The rumour mill

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ScarletSpiderman wrote:

pioden gorllewin wrote:Leicester Mercury reporter Martin Crowson stating in todays paper that Tigers are after Owen Williams as stand off for next season. Gutted if true, thought he'd push priestland for the starting spot for next season.

The Scarlets are going to have to pull out of the LV= Cup from now on as it is getting to be a bit of a joke now, we have a kid play well for us in it, and then before the season even finishes they get poached by the Jeff side that they helped beat.

That said I wonder how much game time Owen would have got at PYS next season, as we have Priestland as exepected first choice, and then Jordan Williams, Gareth Owen and now Steve Shingler to cover (plus Aled Thomas, if he stays, and Dan Newton too).

How many times has it happened now?

Heard anything about Laidlaw been linked to us GF?

Yeah...but most of it goes back to a few seasons ago when it was just about a done deal then his current team came in and made a better offer.

Not sure id see him coming to us...ALTHOUGH we do have a good history with the Scots...and being near the border would be attractive to him.

I'd like us to really get that Scottish link back...players like Doddie Weir, Peter Walton, Gary Armstrong (one of my favorite falcons players ever) gave us so much...and new ones like Shiels could help bring that back.

I'd be pretty happy with Barclay, Laidlaw & Hogg

Joseph to Bath now official:

http://www.bathrugby.com/news/team-news/bath-rugby-confirm-centre-signing



Damn

mawhis wrote:Joseph to Bath now official:

http://www.bathrugby.com/news/team-news/bath-rugby-confirm-centre-signing



Damn

A Bath transfer rumour that actually proved to be right!!

It turns out its not all agent talk after all.

The mass pilaging of London Irish has begun it seems.

Bathman_in_London wrote:It turns out its not all agent talk after all.

The mass pilaging of London Irish has begun it seems.

Can I be bothered to find my comment way back on last year where I said it was a done deal?? An hour's trawling for bragging rights and smugness.

Now I wonder if Gibson and Sisi will be confirmed, or maybe this means it isn't happening

Who's Sisi?

yappysnap wrote:Who's Sisi?

David Sisi - LI and England U20 Back-Row

Gibson will be at Tigers next season. Sisi I'd not heard about. Watson is supposedly still umming and arring.

mawhis wrote:

Bathman_in_London wrote:It turns out its not all agent talk after all.

The mass pilaging of London Irish has begun it seems.

Hey its not just Bath doing it! Seriously though, it seems ridiculous. Even if half of the rumours are true, thats going to be a huge change in the playing squad for next season, must be hard for the management team and the players who are staying.

Bathman_in_London wrote:

mawhis wrote:

Bathman_in_London wrote:It turns out its not all agent talk after all.

The mass pilaging of London Irish has begun it seems.

Hey its not just Bath doing it! Seriously though, it seems ridiculous. Even if half of the rumours are true, thats going to be a huge change in the playing squad for next season, must be hard for the management team and the players who are staying.

I'm still hoping that, if the rumours for this season are true, then its just a hold-over from the departures at the end of last season, rather than a sign of anything more serious.

Brian Smith has a good eye for talent IMHO, so we should be OK.

yappysnap wrote:Who's Sisi?

Whoever he is, he sounds like he'll be right at home at Bath!

formerly known as Sam wrote:Gibson will be at Tigers next season. Sisi I'd not heard about. Watson is supposedly still umming and arring.

I meant Garvey, sorry, got confused. We've been linked with Garvey and Sisi for a while now as well, but don't have the inside track on that this time!

Bathman_in_London wrote:

mawhis wrote:

Bathman_in_London wrote:It turns out its not all agent talk after all.

The mass pilaging of London Irish has begun it seems.

:warning:

Hey its not just Bath doing it! Seriously though, it seems ridiculous. Even if half of the rumours are true, thats going to be a huge change in the playing squad for next season, must be hard for the management team and the players who are staying.

True, but playing devil's advocate - it worked out pretty dam well for Wasps this season! Maybe a big overhaul is just what's needed?

HongKongCherry wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Who's Sisi?

Whoever he is, he sounds like he'll be right at home at Bath! ;) :run:

Just as well we aren't signing Jonathon Toff, the flanker from Wasps

Bathite wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Who's Sisi?

Whoever he is, he sounds like he'll be right at home at Bath!

Just as well we aren't signing Jonathon Toff, the flanker from Wasps

I've only just got that joke

Mods - what has happened to this thread? We've lost 20 odd pages of rumours!

It probably collapsed under it's own weight. Sadly it lost the summary page.

I know! I've been keeping that updated, although at least I won't keep being reminded of our failure to get Parling!

HongKongCherry wrote:I know! I've been keeping that updated, although at least I won't keep being reminded of our failure to get Parling!

You got Hudson though.

There's a cap of 20 pages for every thread, that's probably the problem, but don't know where the original stuff is?

Bathite it wasn't a done deal last year I can assure you of that. He may of agreed in principle to join them but only officially signed quite recently

It's here

https://www.606v2.com/t38583-the-rumour-mill

stnick88 wrote:Bathite it wasn't a done deal last year I can assure you of that. He may of agreed in principle to join them but only officially signed quite recently

Officially signed yesterday of course, but I can assure you that it's been a long time coming!

Will Bath retain Hipkiss as well now Joseph has signed?

Think Hipkiss is one of the guys out of contract, can't remember. Will be on a big wage, I'd like to keep him, we don't have huge numbers of centres, probably only JJ and Williams are specialist, with JJ maybe on the wing and Eastmond at 10, Agulla, Roko and Banners all covering 13

Eastmond at 10? With Donald, Ford, Heathcote and Devoto all kicking about. Seems an odd choice but I suppose an Eastmond/Joseph centre partnership would lack a bit of raw power.

