PIE MAN Promises 3/4 top international signings?

Peter Thomas has stated that 3 maybe 4 top internationals from outside of Wales will be joining the Blues next season.Any ideas on who these players may be?.

I would be a bit dubious about that purely on the basis that in the past Welsh regions have been promised 'top internationals' then ended up with either washed up SH players coming to the end of their career or a couple of one cap wonders. Lets hope they really are 'top internationals'.

Interesting comment especially as the nwq quota is being reduced isnt it? Unless hes counting on fiilse going and patterson getting residency

Oh dear, the last time we heard this SNK was introduced as an Ausy wonder...

Unless the likes of Cole, Franks's or other top props who are reaching their prime are introduced we might as well shut up shop!!!

Likelyhood is Rees from the Scarlets, Jenkins from Toulon, and another or two washed up players from 3rd choice T14 clubs!!!

I think it would be better if they pumped the money down to develop talent at feeder clubs rather than go looking for expensive internationals.

They were after jenkins but all the pies in the world wasnt enough to compete with the euro

http://www.espnscrum.com/rabodirect-pro12-2012-13/rugby/story/174873.html

Id expect Cipriani, Andrew Hore, Phil Vickery and Charlotte Church

Talk is that the 3 internationals are: Matthew Rees, who the Scarlets have been trying to offload for a year now due only to his high salary, Adam Warren, who is the forgotten man at the Scarlets and Rhys Gill from Saracens.

Two strong scrumaging front rows and an outside centre. Two are proven and Warren is a promising youngster. If there is to be a 4th, what about a tight head, scrum half, or ball carrying no 8?

Why Warren? When there is Allan and O.Williams available who are still struggling to get a look-in over Hewitt and Evans!

Dont shoot the messenger I am only repeating Blues supporters thread on icw!

Blues clearly need a 13 as Evans, Hewitt and Roberts are all 12s.

Williams looks a good prospect, very quick, I havent see Allan, is he a 12 or 13?

Allan and Williams are 13's. Allan could play 12 aswell I suppose.

Warren is a good young centre, but I would rather have an experienced centre to help Allen and O.Williams develop.

Hadn't heard the Rhys Gill rumour yet.

Dan Lydiate was the other rumour I heard, but it seems rather ridiculous with Navidi, Paterson, Pretorious and Copeland at the Blues.

Be a tad surprised if Rhys Gill headed back to Wales. Sarries are a pretty well financed team who don't have a second scrummaging loosehead. Gill won't come cheap.

Adam Warren and Rhys Gill are 'top internationals' ??

I don't think so Mr.Pies

he Blues should go for Sale's (no pun intended thiis time of year) Roberts as they are heading for relegation.

glamorganalun wrote:he Blues should go for Sale's (no pun intended thiis time of year) Roberts as they are heading for relegation.

Would be a good call.

Who is the former Scarlets SH Roberts playing for now? - We could use him aswell.

Northampton.

Surely Peel would be a better option. He seems to be out of favour at Sale and is still a class act that was instrumental in their HEC qualification last season.

Add him to Roberts, Gill and Rees as a quality front row and the Blues should be well set. Whether they can afford all four and whether the WRU would be keen to fund them, given that Peel and Roberts are currently frozern out of the international squad.

At a guess

M Rees (out of contract with Scarlets),
J Hook (out of contract with UASP, looking to come home),
and one or two of the Welsh Sale lads, likely to have release if relegated clauses.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:At a guess

M Rees (out of contract with Scarlets),
J Hook (out of contract with UASP, looking to come home),
and one or two of the Welsh Sale lads, likely to have release if relegated clauses.

