The rumour mill

First topic message reminder :

Whilst unofficial negotiations will have been taking place for some time, it is only a few weeks until official approaches can be made and so the rumour mill is in full swing. Whilst ignoring what your mate's cousin's goldfish heard, what are the rumours you've heard coming and going from your club?


Rumours so far...
Geoff Parling to Glaws staying at Tigers
Matt Garvey to Quins, Saints, Glaws & Bath...
Nick Kennedy to everyone
Dave Attwood to Glaws
Sean Cronin to Connacht
Jonathan Joseph to Bath - confirmed
Matthew Rees to Cardiff confirmed
Stephen Shingler to a Welsh club confirmed to Scarlets
Adam Warren to Glaws and Cardiff
Kahn Fotuali'I to Toulouse - leaving but to Saints
Matt Kvesic to Tigers, Glaws, Saints and Sarries - confirmed to Glaws
Castro, John Smit and Claasens to Toulon - Castro & Claasens confirmed to Toulon
Alex Corbisiero to Saints confirmed
James Johnston to numerous French clubs & Sarries - confirmed to Sarries
Anthony Watson to Tigers & Bath
Tiny to Racing Metro
Sailosi Tagicakibau to Toulon
Toby Faletau to Bath
Billy Vunipola to Sarries - confirmed
Rhys Gill, Martin Roberts, Eiffion Lewis-Roberts, Gareth Delve, Dwayne Peel to Cardiff
Chris Cochrane to Connacht
Fionn Carr to Connacht confirmed
Newcastle starting XV to Tigers
George Ford to Saints or Bath confirmed he's leaving, but to who...
Stephen Donald to anyone who'll have him
Jonny Sexton to Racing confirmed he's leaving...
PDJ to Quins & Wasps - confirmed to Quins
BJ Botha to Toulon
Mike Ross to Munster signed a new contract
Richie Gray, Rob Miller & Kearnan Myall to Glaws - [b]Gray confirmed to Castres, Myall confirmed to Wasps, Miller staying at Sale (TRP not very accurate with these ones!!)
Stephen Myler to Tigers - staying at Saints
Matt Mulan to Wasps - confirmed
Ryan Lamb to France, Exeter or Wuss
Andy Saull to Exeter or Newcastle
James Scaysbrook to Tigers - staying at Exeter
Tom Johnson to Bath - re-signed with Exeter (how many Bath rumours are actually ever true??)
Mickey Young, Kieran Brookes to Bath - Brookes gone back to Newcastle on loan
Dan Carter, SBW, Dusatoir, McCaw to Sarries & under the salary cap too...
Gareth Maule to London Irish
Andy Goode to Newcastle, Dragons, Saints or KFC. - confirmed to Wasps
Steffan Jones to Wasps or London Welsh
Nick Robinson to Worcester or Dragons - going to Bristol
Joe Carlisle to Wasps - confirmed
James Hudson to Glaws - confirmed
Ian Nagle to Glaws
David Mele & Joel Kefi to Tigers
Sione Timani to Bath
Adam Ashley-Cooper to Leinster
Isa Nacewa to...

Sgt_Pooly wrote:I just thought I'd read he'd signed a new deal

Where did you get that idea?

Basically my point is that's just a rumour until something official comes out.

I am sure that if Vunipola re-signs for Wasps they'll shout it from the roof tops.

beshocked wrote: Basically my point is that's just a rumour until something official comes out.

/points Shocked to the title of the thread

That's the idea behind this one i think

Sarries apparently chasing James Johnstone - though he is expected to be off to France. Quins apparently signing PDJ as replacement.


Glaws have allegedly offered to double Parling's current salary.

Tigers showing interest in Jamie Gibson. Perhaps LI are the ne Falcons?

LondonTiger wrote:Quins apparently signing PDJ as replacement.

Looking at the fireworks between him & Marler last season, that could make an interesting dynamic.

LondonTiger wrote:Sarries apparently chasing James Johnstone - though he is expected to be off to France. Quins apparently signing PDJ as replacement.


Glaws have allegedly offered to double Parling's current salary.

Tigers showing interest in Jamie Gibson. Perhaps LI are the ne Falcons?

It's not the wages that does it, it's the guaranteed starting spot

The question is ...is Kitchener better than Parling..would Tigers let Parling go?

