Scarlets set to bring Steve Shingler back from London Irish

HE Scarlets are set to bring Steve Shingler home to Wales to play his rugby.

The player caught at the heart of an eligibility row last season, which saw the IRB debar him from playing for Scotland after an earlier appearance for Wales Under-20s, is ready to return to the region where he made his name.

It is understood Shingler has agreed to rejoin the Scarlets after two seasons with London Irish.

It will be a significant boost for the West Wales region, with the 21-year-old able to cover fly-half, centre and full-back.

Not only is he versatile, but Shingler is also a sound goal-kicker, banking 115 points from 38 appearances at London Irish.

A year ago the 6ft 3in brother of Wales forward Aaron Shingler looked poised to appear for Scotland after being named for the Six Nations on the strength of their Dumfries-born mother.

But the Welsh Rugby Union contested the issue, arguing that the player was tied to them after an appearance for Wales Under-20s against their France in 2011.

The IRB found in the WRU’s favour and Swansea-born Shingler later said he regretted his original decision to declare for the Scots, calling it “naïve” and adding that he was eyeing a fresh start with Wales.

Moving back to Llanelli will give him more chance of appearing on the radar of the Wales selectors.

The Scarlets will still need to beef up their pack for next term, but they have also struggled behind at times this season, not helped by injuries, and Shingler will add to their options.

with a 80% kicking average, he's a good signing for us. Haven't had a consistent kicker since Stephen Jones left.

Good luck to him, still so young and he just wants to play international rugby and was unfortunately caught in a very public dispute which the fans will never forget. Great squad signing by scarlets.......and for London Irish well last one out turn off the lights.

I'd say Scarlets fans will welcome him, but if he gets called up to Wales, how would the fans react to him, rememeber these are the Mill statd go to rugby twice a year crowds, and a pantomime villian would give the masses someone to boo.

I home Scarlets can push on next year, they look to be dropping now, and its a sign of squad depth, being the issue. I can remember that Ulster used to top or be near the top of the table in Dec a lot of years, only to drop down in the second half of the season. First XV was good depth wasn't their so there wasn't any rotation, so the season went one Ulster could'nt play at the same level as at the start, players were overplayed injuries weren't replaced etc etc.

This is where I see Scarlets being now, a team full of good players a young squad, they just need that quality in depth, to be among the top teams in Europe. This is one step in the biulding that, covers a number of positions, and is a good player, means there can more rotation among the backs, without weaking the team.

As a Scot I genuinly wish him the best. Noone including the WRU, SRU, IRB or Steven came out looking good in that debacle last season.

Hopefully he can cement his place with the Scarlets and work his way up to the international exposure he wants and merits.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:As a Scot I genuinly wish him the best. Noone including the WRU, SRU, IRB or Steven came out looking good in that debacle last season.

Incorrect to include the WRU in that list. Our union did nothing wrong and came away without their reputation being tarnished. The SRU, IRB, Steve and Andy Robinson did make themselves look like idiots though.

Justice4Heathcoate.

Morgannwg wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:As a Scot I genuinly wish him the best. Noone including the WRU, SRU, IRB or Steven came out looking good in that debacle last season.

Incorrect to include the WRU in that list. Our union did nothing wrong and came away without their reputation being tarnished. The SRU, IRB, Steve and Andy Robinson did make themselves look like idiots though.

Justice4Heathcoate.

Are you stalking me and deliberatly trying to annoy me?

Steven is a local Hendy boi ( Small village outside Llanelli) so everyone see him as one of our own. Been a bit of friendly banter about the Scotland thing, but nothing more than singing "flower of scotland" etc when he enters the room. Can see him going on the Welsh tour to Japan, during the Lions tour.

Kingshu you're right it is a lack of player depth that's hurting us, especially during international call ups. It's acknowledge by everyone within the region, but as most things in life it's down to a lack of finance.

On Tuesday our Chief Executive Mark Davies had a frank and open meeting with the fans. It discussed the ongoing discussions with the newly formed Professional Regional Game Board (PRGB) Which looks like it's at a delicate stage at the moment (agreeing funding, payment for producing international players, NWQ's etc) doesn't sound like Roger Lewis is getting all is own way, and has had his ear bent on a few occasions by Mr Justice Wyn Williams. Until all this is resolved we are unable to proceed with the recruitment we'd like. Hopefully the PRGB in 3-4 weeks will announce what will come into effect for the 2013/14 season. At the same time hopefully we can announce a few new signings.

Our own personal finance situation is for this financial year we're looking at a turnover of about £8.5m with a loss of about £800k.

We're not currently not quite where we wanted to be in the business plan, but we're not a long way behind and things are moving in the right direction as far as the business getting cash neutral is concerned.

We did manage to cut our budget last year by 500k, so heading in the right direction.

Apparently one of the difficulties that the CEO is finding is attracting funding from big corporate companies. South West Wales isn't attractive to these companies with such a small population. the example was given that the scarlets only have a population of 75,000 within a 20 min radius of the ground. While Leinster has 2.2 million people living 20 minutes from the RDS, and Munster 1.5 million within 20 minutes of Thomond Park. This also had a negative impact on marketing from companies like Heineken during the HC.

So until these issues are resolved, the lack of squad depth will continue to be a problem.

I don't want to be a stat nazi, but are you sure that there are 1.5 million people living in and around Limerick? Is that not the population of the whole of Munster?

not sure mate. it was just the ceo response when asked why we didn't do more to market the HC games with banners, flags etc like is seen in Ireland....that was his response. that heineken pay for it, as it covers a bigger population.

haven't actually checked the actual figures myself, so he may be well off. or possibly i heard him wrong, which is a possibility too. lots of figures where banded around that night.

Yeah it’s a real shame that there aren’t more marketing opportunities for teams in Wales. I think it’s crazy that the Blues have EADS as a title sponsor, which is a large multinational but I don't see the benefit for a defence contractor in advertising on a rugby jersey. Beggars can't be choosers I guess.

On topic, glad to see Shingler coming back to Wales. What’s behind is behind, and hopefully what if in front of him is a good career for region and maybe country.

Coleman: not sure how accurate it is, but heard on the grapevine the only company that's shown interest in investing with us is wonga, the short loans company. Apparently we turned them down cause we didn't want the negative image that went with the company.

This would be a real good signing for us. Hope its true.