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

Who?

Smirnoff - I really thought he was going to end up at the Blues with Phil. So does this mean Rob Jones will be heading out to Glaws as well???

Who knows - they have Tindall as backs coach (Be interesting to see how he does as he never exactly showed much skills as a player) & Moriarty as Defence coach, but don't know if they'll have a skills coach and scrum coach as well

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Who knows - they have Tindall as backs coach (Be interesting to see how he does as he never exactly showed much skills as a player) & Moriarty as Defence coach, but don't know if they'll have a skills coach and scrum coach as well

I remember a few seasons ago, me and my mate went on the pop in Llanelli after a friendly and met a lovely Jack who told us 'It just F-king embarassing, you boys have Simon Easterby as a defense coach, the bloke is a pen machine and can tackle for s--t, and what is really f-king embarrasing is you have Mark Jones as skills coach and the bloke has never shown any skill at all, he even falls over running in a straight line, its just f-king embarrassing for you boys'. So I guess going by that Tindall should do fine!

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

I remember a few seasons ago, me and my mate went on the pop in Llanelli after a friendly and met a lovely Jack who told us 'It just F-king embarassing, you boys have Simon Easterby as a defense coach, the bloke is a pen machine and can tackle for s--t, and what is really f-king embarrasing is you have Mark Jones as skills coach and the bloke has never shown any skill at all, he even falls over running in a straight line, its just f-king embarrassing for you boys'. So I guess going by that Tindall should do fine!

That's what i've been saying as well!

We need to ammend the lists as Tom Smith as now re-signed for the Ospreys after his move to London Irish as fallen through.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/18679247

wasn't moriarty at newcastle with tait? remember he wasn't the brightest and landed newcastle in it by saying the prop faked an injury for a breather? something along those lines i think....spiderman think barber is staying on in some capacity until the end of his contract (year left). so not sure if rob jones will end up at the blues anytime soon.

lorddowlais: thanks pal, will update now.

pioden gorllewin wrote:wasn't moriarty at newcastle with tait? remember he wasn't the brightest and landed newcastle in it by saying the prop faked an injury for a breather? something along those lines i think....spiderman think barber is staying on in some capacity until the end of his contract (year left). so not sure if rob jones will end up at the blues anytime soon.

lorddowlais: thanks pal, will update now.

No probs, we are all using this thread for any snippet of info we can find as the rugby websites are crap. So, I call all ye forth with any juicey gossip, please do not stay tight lipped and let us know on this thread.

Simon Thomas has twittered that the scarlets are talking to Pat ciliers the Lions Super 15 prop. Looks like he is a regular starter for the Lions so he looks promising. Has anyone else seen him play?

any info on him biltongbek?

gowales wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

I remember a few seasons ago, me and my mate went on the pop in Llanelli after a friendly and met a lovely Jack who told us 'It just F-king embarassing, you boys have Simon Easterby as a defense coach, the bloke is a pen machine and can tackle for s--t, and what is really f-king embarrasing is you have Mark Jones as skills coach and the bloke has never shown any skill at all, he even falls over running in a straight line, its just f-king embarrassing for you boys'. So I guess going by that Tindall should do fine!

That's what i've been saying as well!

Go - that is far from my opinion, rather the opinion of a drunk jack with a turk shaped chip on his shoullder. Personally I though Mark was a really under rated player and had a heap of his lime light stolen by a midget.



Pioden - If we are looking at getting a first choice tighthead from SA then surely that will leave us skin, as I can't imagine they come cheap.

But we have saved at an estimate over a million in wages with the loss of S Jones, R Thomas (on £250k), I Thomas, S Lamont, B Morgan (with £100,000 gained), L Reed, D Welch, D Day, Gilbert (I know only £30k or less), D Evans. This is combined with losing Lyons, King, Mark Jones, Daf Jones & Shingler in previous years (most were more than likely high earners) and losing Nige (gaining £100,000) without bringing someone new in

So we should have enough money to offer around £250k (same as R Thomas' wages) to the new TH, and still have a bit of money to offer £180-£200k to a HEC standard lock

After a quick search on Google and the ESPN site it seems (I don't vouch for accuracy though) that Pat Ciliers is 6ft and 17/18st (roughly) - he also seems to have played most of the recent Lions games as well.

So fingers crossed he's good, he comes and he's affordable!