No Kitchener is not better than Parling but as good as Parling is (and he is an international quality lock now) Tigers need a strong squad more than they need one very good player. There's a budget for Geoff and it'll be up to him whether that plus the advantages that come with being a Tigers player is worth more than the bigger cash at Glaws.

Slater was man of the match vs Wuss, Deacon is playing really well, Kitchener is developing nicely (as Parling did when he signed). We've got some good locks in the academy as well as the big Saffa Andrew who is a decent squad option with some French league experience. Parling would be a severe loss but we have good second row options we shouldn't break the bank to keep him.

Makes sense Sam...

LondonTiger wrote:Sarries apparently chasing James Johnstone - though he is expected to be off to France. Quins apparently signing PDJ as replacement.


Glaws have allegedly offered to double Parling's current salary.

Tigers showing interest in Jamie Gibson. Perhaps LI are the ne Falcons?

Interesting that Saracens are chasing James Johnston. Where did you hear that rumour?

I know Saracens will need a tighthead as Carlos Nieto is retiring.

We could probably afford it if Gill or Stevens leave.


I thought Tigers would be targeting Ksevic, a full back and possibly a 9.

Sean Cronin has confirmed he has signed a deal with someone but is not going to be announced for another couple of weeks, so I can safely assume he's resigned with Leinster.

beshocked wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Sarries apparently chasing James Johnstone - though he is expected to be off to France. Quins apparently signing PDJ as replacement.


Glaws have allegedly offered to double Parling's current salary.

Tigers showing interest in Jamie Gibson. Perhaps LI are the ne Falcons?

Interesting that Saracens are chasing James Johnston. Where did you hear that rumour?

I know Saracens will need a tighthead as Carlos Nieto is retiring.

We could probably afford it if Gill or Stevens leave.


I thought Tigers would be targeting Ksevic, a full back and possibly a 9.

It was in The Rugby Paper. Their rumours are normally 50% accurate, but I can't see JJ leaving Quins for anything other than a French side.

Is PDJ really an adequate replacement? Or will he be on the becnh whilst Sinkler starts?

PDJ is a very good scrummager, I think he'd work well at Quins. He's much better than Sinckler at the minute.

I've never been overly impressed with JJ, he is a big powerful unit but not a natural scrummager. If ref'd well he generally gets pinged a fair bit, his binding and technique just seems all the over the place. Some unit though.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16021_8385752,00.html

Clubs from France, Ireland and England are reportedly trying to obtain Bekker's services

HongKongCherry wrote:

beshocked wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Sarries apparently chasing James Johnstone - though he is expected to be off to France. Quins apparently signing PDJ as replacement.


Glaws have allegedly offered to double Parling's current salary.

Tigers showing interest in Jamie Gibson. Perhaps LI are the ne Falcons?

Interesting that Saracens are chasing James Johnston. Where did you hear that rumour?

I know Saracens will need a tighthead as Carlos Nieto is retiring.

We could probably afford it if Gill or Stevens leave.


I thought Tigers would be targeting Ksevic, a full back and possibly a 9.

It was in The Rugby Paper. Their rumours are normally 50% accurate, but I can't see JJ leaving Quins for anything other than a French side.

50% accurate? Not bad odds.

Personally I would rather JJ's brother came back to Saracens but I doubt he'll leave Toulouse.

50%? So its either right or wrong.

Good to know

haha! brilliant

PSW, there's no flies on you

Lots of talk on the Quins forum that he's looked at Saracens and may well be going, but i've heard from a few peeps close to the squad that he'll be going to France instead, apparently he's been offered in the region of £300k by a French club and I don't think Saracens could match that.

Smit is leaving as I suspect will Powell and one of the opensides. The experienced Nieto won't be on peanuts either and is retiring. That's a substantial amount of cap being freed up. Enough of spare cap to fork out 300k on big JJ? I dunno, they might be unsure if they need him with Stevens in some of the best form of his life and retired from international rugby.

looks like leicester have signed Sebastian de Chaves from Mont-de-Marsan. But as a replacement for fellow south african rob andrew, rather than parling.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_8386867,00.html

Rob Andrew replaced by a Chav...theres a headline!

Quotes from CEO Simon Cohen about Parling:

"We would like Geoff to stay. We have made what we think is a very good offer and he knows that he will be very well looked after here if he has any further injury problems.

"This is also the best place for him to be to continue his England career.

"He will need to weigh that up against any offer that is financially better.

"Although we don't want to put any pressure on him to make a decision just yet, there will be a point at which we need to know in order to plan."