I don't know what's happened to the thread, however, I have found the list of rumours:

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 - 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 - staying
Isa Nacewa to...

JJ to Bath has depressed me. The idea of Gold et al teaching him anything but BOSH is pretty remote.

Looks like Gonzo Camacho's contract will not be renewed at Exeter - the demands of a player being away with Argentina for a big chunk of the season are simply too much for the Chiefs

There was a hint Tigers were interested in Camacho but that rumour sputtered out quickly. I'm guessing Camacho wants international winger money but AP clubs don't want to spend that much on someone who will be away until the end of the AIs.

formerly known as Sam wrote:There was a hint Tigers were interested in Camacho but that rumour sputtered out quickly. I'm guessing Camacho wants international winger money but AP clubs don't want to spend that much on someone who will be away until the end of the AIs.

We spoke to him a couple of weeks ago I think, but there are offers from France. Makes sense for Exeter, Leicester and Camacho really.

Looks like Leinster won't be getting Adam Ashley-Cooper.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/adam-ashleycooper-comes-to-terms-with-australian-rugby-20130321-2ghz2.html

Interesting vid about McKenzie in the above link as well.

LondonTiger wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:I know! I've been keeping that updated, although at least I won't keep being reminded of our failure to get Parling!

You got Hudson though.

But he's no Parling. Hudson will provide the lineout ability we need, but I fear we are going to miss the grunt of Big Jim. I still cling to the hope we have signed Garvey.

I think Hudson will do well providing the grunt. I will admit that I've not seen him play since Falcons were relegated, but I always thought that they had much more go-forward when he played (and captained them).
That season that they were relegated he spent a large portion of it injured.

I always thought of him more as the enforcer type lock than the lineout operator.

Prop,

Actually hasnt been the player of old this season. Macleod, Del Fava and Tomes have been ahead of him.
Id say hes more a lineout guy than an enforcer.
But he'll bring good leadership experience.

And he's doing his degree in Nutrition etc...so at least Glos players should have a good diet...

Ha, fair enough Geordie - You'd know better than me.
Its a shame if he's not up to the level he was at, and when he was with Irish before.
Still, perhaps the change of clubs is what he needs to kick start his career.

Bath are really starting to put together a strong squad - their first 15 could be immense.

I see Wuss have signed Ofa Fainga'anuku Tongan loosehead prop from Glasgow Warriors. So hopefully Golding will stay here...

propdavid_london wrote:Ha, fair enough Geordie - You'd know better than me.
Its a shame if he's not up to the level he was at, and when he was with Irish before.
Still, perhaps the change of clubs is what he needs to kick start his career.

Bath are really starting to put together a strong squad - their first 15 could be immense.

Starting to get that way, let's hope they gel. Big question marks remains around half back though, with Classens leaving, Donald shiiite, Heathcote good but unproven and Ford much the same.

The rumours of Martin Roberts and Micky Young don't reassure me, but Karl Dickson does.

Certainly a great set of young english backs coming through the squad though with Heathcote, Biggs, Banahan, Joseph, Williams, Eastmond, Bendy etc

Bathite wrote:

propdavid_london wrote:Ha, fair enough Geordie - You'd know better than me.
Its a shame if he's not up to the level he was at, and when he was with Irish before.
Still, perhaps the change of clubs is what he needs to kick start his career.

Bath are really starting to put together a strong squad - their first 15 could be immense.

Starting to get that way, let's hope they gel. Big question marks remains around half back though, with Classens leaving, Donald shiiite, Heathcote good but unproven and Ford much the same.

The rumours of Martin Roberts and Micky Young don't reassure me, but Karl Dickson does.

Certainly a great set of young english backs coming through the squad though with Heathcote, Biggs, Banahan, Joseph, Williams, Eastmond, Bendy etc

I think you'll find he is Scottish as of last November!

But the point still stands, good to see the squad being strengthened with young english players rather than super XV retirees after a pension top up.

Donald has got to be one of the worst foreign imports into the AP, dreadful.

There are rumours of Karl Dickson going to Bath!
That would be a terrible shame for Quins as we feel that he is a really quality back-up for Care.
But, on the flip side I can understand him wanting to leave if only to get more gametime.
He is a better option than a lot of the other premiership starting 9's.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Prop,

Actually hasnt been the player of old this season. Macleod, Del Fava and Tomes have been ahead of him.
Id say hes more a lineout guy than an enforcer.
But he'll bring good leadership experience.

And he's doing his degree in Nutrition etc...so at least Glos players should have a good diet...

They already do. Sinbad and his brothers have started a business manufacturing biltong aimed towards athletes. Maybe that was the reason Hudson joined??

Sale sign Tom Arscott form London Welsh

http://www.salesharks.com/news/1825.php#.UUrz2VfA_tM

Agree Sgt_Pooly - although hopefully Donald didnt cost Bath too much. Their deal was made with him when he was out of favour and in poor form in NZ. If they'd made their deal after the WC final then I suspect he could have had a much healthier deal. And Bath would have been that much worst off!

I would rate Donald up there with Quins import of De Wet Barry!

Can we count Cipriani's move to Sale as a foreign import?

LT - do you think the LW contingent are starting to jump ship .

propdavid_london wrote:LT - do you think the LW contingent are starting to jump ship .

I was going to refer to rats and sinking ships, but held myself in check.


Oh