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...

Scrum half at 7s, wing at 15s

I do hope they just get rid of O'Conner instead.

We live in hope Nathan.

Ah so I was just being thick.

Quins fans, I assume given their speed that Chisholm and OLH are both useful on the wing? With Brown around for the foreseeable future they are unlikely to both get a lot of game time at full back, especially in big games, so could the long term future of at least one of these guys be on the wing?

Chis is but OLH hasn't played much wing to my knowledge. He's played halfback at 7s too though I think (recurring theme)

Chisholm's played wing before so could happily move there, otherwise he'll get a look in when ever Brown is away or they might rotate. He is mighty quick once he gets going, looks from the tv like he may be the quickest guy in the Quins team.

OLH covers 15 and apparently 9 as well. He could probably cover wing to an extent but to be honest we have a fair few wingers, I think he'll always be a 15.

11. Brown
14. Chisholm
15. OLH

Now that would be an interesting back three

yappysnap wrote:Chisholm's played wing before so could happily move there, otherwise he'll get a look in when ever Brown is away or they might rotate. He is mighty quick once he gets going, looks from the tv like he may be the quickest guy in the Quins team.

OLH covers 15 and apparently 9 as well. He could probably cover wing to an extent but to be honest we have a fair few wingers, I think he'll always be a 15.

11. Brown
14. Chisholm
15. OLH

Now that would be an interesting back three

No! Mike Brown is a FB! Stop encouraging Lancaster

Whats the word on John Barclay moving to the Tigers then?

ChequeredJersey wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Chisholm's played wing before so could happily move there, otherwise he'll get a look in when ever Brown is away or they might rotate. He is mighty quick once he gets going, looks from the tv like he may be the quickest guy in the Quins team.

OLH covers 15 and apparently 9 as well. He could probably cover wing to an extent but to be honest we have a fair few wingers, I think he'll always be a 15.

11. Brown
14. Chisholm
15. OLH

Now that would be an interesting back three

No! Mike Brown is a FB! Stop encouraging Lancaster

Come on yappy, listen to CJ! Brown is a great full back, but he's an average wing. You can fault his effort and his physicality definitely adds something to the backline, but he does not run the support lines a winger should and despite the fact he has vastly improved his speed over the years, he is not fast enough for an international wing.

Saints being linked with Glenn Dickson, an Otago 10 with a supposed big boot. Would make sense seeing as JM stated that although he was looking at a new 10 they would have to be able to cover multiple positions, which this guy can (again supposedly, don't know anything about the guy). Played with Wilson in NZ so probably been recommended and not expected to be offered a Super 15 contract.

Just glad JM didn't mean Cipriani or the orange one when talking about 10's who can cover multiple positions. Also glad I posted this in the correct thread this time (although I thought the Cherries would be really interested in this news HKC )

B91212 wrote:Saints being linked with Glenn Dickson, an Otago 10 with a supposed big boot. Would make sense seeing as JM stated that although he was looking at a new 10 they would have to be able to cover multiple positions, which this guy can (again supposedly, don't know anything about the guy). Played with Wilson in NZ so probably been recommended and not expected to be offered a Super 15 contract.

Just glad JM didn't mean Cipriani or the orange one when talking about 10's who can cover multiple positions. Also glad I posted this in the correct thread this time (although I thought the Cherries would be really interested in this news HKC )

That is breaking news to me!

Whats the word on John Barclay moving to the Tigers then?

Tigers are apparently weighing up the options. The Gibson deal is not quite so done and Tigers are supposedly looking to sign one of the two plus a cheaper option.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Whats the word on John Barclay moving to the Tigers then?

Tigers are apparently weighing up the options. The Gibson deal is not quite so done and Tigers are supposedly looking to sign one of the two plus a cheaper option.

Oh Sam,
You must have missed the memo stating we were not to reply to George and that it was personal?

Tomos Vallejos has left the Scarlets to join Pampas XV to compete in the annual Vodacom Cup in South Africa.

http://www.scarlets.co.uk/eng/news/5601.php

To be honest I was really disappointed with him, I think he has put in about 120 mins on the field since joining in the summer.

From memory he was a disappointment at Quins as well.

LondonTiger wrote:From memory he was a disappointment at Quins as well.

Yeah people did say that when he signed, but we had 0 locks in our squad at that time, so I was preying he would turn out decent. After all who has ever heard of a gash argie forward before?

He was massively underwhelming, looked disinterested.

yappysnap wrote:He was massively underwhelming, looked disinterested.

Yeah that sounds like how he was with us.

Stephen Jones to retire at end of season. so wasps might be looking for another 10. carlisle has replaced robinson, so probably could do with one more 10.

I didnt realise that Nicky Robinson was leaving Wasps too - Perhaps Joe Carlisle will be getting a lot more gametime!
Who else are Wasps targeting (or have) to play 10?