Glaws will pay him more but with the locks we have we would enable him to rest when needed.

LondonTiger wrote:Quotes from CEO Simon Cohen about Parling:

"We would like Geoff to stay. We have made what we think is a very good offer and he knows that he will be very well looked after here if he has any further injury problems.

"This is also the best place for him to be to continue his England career.

"He will need to weigh that up against any offer that is financially better.

"Although we don't want to put any pressure on him to make a decision just yet, there will be a point at which we need to know in order to plan."

Glaws will pay him more but with the locks we have we would enable him to rest when needed.

Yes, can't help but wonder if the Cherries are maybe using both big Jim Hamiltons wages and the recently retired Alex Brown's wages to make the larger offer. But the EPS arrangement on total games may still make it acceptable for him. Personally I think he would do better to just move down the M1 to Northampton but that's just wistful thinking by me

Anyone know the length of Matt Mullens contract at Wuss? Personally feel he should be in the EPS in front of Vinipola and he was on the bench against Tigers but can't help but feel he needs to move to a bigger club (no offense Warriors fans - it's not right but he just doesn't seem to get the recognition he deserves away from Sixways).

Racing Metro boss said on tv that Kahn Fotuali'i has 50% chance to join his club (not sure what it means but racing already have a very good 9 with Machenaud so would be quite sad really)

also read that Bordeaux begles is looking at Johan Goosen (cheetah flyhalf, 4 caps) for next season

LondonTiger wrote:Quotes from CEO Simon Cohen about Parling:

"We would like Geoff to stay. We have made what we think is a very good offer and he knows that he will be very well looked after here if he has any further injury problems.

"This is also the best place for him to be to continue his England career.

"He will need to weigh that up against any offer that is financially better.

"Although we don't want to put any pressure on him to make a decision just yet, there will be a point at which we need to know in order to plan."

Glaws will pay him more but with the locks we have we would enable him to rest when needed.

I don't think that would be a problem LT. One thing that has been identified from Brush's reign is that he overplayed players and Davies has made it clear that players will be rested at regular intervals. Likewise, he is keen to bring through Elliot Stooke and Will Graulch and with Tom Savage, Lua Lokotui, more than likely Will James and we're meant to be in the market for one more lock, we'll have enough cover to give Parling a rest.

It also seems that Parling wants a three year contract to take him through the next World Cup but tigers are only offering two years.

Well as Sam says above...although Parling is the best at the club...having Deacon, Kitchener, Slater, Rob Andrew, 19yo Tom Price (6'9), Harry Wells 19, both in the England u20's, coming through they have some good players coming through ...and cover.

With the additional money saved from Parling..they could strengthen elsewhere?

I guess thats the balance isnt it...do you keep your best players...or do you look to blood younger players and reinvest the saved money in the rest of the squad?

Tigers are supposedly interested in Nick Kennedy as well

Interesting...excellent lineout guy..if i remember he was always criticised for his lack of other aspects of his game. I assume it will have improved in France...

Im a fan of Kitchener...and think he looks like hes finally getting things right...and slater was fantastic the other game...so theres definatley quality there...

Kennedy won't be coming, we have Deacon, Slater, Kitchener, Andrew and his new signing Chaves all for the first team with two England under 20s in Price and Wells as well as Joe Cain who seems to be at the head of the developmental queue. Parling would be retained as well but I doubt we'd add in and above that. Kennedy rumours seem to come more from his agent than anywhere else.

Tigers are supposedly concentrating on Gibson and Kvesic at the moment with one needed as a direct replacement for Newby.

He might come back to Irish then! Excellent

Tigers have needed a proper and good 7 for a long time.

Are you not keeping Salvi then?

Otherwise Kvesic would be a brilliant shout, or if he was available Nutely from Saints.

Neither him nor Newby have ever really wowed me as players tbh, solid premiership material but not like some of the rampant lunatic spoilers we've come up against (eg Kevsic last week)

Are you not keeping Salvi then?

Salvi is staying but there is no back up. Julian has improved out of sight since he signed for us. I think a lot of Tigers fans still look back with misty eyes on the time of the legendary Backie. Tigers have already stated they want a young seven to be Salvi's protege but the fancy the Newby style 7 e.g. an all rounder who could also cover 6 and 8 during injury/callup crisis.

Kvesic would be the one ideally but Gibson might be cheaper and less demanding in terms of guarenteed game time.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Are you not keeping Salvi then?

