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

gowales: i guess they do, but they released Barry because they wanted to develop Ross Jones and also have Fussell. Now they have also released Owen not sure who else they have as back up for fullback?

Dan Biggar/Matthew Morgan?

Morgan may be an option, good little counter-attacker and can kick a ball.

I don't know how good he'd be under the high ball...

...or in defence

ScarletSpiderman wrote:WASPS!! They have a decent Welsh contingency Young and Turner coaches, Jones, Robinson etc.

Thought Turner had gone replaced by Shane Howarth?

Ospreys have confirmed the re-signing of Jonathon Spratt on a 2 yr deal from LI

Must be a for squad cover. I don't think he showed much before departing.

That's good to see spratt back in Wales.

Didn't realise he was 26 already.

I rate Spratt as a centre, just a shame his career so far has been hit by so many injuries. Here's a bit more about the signing:

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Centre-Jonathan-Spratt-makes-return-Ospreys/story-16522078-detail/story.html

maestegmafia wrote:That's good to see spratt back in Wales.

Didn't realise he was 26 already.

Didn't he do a stint out in New Zealand as well ? I seem to remember him scoring a hatrick on hid debut. I am sure it was for Waikato.Or I could be imagining it

lord:

think he signed for taranaki to play in the air new zealnd cup. if i remember rightly it was something hore set up to expose him to a different rugby enviroment. apparently the kiwis rated him highly out there.

Taranaki I knew I wasn't imagining it.

Spratt is a decent player (lot older than I thought!), but I think he will only be cover for Beck and Bishop until the next generation come through.

not sure if he's injured or not, but rated ben john the blonde headed fella for the ospreys. everytime i've seen him play he's looked impressive. is he playing premiership rugby?

Yeah that lad was being talked up on here a while back as one of the next big things (around the same time as that poor openside kid was being talked up and then retired injured), it seems weird centre was one of those positons we seemed to be lacking in internationally and all of a sudden we have centres coming through ding dong. Lets hope that happens with tightheads.

Always good to have a specialist outside centre.

I think him and Beck will make an excellent centre partnership and he'll probably edge Bishop out.
As some of you have said he did have an exciting spell in NZ and came back with lots of praise, but then got injured a number of times and we never really got to see the best of him in an Ospreys shirt. I saw him a couple times last season for LI and in fairness, he played well. He seems to be able to choose his angles well, I think Beck will be able to create space for him to run through. He also seemed quite solid in defense too

According to his Twitter account, Adam Byrnes (whose been linked to the Scarlets) is packing up his house, getting ready to move and is ready for the 'next chapter'

Smirnoffpriest wrote:According to his Twitter account, Adam Byrnes (whose been linked to the Scarlets) is packing up his house, getting ready to move and is ready for the 'next chapter'

From the RaboDirect Rebels to the RaboDirect Pro12?

One small step for Byrne, one giant leap for the Scarlets!

SMirnoff - to be honest I don't really know much about him. But being a Russia international, who was born and lives in Aus seems a touch iffy to me.

I don't know anything about him, just that quite a few people were raving about him when he was linked to the Scarlets and isn't he 1st choice for the Rebels

Russia has a professional rugby comp

priest: good spot of byrnes account, wonder where he is moving to? what i've seen of him he likes to throw his weight around a bit/ niggly fella. plays the enforcer type, but sometimes takes it too far. saying that the scarlet pack can do with a bit of dog. if we do sign byrne to add to earles and vallejos then we are probably better off in the boilerhouse than we we're last season.

Fingers crossd tho for sum reason i still think carizza will sign for us which would b good except it would leave us very short at the start of the season

Hywel Stoddart has been given a one year contract with the dragons:

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/9814622.Newport_s_Stoddart_earns_deal_with_the_Dragons/

Carizza has offers from Racing Metro and some Super rugby franchises. I somewhat doubt he will be going to the Scarlets. But you never know i guess...

gowales: think you're right on Carizza, plus we already signed one argentine in Vallejos who will be away for the 4 nations. so doubt we'd recruit two locks who will be away for the start of the season. I know we offered adam byrnes a contract a while ago, but withdrew it due to his disciplinary record. whether we've had a change of heart i don't know. Last I've heard Eaton was asking for too much money. So I'm not sure who will fill the final spot in our boiler house.

I don't think I've ever seen Hywel Stoddart play, but let's hope he's as impressive as he seems to have been in training. If we end up with another Welsh back rower pushing for national selection, then all the better.

Luckless if he has got the aggression of his brother then I would assume he will be pretty handy for clearing out at the breakdown

When's Morgan due back?

Meant to be in training now, so fingers crossed it won't be too long. But I would rather them ease him in and not risk anything.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Stoddart-course-comeback/story-16479034-detail/story.html

Apparently simon gardiner has signed for Rotherham Titans

I am suprised he hasn't ended up at any other region, as I am sure the Dragons and Blues would have appreciated a bit more depth to their tight-head options. But I can see why he has gone with Samson Lee coming thought (and of course the other issues).

Cardiff should have done the same thing with Scott Andrews two seasons ago

gowales wrote:Cardiff should have done the same thing with Scott Andrews two seasons ago

What when he was getting called up to the Welsh squad and talked up as the future?

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

gowales wrote:Cardiff should have done the same thing with Scott Andrews two seasons ago

What when he was getting called up to the Welsh squad and talked up as the future?

And when the Blues only had him and 100 year old Filise on the tight head...yes, getting rid of him would have been very sensible

Well anything else would be sensible, he isn't a professional standard tighthead prop.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:I am suprised he hasn't ended up at any other region, as I am sure the Dragons and Blues would have appreciated a bit more depth to their tight-head options. But I can see why he has gone with Samson Lee coming thought (and of course the other issues).

We do have at least three already though (Buck, Ryan and Way). I wouldn't expect Dragons to make many (if any) more signings anyway.

Risca - whoops, two of those are prob better than him (or equal to) too

I think Dragons still lack an open-side.

It's such a shame Gavin Thomas had to retire, but they do have a good batch of backrow players coming through.

Scarlets haven't got a real open side at the moment (except penalty machine Edwards) - but am hopeful that D Thomas will get some exposure this year)

Lewis Evans is good enough. At club level you don't really need a ball stealing 7

What I meant was we are lacking another open-side, doesn't seem like there is much cover there. Nash from Keys looks the part but I do not think they even invited him to pre-season training. Perhaps they are considering Groves and Coombs back-row cover?

Darren Waters should be the starting openside. I don't see what's wrong with him. He was in good form when he played for us.

I forgot about Waters....

Not surprised gardiner went to the english championship. The money he was looking for no wwelsh region would consider that for what would be best a third choice TH. What he was paid at quins & scarlets has given him an unrealistic view of what he's worth. But i wish him all the best and hope this move kick starts his career/motivation to improve.

Think darren waters will be a hit next season & surprise a few people how good he actually is.

Dragons back row will be very strong, Waters is a really good seven & will compliment Danny & Toby - Look out for Tom Brown too - surprise package this season in think!!