Perhaps R.Clegg should send them a note!
or Danny Cipriani.

They have Tommy Bell who was/ is very promising when he was at Sale, he was one of the five (!) stand-offs that played in the U20's 6N for England last year. I think he is going to go down the increasingly well worn path (for English youngsters at least) of starting at fullback and moving to ten when he gains confidence.

propdavid_london wrote:I didnt realise that Nicky Robinson was leaving Wasps too - Perhaps Joe Carlisle will be getting a lot more gametime!
Who else are Wasps targeting (or have) to play 10?

Perhaps R.Clegg should send them a note!
or Danny Cipriani.

They have been speaking to the other Wuss 10 (andy Goode) and as Cumbrian says then have Tommy Bell

Ah, goode would offer them some good stability

We've been continually linked with Andy Goode. Not a popular potential move amongst Wasps supporters but personally think he'd make a good safety blanket ahead of Tommy Bell and Joe Carlisle (who might play 12 anyway).

I was hoping Tigers might swoop for Bell as he can play 10/15 as well as place kick but it seems he has another year at Wasps.

Goode would be a good steadying influence on the team. He's amassed an awful lot of points of Wuss over his time there and if Carlisle is too play 12 then there would be an instant understanding.

Goode has been one of the key reasons that Wuss aren't 11th or worse in the league, nearly all of those losing bp's or narrow wins have been thanks to his orchestrating the backs and nailing the kicks when needed...

...And putting in a few cheeky shoulder charges/spear tackles when the opposition ask for it.

Fairly sure T Bell will be here for another season or two. His brother (Chris) also recently signed a contract extension.

I wonder how Joe Carlisle would feel if A Goode were to sign for us too? Hopefully he wouldn't command as high a wage as he currently does at Worcester.

I'd imagine a few clubs would want Goodey as back up 10 the advantage for Wasps is that he'd start for them. Tigers said he was too pricey for them but with Jones and Robinson off the wage cap Wasps should be set.

Neil Briggs (London Welsh) and Jamie Gibson (London Irish) done deals will be at Tigers next season. Expect Briggs to be on a short term deal (1 season max of 2) Gibson to be there for a minimum of two seasons.

They join de Chaves, Mele and Lamb as confirmed for next season.

Rumours around Barclay (Glasgow) and Stabiano (Arioni) continue. American speedster Hume rumours are apparently untrue as were the rumours of Halfpenny coming (which is a shame).

So its a squad strengthening exercise for Tigers then? I would have thought a front line 15 would have been a priority, but then again how many top class 15s are available?

HongKongCherry wrote:So its a squad strengthening exercise for Tigers then? I would have thought a front line 15 would have been a priority, but then again how many top class 15s are available?

Very few available. Any that are would be out of our price range.

Another London Irish player?

Sam what about the rumours of Steffon Armitage?

Personally I think Leicester should go for both Armitage bros - Steffon and Delon.

LondonTiger wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:So its a squad strengthening exercise for Tigers then? I would have thought a front line 15 would have been a priority, but then again how many top class 15s are available?

Very few available. Any that are would be out of our price range.

Ah dont worry...Tom Catterick is finally making the 15 spot his own with some great performances...im sure the Tigers have been watching him already....

Sam what about the rumours of Steffon Armitage?

Dead in the water Beshocked. Club has already stated the big signings for next season were the contract renewals. Pretty sure Delon wouldn't fit the club ethos.

I'm not sure we'll go for a 15 with Geordan making noises about playing for another season. Even at 34 with several nasty injuries behind him he is still as good as any other full back he just can't play as often.

What position does Briggs play?

And do you expect any of these signings to be any good and make the first team?

Steffon and Halfpenny were always really pipe dreams

GeordieFalcon wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:So its a squad strengthening exercise for Tigers then? I would have thought a front line 15 would have been a priority, but then again how many top class 15s are available?

Very few available. Any that are would be out of our price range.

Ah dont worry...Tom Catterick is finally making the 15 spot his own with some great performances...im sure the Tigers have been watching him already....

Don't tell them man! We're off their radar in the Champ!

Nah the only players truly off their radar are in their own academy.

Cumbrian wrote:Nah the only players truly off their radar are in their own academy.

Ouch, Cumbrian steps in with the beat downs!

The problem now with Steff Armitage is that he probably commands a huge deal package from Toulon - apparently they really look after him + the big salary.

To get him back to an English Prem club they would have to break the budget. As I dont think he can even be considered as a marquee signing!

yappysnap wrote:What position does Briggs play?

And do you expect any of these signings to be any good and make the first team?

Steffon and Halfpenny were always really pipe dreams

Briggs is a hooker. Chuter and Hawkins both have contracts that expire at the end of the season.