Is Hook out of contract? That will be interesting, although I would be surprised if he returns to Wales to be honest. Not many 10 slots available for starters (unless Biggar leaves and Tandy would want to play Hook at 10)

606 - yeah I believe Hook is out of contract, and looking to return home, and seeing as the Blues have always been after his signature then I would not be suprised if they made an offer. Also with Roberts going, Hook could well be considered as a centre/fly half. Sweeney can't carry on for ever, Phil Davies doesn't seem to consider Tovey a fly half, so Hook could well be a good choice.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:606 - yeah I believe Hook is out of contract, and looking to return home, and seeing as the Blues have always been after his signature then I would not be suprised if they made an offer. Also with Roberts going, Hook could well be considered as a centre/fly half. Sweeney can't carry on for ever, Phil Davies doesn't seem to consider Tovey a fly half, so Hook could well be a good choice.

It's possible I guess, but I don't think it will happen.

I'd be ecstatic if Gill & Rees came.

Gill should be Wales second choice LH behind Paul James if you ask me, thats how highly I rate him, although I doubt it'll happen, hes exactly the type of player the blues need, a dynamic big lad who loves the tight work and is very good in the set piece.

Rees is still a very solid and experienced leader who likes the tight exchanges and an excellant scrummaging hooker.

All of a sudden if those guys come in, we look like getting parity.

Pretorius seems to have regressed since he was player of the season (injury accepted but I see nothing in him Copeland cant better) so a ball carrying number 8 would be swell..... Faletau?

Would hate to see Hook at the blues, Patchells shown more than enough this season to be considered first choice 10 and worth sticking with. He'll have his ups and downs but he looks like he could be a very good all round type number 10. Tovey at FB at the moment as Fish/Halfpenny both out injured? Im sure we will be considered a 10/15 once theres some more options.

Agree with the posters who want to see Allen/O.Williams get more gametime rather than bringing in Adam Warren (who i definitely rate btw). Allen looked like a natural 13 at the u20s world cup, oh how the blues could do with a centre with some pace and guile. Hewitts/Evans/Roberts are just 3 slightly differing versions of the same player and the best of the bunch barely plays for the Blues anyway. We do need to do something about the 13 position, if we could of held onto Lualala for another year or 2 to bring through the 2 youngsters I would have been a lot, LOT happier. Think that goes across the board.

Back 3 options are decent enough, probably not silverware-winning decent (outside of the first choice).

If I had a dream list for the 4 internationals.......

1. Gill
2. Rees
8. Faletau
13. JD2

I would prefer a scrumhalf to a no8 at the moment (though I would ideally want both)

In dreamland it would be nice to see Mike Phillips back at the Blues, although performance wise it might be better to see Ritchie Rees back or bring in Martin Roberts or Rhys Webb.

Webb is down the pecking order at the O's if Fotuali stays, I wonder if first team rugby might tempt him - certainly if he wants more caps.

wales606 wrote:I would prefer a scrumhalf to a no8 at the moment (though I would ideally want both)

In dreamland it would be nice to see Mike Phillips back at the Blues, although performance wise it might be better to see Ritchie Rees back or bring in Martin Roberts or Rhys Webb.

Webb is down the pecking order at the O's if Fotuali stays, I wonder if first team rugby might tempt him - certainly if he wants more caps.

I believe that Gareth Davies is out of contract at PYS this summer, I appreciate he is not an international, but it would be interesting to see what happens with him. Sure as hell he can't be happy playing 2nd/3rd fiddle at the moment.

Also I have it on good authority that Phillips has said he will only go to on region should he return to Wales, so that he can then claim to have played for all four

Gareth Davies is also 5 times better than any of our scrum halves.

I'd like us to sign a scrum half, but we won't. Because it seems that a lot of people at the Blues think that Lloyd is world class. He is only young, but if you compare him to players of the same age at scrum half around the league (Webb, Davies) he isn’t as good. If i was other players in Wales playing second, third string i'd look at trying to get in to the Blues because we seem to get players selected just because they're at the region.

Some of the names mentioned so far may see a revival of the Blues next season.

Gill - For me he is a tremendous talent and is very unlucky we have James and Gethin in his position for Wales, although if Gethin isn't playing he should be back up for James imo.

