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?

Fluxy wrote:Jersey and Plymouth have both lost a number of players already for next year.

Watch out for the young Scotland player Jersey signed from Glasgow: Nick Campbell. He's a unit, and for his age gives the scrum and mauls a serious shove. I was extremely disappointed Edinburgh didn't snap him up.

Sebastien Taofifenua now being linked with Tigers as well. 21 years old, 19 stone, currently at Perpignan, French and I think a tighthead. Sounds promising though we seem to be linked with every prop going.

Sounds like Castrogiovani is still on the market - hasnt got a contract lined up for next season yet and is kind of running out of time.

As a Quins supporter would love him to come to us..........instead of PDJ.

propdavid_london wrote:Sounds like Castrogiovani is still on the market - hasnt got a contract lined up for next season yet and is kind of running out of time.

As a Quins supporter would love him to come to us..........instead of PDJ.

Cardiff Blues will take him

Not a rumour, but not worthy of it's own thread.

Tom Voyce has retired:

http://therpa.co.uk/tom-voyce-retirement-announcement/

Any news on Phil Vickery? He must be nearing retirement?

Chris Brooker to leave Quins for Worcester next season.

Great club player, was showing some real form before getting a nasty knee injury a long time ago. He's back to full fitness now but has been offered a 2yr deal where he can challenge for more starts.

Injury to Brooker meant that Rob Buchanan stepped up and has done well as backup to Grey. Quins also have good cover at hooker in Dave Ward.

Hipkiss has retired too

propdavid_london wrote:Chris Brooker to leave Quins for Worcester next season.

Great club player, was showing some real form before getting a nasty knee injury a long time ago. He's back to full fitness now but has been offered a 2yr deal where he can challenge for more starts.

Injury to Brooker meant that Rob Buchanan stepped up and has done well as backup to Grey. Quins also have good cover at hooker in Dave Ward.

Shame that he's leaving but I can totally understand the decision and wish him all the best. He looked easily first choice for Quins pre injury so I hope he can work his way back to that and perhaps the Saxons again.

I thought there was some talk that Ward may be leaving?

Jack Wallace has joined Bristol from Wasps, a very useful young player. I tell you what, I think whoever is going against Bris next year is in for a nasty shock. They are putting together a decent squad for next season.

Couldn't agree more with you about Briz. Their injury list looks quite scary, but they are going to be very strong and have a pretty handy coaching set-up too.

Jonathan Mills has moved to Sale apparently. A good signing I think, he looked good for Welsh.

Nottingham's Rhys Crane signs for London Welsh ahead of next season. Notts fans rather annoyed by that as they felt he owed something to the club after the club looked after during his injuries.

Leeds and England U20 second Row Dom barrow looks to be heading to Kingston Park...what a crackin signing that would be. 6'7 and 18st at only 20 yo...

Good player but that's an additional two penalties conceded per game if his under 20 performances are anythingvto go by. A real prospect for Richards to sculpt into a top quality player.

Yeah thats generally the feeling up hear Sam...should be able to make into a good player.

Hopefully he can work with Fraser McKensie aswell and bring out the potential that had him selected for Scotland except for an injury...

Is Price the one you were saying is the 6'9 beanpole...and he's bulked out??

Judging from his appearance and yellow card for punching for the under 20s off the bench vs SA he has taken a lot from his game time alongside Johnno in the Louis Deacon testimonial game. He looked substantially bigger in the upper body where as in the LV campaign he looked rather lanky. I think following his neck injury vs Wasps the club have decided that he needs to be carrying much more weight in order to play at professional level.

http://www.leicestertigers.com/news/15738.php

That's him earlier in the season.

Castrogiovanni officially joins Toulon while Kubriashvili leaves for Stade Francais...

Henson is officially a Bath player

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

I see we have signed 21 yo Argentinian prop Nahuel Lobo from Montpellier...
 
Anyone know much about him?