Salvi is staying but there is no back up. Julian has improved out of sight since he signed for us. I think a lot of Tigers fans still look back with misty eyes on the time of the legendary Backie. Tigers have already stated they want a young seven to be Salvi's protege but the fancy the Newby style 7 e.g. an all rounder who could also cover 6 and 8 during injury/callup crisis.

Kvesic would be the one ideally but Gibson might be cheaper and less demanding in terms of guarenteed game time.

That doesn't make a lot of sense, Sam, unless I'm missing something, but no chance Kvesic covers 6 & 8?

As Kvesic has played both 6 and 8 for Worcester as well as his usual 7. With possible call ups in the AIs for the entire backrow other than Salvi it makes sense to look at 7s with a bit of flexibility.

Kvesic should come to Glaws, we're very good at offering guaranteed starting spots!

But it would be beneficial for him to learn from someone like Salvi.

According to espn Gloucester are chasing Sale Sharks second-row Kearnan Myall:

ESPNscrum understands that Gloucester are chasing Sale Sharks second-row Kearnan Myall as they look to fill two spots in their lock department ahead of next season. Gloucester will lose skipper Jim Hamilton to France at the end of the current campaign while stalwart Alex Brown has been forced to retire.

And it seems that coach Nigel Davies is keen on recruiting Sale's Myall to bolster their second-row options. Davies is also reported to be interested in Leicester second-row Geoff Parling's services with the England lock yet to announce where he will play his rugby next season.

That's two locks that will give Glaws a lot of set piece presence in the lineout, not the biggest in terms of physicality so the scrum might not get the pushing upgrade it needs. I thought they'd go for Garvey and then a lineout option as a good partnership.

I couldn't agree more Sam. We're are still being linked to Garvey, so this may yet come to something. However, with Big Jim and Alex Brown leaving it has left us with no middle jumper for next year. Elliott Stooke may have the potential to go there in the future, but it may be we do sign both. But I'd always have a stronger scrum over a strong lineout.

Big Jim added a quality jumper as well as a big phyiscal presence, not going to be an easy one to replace. I always think the second row should start with a big pushing machine and then go from there. I'm pretty sure a mobile lock like Garvey can always jump in the middle if need be. Can see why Davies is after several lineout options though. Given the size of some of the Glaws backrow they aren't that easy to lift.

The news coming from the Glaws forum Shedweb is that Parling will be signing for... Leicester! The source may well have been on the source, but I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest as I never truly expected us to sign him. But we may have helped use up the Tigers' salary cap a bit

I heard that one last night. I don't think Tigers were going to budge on the wages they'd resigned themselves to tye fact that if Parling wanted just money he'd be off. I think he'll have got the three year deal he was after though, that was supposed to be the big sticking point according to the Tigers rugby show on the radio.

I don't think we'll be making many signings, Chaves, Mele, a seven and a fullback will probably be the lot with Chuter, Young, Hamilton, Murphy and probably both Jooste and Thorpe all leaving. Not sure if any of the younger squad players will be released either. Heard rumours Rob Andrew the chunky Saffa lock who signed in the summer wants to go back to France which might explain the Chaves signing.

What do you think of your young second rows coming through Sam...i know size doesnt really mean that much but some of them young lads are big guys..ones 6'9 at 19 isntr he in the England u20 squad just announced...

Price is a good prospect but has had trouble with an injury. He's been out to Clermont on the exchange scheme and is now going up to Nottingham to get some experience. Needs to bulk up a bit though as he's too willowy at the min but that'll come.

Cain is the moat likely to play for the first team in the short term, he's athletic, aggressive and likes to get stuck in. Has good hands for a big lad but isn't quite at the physical level for first team duties yet. Not sure if he's seen any Championship action yet but that would help.

Harry Wells is the other but when I've seen him he plays more like a blindside, loves to tackle, does alright in the lineout and takes on a big work load round the pitch. Not sure he has the physical side for second row.

There's significant potential there but they are young players so they'll filter through over the next two or three years. Which will be about the same time Deacon and Parling are moving on with Slater and Kitchener the understudies taking the shirts.

GeordieFalcon wrote:What do you think of your young second rows coming through Sam...i know size doesnt really mean that much but some of them young lads are big guys..ones 6'9 at 19 isntr he in the England u20 squad just announced...

He featured last season. I remember a really tall lad with ginger hair standing out.

Nah Price was the other lock in the scrum cap for England under 20s I think the ginger lad was a Quin.