G.Davies - Fantastic SH and was very unlucky to be overlooked in the AI's. Would love to see him at the Blues with Lloyd back up. Lloyd hasn't turned into a dreadful SH. He has shown that he has quality, its just he's been dreadfully out of form. Him backing up Davies is a nice combination I think.

Warren - Very talented youngster and him and Allen could be the future for Wales as a centre pairing (Unless Warren is a 13, i don't know personally). TBH, anyone is better than Hewitt/Evans atm and he would bring some pace to the centre's thank god.

Rees - Like others have stated, a very solid player who is a great scrummager and is very good in the loose and at the ruck. Would bring some much needed experience to our front row and would add stability to our scrum.

Hook - Last season would have been great but we now have Tovey, who I think has looked good when playing 10 this season and still could be a future 10 for Wales, as well as a young Patchell. As others have stated, he won't be needed at FB hopefully when 1/2p and Fish return from injury.

Martin Roberts, Peel, Delve and Lewis-Roberts were 'linked' with the Blues on the rumour mill thread. Any fans heard?

ScarletSpiderman wrote:606 - yeah I believe Hook is out of contract, and looking to return home, and seeing as the Blues have always been after his signature then I would not be suprised if they made an offer. Also with Roberts going, Hook could well be considered as a centre/fly half. Sweeney can't carry on for ever, Phil Davies doesn't seem to consider Tovey a fly half, so Hook could well be a good choice.

True. Then Blues get three good fly-halves. Any of the three or all three could get picked for Wales. It's either the Osrpeys or Blues Hook is going to anyway.

If a scrum-half like Peel or Roberts returns to Wales does this mean we can stop selecting Tavis Knoyle?

Morgannwg wrote:Martin Roberts, Peel, Delve and Lewis-Roberts were 'linked' with the Blues on the rumour mill thread. Any fans heard?

I said i would like to see them rumored, I don't think anyone said that they were.

I am glad that he is looking at returning or selecting Welsh players not foreigners

Peel would be a fantastic signing. Still for me, the best SH Wales have at their disposal and one of the best we've ever had.

Also, in the Osprey's-Scarlets game, who was the blonde headed SH for the Scarlets, because he looked the real deal if you ask me. His distribution was outstanding. Unbelievably fast and accurate, reminded me of Peel during 05, and not just the way he looked either.

Peel and Rees would be very typical signings for the Blues, no ambition and very limited, they are both on the cusp of being has beens, but will demand a high wage for at least 2/3 seasons of which they will struggle!

Fotr all the talk of the backline we could bring in Genia, Hook, and SBW but for all the decent quality ball in an attacking platform they'd see we might as well stick with Evans and Hewitt!!

We need good quality front rows, that include a hooker who can not only scrummage but hit his mark in the lineout!!

We are desperate for a quality lock, Cook isn't going to make it there IMHO, and Reed and Davies have similar flaws with no backup of any quality at all.

A ball carrier in the back row is needed also, but not just that we need some size there and someone who can be destructive at the breakdown, for all of Warbs, Navidi's, Copelands positives they are all very passive and we struggle to keep ball and noone is there to aid the fetching with pure grunt!!

If I could sign players I would be looking at Gill and Roberts, negotiating with Jenkins (at the right price only). I'd stick with Breeze and Dacey/Williams, if we had actuall scrummagers and players who will do work in the tight we'd see Breeze shine IMHO.

In a perfect world Delve would be approached too, or maybe Ruddock if you could tempt him with first team rugby regularly. Dare I say it Falatau would be nice but a luxury the Blues could not afford at the minute, we need bulk, and would need someone like Lydiate to support Falatau.

Then I would love to see a SH brought in, draw a line under the favour done to Brynmor and offload Lloyd who has proved himself lacking at professional level.

Dremland...

Gill, Jenkins, Roberts, Gray, Lydiate, Falatau, Davies/Roberts

But in reality...

Rees, Jenkins, and Peel who will all plug a hole for part of next season then sit back and draw their pension/wage for 2 seasons after while offering little to the club!