signed a scrum half

lord/priest: yeah think gwendreath means whitebeach. it's the river that runs through the valley of cwm gwendreath.

sheephead:Kelly is the lock for Swansea/Ospreys who has apparently signed for the scarlets.

argus running the story linking owen to the dragons:

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/9782885.Ex_Osprey_Owen_linked_to_Dragons/

Ex Dragons centre Riley heading to Cornish Pirates:

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/15188/7843308/Pirates-snap-up-Riley

Riley won't be to big a loss for us but we do need Ashley Smith to have an injury free season for once.

pioden gorllewin wrote:lord/priest: yeah think gwendreath means whitebeach. it's the river that runs through the valley of cwm gwendreath.

sheephead:Kelly is the lock for Swansea/Ospreys who has apparently signed for the scarlets.

argus running the story linking owen to the dragons:

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/9782885.Ex_Osprey_Owen_linked_to_Dragons/

He will be a very good signing for the Dragons, they could use his creativity in the centres.

Hopefully owen and prydie can really kick on at the dragons and fulfil their potential. Would make a pretty good backline

Priest,

Prydie looked top notch in the JWC and his kicking was an added bonus with Brew and Martyn Thomas having both left I would be very surprised if he's not a regular this year.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Hopefully owen and prydie can really kick on at the dragons and fulfil their potential. Would make a pretty good backline

All they need are some tidy forwards and they could do some damage.

Pioden : cheers butty.

Yeah I expect Prydie to be 1st choice this year - I just hope he can get back to challenging for Wales honours and does well for the Dragons. It's not guarenteed but as you say he looked good in the JWC

more here for you sheephead:

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Richard-Kelly-poised-Ospreys-Scarlets/story-16455681-detail/story.html

OSPREYS lock Richard Kelly is set to make the switch to regional rivals Scarlets for next season.
The 24-year-old second row has made just one start in four seasons at the Liberty Stadium, struggling to make an impact with a glut of international second rows ahead of him.
The 6ft 6in lock, regarded as an astute line-out forward, has played most of his rugby with Swansea in the Welsh Premiership, but is joining Carmarthen Quins with the hope of making his mark in the Scarlets set-up.
Kelly has been training at Parc y Scarlets in recent weeks and is the second Osprey to make the short move across the Loughor, joining wing Kristian Phillips.
Further signings are expected to be announced by the Scarlets in the coming weeks with the region's bosses looking to add at least another second row and prop to their squad.
Meanwhile, Wales centre Jonathan Davies has undergone an operation to remedy his long-standing groin problem.
The Scarlets favourite carried the 'sportsman's hernia' through the second half of last season, opting against going under the knife until he returned from Wales's tour of Australia.
The Welsh squad landed back in the UK this week with Davies heading straight to Manchester for surgery.
The 24-year-old is likely to be sidelined for up to six weeks, meaning he should be fit for the start of the new RaboDirect Pro12 season with the Scarlets.
The Scarlets' Wales contingent are due to return to the region on July 23.
Davies isn't the only Wales star in need of surgery this summer with Dragons flanker Dan Lydiate also set to go under the knife.

I wonder what the effect will be on the players if they continue to be played for Wales while injured...

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I wonder what the effect will be on the players if they continue to be played for Wales while injured...

Just as Daf and Mark Jones.

exactly - I also wonder if North will manage to play more games for the Scarlets than Wales this year.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:exactly - I also wonder if North will manage to play more games for the Scarlets than Wales this year.

What you mean he plays for the Scalets??? I think he has more caps than Scarlets appearances full stop at the moment. That said Welsh caps seem to be adding up rapidly for everyone at the moment I read somewhere Priestland has 18 Caps, and he has only been involved since 6Ns before last (and not properly involved until RWC warm ups).

espn are now running the henson to scarlets rumour:

http://blogs.espnscrum.com/Rumour-Mill/archives/2012/06/henson_to_the_scarlets.php

pioden gorllewin wrote:espn are now running the henson to scarlets rumour:

http://blogs.espnscrum.com/Rumour-Mill/archives/2012/06/henson_to_the_scarlets.php

Yeah but I bet they just read Rick O'Shea tweeting, or even worse read threads on here, and then pass it off as their own impressive Journo skills.

http://www.espnscrum.com/wales/rugby/story/166234.html

I'm pretty relaxed he won't be coming to us. Think we are focused on a super 15 prop and another lock thankfully.

Ah, Gareth Owen to the Dragons, are we sure that the powers to be at the regions do not read this forum ?

Cheers pioden. For a while I thought it was the Irish lock they had. Just because of the name. But I think he was released a while back now after a long lay off. Mc-something

sheephead wrote:Cheers pioden. For a while I thought it was the Irish lock they had. Just because of the name. But I think he was released a while back now after a long lay off. Mc-something

McInnery (McInnerty or McInnerly something like that).

I'd be more than happy to see Gareth Owen at the Dragons, very happy indeed. We're an unofficial development region so it's great to see the young talent getting a chance to shine, and I hope Gareth Owen sees that coming to the Dragons would not necessarily be a step down but a way to reignite his spark and get him back in the shop window. I think Prydie realises this too, and Brew before them. However, with a tight budget we can't do it for every bench warmer, but it's good to see us mopping up some of those out of favour elsewhere.

That said, we've always been able to play a decent backs game, but it's so much harder with a retreating pack. We're fine in contact, fine in the ruck (especially with Faletau, Lydiate and Gav Thomas (now Lewis Evans)). However, it is the scrum that is our achilles heel. We've banged on about it for too long - our backs will always struggle if the scrum is going backward and we can't get front foot ball. Solve that and we may be able to offer these talented young backs a platform to shine. I don't need us to dominate the scrum; all I ask for is parity!