I only know that Montpellier are looking to offload several Argentinean players this summer, Creevy plus A N Other have already signed for Worcester. Argentinean props are generally a fairly safe bet so I'd imagine he'll do alright.

looks like Marco Wentzel has left Wasps to return home to SA for family reasons.

That's a big loss for Wasps. They may still have Palmer and Launchbury, but Wentzel was their lineout king.  furthermore, there's not many decent middle jumpers on the market at present, so they could find it very difficult to replace him this year.

They've alreadys signed Myall

Good point!

I'll keep you right HKC

think dai young has already been quoted saying it gives him little time to find a replacement. from the bbc website:

Young added: "It's disappointing to lose Marco, especially at this time of year which will make replacing him very difficult.

Marco Wentzel will be a big loss. He has been brilliant for Wasps and was a standout at Leeds before that. He's had a good 9 years or so here and I hope he returns to SA with only good memories. Thanks for your efforts at Leeds, good luck in whatever comes next.

Always a classy player and a nice guy Marco. He was a good player at Tigers as well. I wonder if he'll continue playing as he had ongoing back issues.

Rene Ranger to Montpelier

http://sport.iafrica.com/news/866081.html

Greg Bateman, hooker at London Welsh, joining Exe (Stormers' Don Armand still rumoured too, with another out&out lock, plus a utility back possibly too)

ChequeredJersey wrote:Rene Ranger to Montpelier

http://sport.iafrica.com/news/866081.html

Is this the guy Greyghost has been raving about on the int section?

LondonTiger wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Rene Ranger to Montpelier

http://sport.iafrica.com/news/866081.html

Is this the guy Greyghost has been raving about on the int section?

Don't know. He's just been in the AB series vs France and has apparently been consistently good at S15 level for a few years

Bit of a beast going forward, suspect defensively. Surprised he hasn't stuck around with the issues AB's have in the backline

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Bit of a beast going forward, suspect defensively. Surprised he hasn't stuck around with the issues AB's have in the backline

Apparently he thought his Int chances were over, having not been selected for 3 years, when he signed the contract not knowing he would be called up now!

That'll teach him lol

Muppet! He was immense in the Black shirt, can't wait to see him in Europe though.

Ranger will love the expansive nature of that Montpellier team I expect him to flourish.

Sam Vesty set to sign as the Worcester backs coach.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Ranger will love the expansive nature of that Montpellier team I expect him to flourish.

You're being sarcastic right?

He'll spend 60+ minutes watching the forwards batter each other and then at the the death join in the frantic chase for the win.

Montpellier play far more expansive rugby than the majority of French teams. They actually pass the ball further than the crash option in the midfield.

Probably not, they have a back 3 of Foden, Elliott, North

Sorry, i deleted that post when I realised that the one I was replying to is 4 months old!

 

Probably not, they have a back 3 of Foden, Elliott, North

Thats some backline...think Saints are going to be impressive this season.

Add in the Pisi's and a few others...they just need a crackin FH...

Isn't there a strong hint in the air that Kahn will be there stand off?

He's a better 9

I have a sneaking feeling Saints might go:

11. Ken Pisi
12. North
13. George Pisi
14. Elliot
15. Foden

Big question marks over who lines up at 9 and 10 though.

Can the WRU ask to play / not play North in certain positions? In the same way that the RFU asks their clubs to do it.

Probably not at Saints they can't, they could ask but no guarantees would be made. Considering how things like Monye at FB and Wood at 8 worked out I'm not sure it's a great idea

The RFU can request a certain player is trialled in a certain position or given some game time if they are an EPS squad member as the RFU are subsidising their employment through the EPS deal with the clubs.

The WRU have always refused point blank to ever discuss anything with the AP clubs so Saints are perfectly entitled to tell them to do one if the WRU start trying to tell them where to put North or request his availability outside of international windows (subject to contract clauses obviously).