Jesus when you look at it like that, yeah there has been some really money saved. That said I assume that Foxy didn't sign on for penuts this time, and Priestland, North and Co. will probably cos thte earth when they are due to be renewed too.

I agree with you that there would have been large increases in wages once our players started getting international recognition - but feel with saving on Lyons and Kings wages (maybe between £180k-£250k at a guess) this could have been used for the wage increases - that's £400k there at least, or even a bit more.

I'd assume that Earle and the new lock signing will be on maybe double what Reed and Day were on, and Vallejos would be on more than Welch, but there should still be money to play around with (unless [doommongering!] of course cut backs is the only way the Scarlets can breakeven next year/year after)

Smirnoff -I think Dai Llew was on £300k!! Your right we have saved a heap, and probably more than enought to replace with better options, and keep hold of youngsters too.

Spiderman: TH can command a premium price these days, and I think Mark Davies, Gareth Jenkins and Easterby know that. Easterby only said yesterday in the conference that good TH are hard to find, and he won't just buy anyone. Think its's roughly 12 rand to the £1 so not sure if that would make him cheaper? Or does his agent just ask for a contract in the £130-£150k bracket. Who knows, but I'd be happy if he did sign for us. Would he become another "time serving" player?

pioden gorllewin wrote:Spiderman: TH can command a premium price these days, and I think Mark Davies, Gareth Jenkins and Easterby know that. Easterby only said yesterday in the conference that good TH are hard to find, and he won't just buy anyone. Think its's roughly 12 rand to the £1 so not sure if that would make him cheaper? Or does his agent just ask for a contract in the £130-£150k bracket. Who knows, but I'd be happy if he did sign for us. Would he become another "time serving" player?

Do you want Biltong to get all stressed out on here?? I looked at this THs profile on the Lions site, he has played for the Emerging Springboks, so I assume he must be on their radar a little. But I guess if he wants RWC 2015 then Wales is a pretty easy option.

On the Lions site it also says his dream is to play for the Boks as well - I know it's cheating but I like having players (like Manu a few years ago) who had no intention of playing for Wales but didn't state it so we could have them as 'time serving' players, without stealing off other countries.

reading this article it looks like we will be announcing the new players within two weeks. probably in time for the unveiling of new kit/fashion show/meet players thing they do on the 30th july.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Scarlets-closer-bolstering-pack/story-16480213-detail/story.html

also carmarthen quins lock hadyn pugh is linked with dragons again. makes sense with them only having 3 locks at present.

That fashion show thing just seems wrong to me still. Although I guess it must be a bit of a money spinner, this is the third now (i think).

I would be gutted if Pugh went to the Dragons, but then I can understand it, as like you said they have less locks and better opertunities for him.

never been to one of those fashion shows, but apparently they are pretty good. be interesting to see what the new kit looks like this season. I'd imagine all Burrda kit will be universal in design pretty much, So think they could possibly look like this:

http://www.newrugbykits.com/2012/06/new-rc-toulon-kits-2012-2013-burrda-rc-toulounnais-home-away-third-rugby-jerseys-2012-13/

A Tweeter mentioned a player we are apparently linked with Dan Carpo, a Romanian No 8.

Has anyone heard about that or any plans to sign a No8? (I think we do need a No8 in our squad)

I had not heard anything about us looking for another 8, but with Gilbert and Morgan gone all we have is Murphy (and Rob the Gog, Timani and Shingler as make-shifts). Out of interest this Carpo isn't one of those 8s that can slot into the second row too?

Daniel Carpo was discussed here a while back, but his agent came out and denied it. think he's a bit small for the second row at 6 ft 3inch & 16 st 9lb but you never know. If we are bringing a NWQ lock and TH do we have any NWQ spaces left?

NWQs at the moment are;

Manu (capped Fiji)
Tamani (capped Tonga)
Iongi (capped Tonga)
Vellejos (capped Argentina)
- possibly A.N.Other (capped International)

Earle (Uncapped South Africa)
- possibly - Ciliers (Uncapped South Africa)

So I think (even including the TH and Lock) we can sign one more capped international.

cheers for all the updates/rumours guys, haven't been keeping on top of my Scarlets info recently so this thread is great

I notice under the Scarlets players being brought in it says Davit Zirakashvili (Clermont Auvergne)...

Is this a rumour or confirmed?

rumour I believe AD.