Apparently one of the reason why Nigel Davies identified Danny Wilson as forwards coach was the Dragons being so good at the contact area/breakdown (an area the scarlets struggled with last season) Think you're right the scrum is the one area the Dragons need to work on ( probably all the regions do apart from the ospreys) Dragons are trying to build up depth in the front row with Buck, Way, Price, Williams, Gustafson etc…but do need a bit of experience up front. However finding an experienced scrummaging TH is like gold dust these days, unless you have a huge playing budget.

according to the scarlets forum, jason eaton has turned the scarlets down and is joing the dragons. cant believe he'd rather newport than west wales. if true.

Kingamos, my home town Newport may be a sh**heap but Cardiff is only 20 minutes drive and a lot of Newport/Dragons players have lived there in the past instead. Although sleepy West Wales is beautiful, maybe he wants a bit more of city living than farming and fields (if the move is true).

kingamos wrote:according to the scarlets forum, jason eaton has turned the scarlets down and is joing the dragons. cant believe he'd rather newport than west wales. if true.

Eaton will go for the biggest pay day, if the Dragons are offering more, thats where he will go!

But we do have the biggest town in wales and swansea 15mins away

didn't mean to affend you on newport griff but i seen that programme on channel 4 about those bouncers. seems like a goodnite out tho.

Griff - just been reading your post about the scrums, you're starting to sound like a Scarlet!

on another note, i also read on the dragons forum (dragged up) that they have signed three young south africans through a european scout. im a scarlets fan by the way but check the other regions forums for news.

isn't jason eaton from a dairy farming background of taranaki? So maybe rural west wales might suit him. But then again maybe he's spoken to his fellow taranki local paul tito who's recommended living in cardiff and the rodney parade atmosphere. who know it's all rumours at the moment - if eaton does sign for a welsh region it will probably be after the super 15 is finished.

at the moment the only locks the scarlets have signed are, george earle, lewis rawlins on an academy contract, Richard Kelly from the Ospreys and a trial to shaun jones from llandovery. mark davies CE says another two locks will be signed, so its a waiting game i guess.

kingamos: are the 3 south africans academy player or senior players?

poiden - not sure mate it dont say but it says they are forwards, so good news for dragons fans if true, jus hope the scarlets can start signing some decent forwrds or i fear were gonna have a season like the blues and take a couple of steps backwards.

oi oi oi oi oi

gcBlues wrote:oi oi oi oi oi

Im sure our backwards step was last season...I hope...

Scott Morgan has been released by the dragons, meaning they only have 3 recognised locks for next season. Not really surprised Scott has started his own vending machine company supplying protein shakes at gyms....seems to be doing really well. Looks like the Dragons will be looking to add another lock, especially with Sidoli not getting any younger. Argus article:

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/9788699.Dragons_down_to_three_locks_as_Morgan_is_released/

Griff wrote:Kingamos, my home town Newport may be a sh**heap but Cardiff is only 20 minutes drive and a lot of Newport/Dragons players have lived there in the past instead. Although sleepy West Wales is beautiful, maybe he wants a bit more of city living than farming and fields (if the move is true).

Also to be fair it doesn't take too long to drive north of Newport and then you get some lovely country-side up there too.

london welsh win appeal and will play in aviva premiership next season. now there will be a fifth region.

watching bbc wales, may have jumped the gun on london welsh getting promoted, its allover wales online. fingers crossed tho.

Looks like we finally got another lock -
tomas vallejos ‏@tomvallejos

After long time of negotiation I'm massively happy for joining Llanelli Scarlets. I'm Really looking frwd to it.

Interesting point from someone on Twitter was that now Newcastle Falcons have been relegated Euan Murray might be looking for a new club (and particularly HEC rugby) and Scarlets are looking for a TH

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2012/06/30/scarlets-sign-argentinean-forward-tomas-vallejos-from-harlequins-91466-31293712/

now vallejos is annonced, just have to wait for the other lock to be confirmed. although nothing signed yet (shortlist of 3 i believe) fingers crossed we are waiting for the super 15 to finish before annoncing the other lock and TH.


priest: not sure about murry to be truthful, he's not the player he used to be. although his experience would valuable in bring through samson lee.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Looks like we finally got another lock -
tomas vallejos ‏@tomvallejos

After long time of negotiation I'm massively happy for joining Llanelli Scarlets. I'm Really looking frwd to it.

He's looking forward to it that much that he doesn't even know the proper name of the team. With that said, neither do Sky Sports.

Ospreys aside who isn't looking for a TH these days!

Murrays going to extend his career by about 8 years because of the lack of top quality TH's around.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Interesting point from someone on Twitter was that now Newcastle Falcons have been relegated Euan Murray might be looking for a new club (and particularly HEC rugby) and Scarlets are looking for a TH

This was move was rumoured back when he left Northampton. Not the player he used to be, sadly, and the Sunday issue is a stumbling block.

Any Harlequins fans' opinions on Vallejos? Don't know anything about him...

does anybody know the lengh of the contract that vallejos has signed with us.

miaow wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Interesting point from someone on Twitter was that now Newcastle Falcons have been relegated Euan Murray might be looking for a new club (and particularly HEC rugby) and Scarlets are looking for a TH

This was move was rumoured back when he left Northampton. Not the player he used to be, sadly, and the Sunday issue is a stumbling block.

Any Harlequins fans' opinions on Vallejos? Don't know anything about him...

He might not be the player he used to be but he's twice the scrummager of the rest of the props on your books.