Yes anyone thinking we could offer Halfpenny or Steffon the money that would be needed lives in cloud cuckoo land. We struggle to maintain the size of squad needed to cope with international call ups as it is - hence why the shopping is done at Poundland. Hell we could not afford half of PDJs salary

I do not expect any of the signings to be first choice (unless Barclay signs - which I struggle to see happening). In the main the plan seems to be to look at making surer there are decent experienced players who can cover when the internationals are away and will be happy playing second fiddle. Much of this thinking (probably too much) has been set by the events around George Ford. It is very difficult to keep two players with international aspirations in the same position happy.

So Ford and Young leave and Mele (who actually could be a good signing) and Lamb come in.
Chuter, Hawkins, Brett Deacon, Thorpe all possibly on their way out - Briggs and Gibson come in.

Frankly we should probably use the academy more - but Cockerill was so close to being sacked last season when we were forced to play the young lads for the first 6 matches and they struggled big time. Cockerill will only look at introducing young lads now in small quantities I think - if ever.

Sam I really rate Geordan Murphy. One of my favourite players but he can't be expected to taken all the burden at FB.

I have yet to be convinced by Tait. With so many decent FBs floating around you would think Tigers could pick up an ideal back up quite easily. One of Miller,Watson or Ransom for example.

propdavid london true about Steffon Armitage. I suppose one perk for Toulon is that S.Armitage will be available all season because England won't pick him.

Cumbrian wrote:Nah the only players truly off their radar are in their own academy.

beshocked wrote:Sam I really rate Geordan Murphy. One of my favourite players but he can't be expected to taken all the burden at FB.

I have yet to be convinced by Tait. With so many decent FBs floating around you would think Tigers could pick up an ideal back up quite easily. One of Miller,Watson or Ransom for example.

propdavid london true about Steffon Armitage. I suppose one perk for Toulon is that S.Armitage will be available all season because England won't pick him.

Tait has done pretty well so far this season - but needs to work on defensive positioning and his kicking game. TBH seeing him fit is a massive bonus.

We had talks with Watson but he is heading down the M4 to Bath, while Miller was also suggested as an option. Rhys Williams has been outstanding for the U18s - I would like him to feature at least a little next season.

Ill not mention Zach Kibirige, Scott Wilson, Hallam, Morris or BIG Joe either...

With so many decent FBs floating around you would think Tigers could pick up an ideal back up quite easily. One of Miller,Watson or Ransom for example

Watson and Miller were offered financially superior contracts at Bath and Sale. Sadly that saw us lose out. We have Tait, Morris, Lewington all capable of playing 15. If Lewington would actually be given a go (I think it's MOC with the phobia of young players) he could make a big impact.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

With so many decent FBs floating around you would think Tigers could pick up an ideal back up quite easily. One of Miller,Watson or Ransom for example

Watson and Miller were offered financially superior contracts at Bath and Sale. Sadly that saw us lose out. .

Was this really the case? Watson would be 2nd choice FB at Bath, whereas he'd stand a pretty decent chance of being the Tigers starting 15. Ignoring my natural tendency to wind up Bath, surely Tigers would be the far more attractive option. You'd have to say the same about Miller, that Tigers would be the far better choice than Sale. I can't imagine money was the deciding factor for either at their respective ages.

Miller could have established himself as first choice during the season - but he is a northerner through and through.

Watson - there is nothing to suggest that the way Tigers handle young backs he would stand much chance ( what is he 18?). He will get more game time at Bath as Bendys back-up and will be working with coaches he knows. Personally I think he would be better staying at LI - but even then he is back-up to Homer (while Joseph has also played FB this year)

Tait is now first choice, if Murphy is taking an extra year coaching/playing contract then hopefully we can actually develop Lewington or Williams, while as Sam say Morris can cove rif needed.

I can't see us bringing through any backs from the academy until MOC departs. His record at advancing young players is pretty woeful. Cockers has succeeded with several forwards (both buying young nobodies and promoting academy grads) but is not that prolific.

Lewington has been playing very well (albeit on the wing) at Notts, playing a big role in their victory over Bedford. He still can't get a game over out of form and off at the end of the season Hamilton. That is starting to annoy me in the backs.

HKC, Miller will generally be first choice at Sale, Tigers can't offer that certainty. Add to that Tigers limited salary cap space Sale easily outbid us. I suspect that Watson knew he'd be backup somewhere ans preferred to earn more whilst doing so, add to that his mate Joseph is supposed to be signing for Bath as well.

I wish Quins would sign someone, it's no fun just watching everyone else.

yappysnap wrote:I wish Quins would sign someone, it's no fun just watching everyone else.

Paul Doran-Jones alone not enough for you? Thats what you get for spending your entire budget on Nick Evans (although he is probably worth it )