Would be a great signing if you could get him, would add some serious bulk especially with the other front 5 players coming. Looks like the Scarlets recognize that the tight 5 is really were they need to invest.

aaaah Artful, we've recognised that for the past 5 seasons! This is the first time we've actually been in the situation where we've had enough funds to do something about it, and we've a long way to go still

Cheers for the info pioden. SS i didnt know anything about the player,just what id seen on twitter today.

Artful:

The Scarlets have spoken to over a dozen players/agents/representatives during the summer, specifically targeting strengthening the front five. The goal posts changed slightly in regards to targets when our coach Nigel Davies moved to Gloucester (e.g. Easterby deciding to keep Manu) The majority of our conversation with players were just enquiries about availability and the terms they were looking at, a few of those conversations we took further and a few we were totally blown away by other teams coming in with higher offers or we were in totally different ball park in terms of the amount of money the players were looking at.

On the Pat Ciliers link, it looks like he hasn't been picked by the Lions this week. It doesn't mention anywhere he is injured and he has been one of their stand out players this season.(he was in the super 15 team of the weeks recently) Hopefully that’s cause he's in advanced talks with the scarlets ( wishful thinking hey!)


On another note, it looks like Henson has options other than London Welsh.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Henson-attracts-French-attention/story-16481993-detail/story.html

I wouldn't suprised if Henson goes to a French Div 1 team (like Bennet) - as they seem to have money, and he may shine at that standard.

Matt Gilbert is set to announce tomorrow who he'll be signing for since being released by the Scarlets.

pioden gorllewin wrote:Matt Gilbert is set to announce tomorrow who he'll be signing for since being released by the Scarlets.

Any ideas? I would assume it must be a Rabo quality side, either Dragons, Ospreys (they don't understand that you can have too many players)?

I hope it's a good side - though isn't he in England, so it's likely to be a AV/Championship side. Fingers crossed it's an AV club

I still can't believe we've let such a promising player go

Reading between the lines of his tweets italy? London welsh got previously mentioned. Its a shame he's leaving the scarlets, such a top bloke.

I thought he was playing with Hartpury now?

Not sure thought he was training there until he finds a club. Know he went to hartpury college. Guess we'll find out tomorrow either way.

ah that could have been it Pioden.

Pat Ciliers

Looks like the guy can really scrummage. Probs gonna cost a few bob as has been mentioned but looks like he'll do a job for your backs to work off of.

pioden gorllewin wrote:Not sure thought he was training there until he finds a club. Know he went to hartpury college. Guess we'll find out tomorrow either way.

Gloucester would make sense wouldn't it?

yeah a lot of people think it possibly might be gloucester cause of the hartpury connection. but not sure if there is ill feeling in the gilbert household towards the new gloucester manager nigel davies. apparently end of this season he offered gilbert a draft copy of a new contract, which gilbert and his agent agreed to. nigel davies allegedly then said the draft had been sent to the "men upstairs" to be approved. Time passed so Gilbert would ask Davies and Jenkins(recruitment) when would he have his contract finalised and nigel kept saying it's due to be signed off. that he just needed to be patient and wait for it to be signed off. slightly worried without hearing anything gilbert eventually asked the CEO when the contract was being signed. The CEO looked baffled and said what contract, and said he would look into it. He investigated it further and told Gilbert that Davies/Jenkins had never authorised any contract to be signed. Even though they kept telling Gilbert all through May/June it was getting signed. This didn't leave much time for Gilbert or agent to find a new team. How true this story is I don't know but comes from Gilberts father so must be fairly accurate. Davies and Jenkins have a bit of form for this type of behaviour. So if I was a betting man I wouldn't put money on a move to gloucester. But then again stranger things have happened.

Mat tweeted he is joining #smalltownbigclub

Any ideas? Northampton, u turn back to the scarlets?

Maybe not then

Northampton are the only town in the premiership (I think). He may be going back to Scarlets if Davies was the issue.

Of course it may be a championship club (or French?) or maybe it's really a fake city (Cathedral city).

Reading, High Wycombe and Watford are the other towns.

Is Oxford a town. What about any Top14 teams, or Italian towns?

Connacht? But Oxford is a good call

Galway may be a small town, but he said small town big club, so that rules out Connacht.

I would love to see it as a U-Turn, and it wouldn't be the first of the season.