Your worst ever big name signing

First topic message reminder :

Let's lighten the mood a little
Everyone is getting excited (then ultimately disappointed) about who their club will sign over the summer. But who is the biggest dud your team have ever signed; a guy who arrived being heralded as the "final piece in the jigsaw" etc but who was utterly mince? It's maybe a bit harsh to put someone in the list who's rubbish-ness was down to injury but you decide.
For Edinburgh, the AB prop Dave Hewitt arrived to project us to European greatness but couldn't even get in the team! Apparently, he cost a ruddy fortune too

RDW_Scotland wrote:None of them have really been big name signings though TJ! Plenty average journeymen though.

The only real big name signing we've had was Todd Blackadder, and he was awesome!

many of them were stated to be stars when the news of the transfer broke tho. But in terms of money spent for return then Edinburgh really must be right up there - how many journeyman antipodeans arrived who sank without trace? Is it worse to waste all your budget on an underperforming star or on half a dozen useless journeymen?

TJ wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:None of them have really been big name signings though TJ! Plenty average journeymen though.

The only real big name signing we've had was Todd Blackadder, and he was awesome!

many of them were stated to be stars when the news of the transfer broke tho.  But in terms of money spent for return then Edinburgh really must be right up there - how many journeyman antipodeans arrived who sank without trace?  Is it worse to waste all your budget on an underperforming star or on half a dozen useless journeymen?

Ben Atiga has been massively disappointing for Edinburgh. The guy is an All Black afterall even if it is a single cap. In fact that cadre of signings in 2012 which had a a lot of people tipping Edinburgh for great things was massively disappoiting. Van der Westhuizen and Nel have been solid but I think much more was expected from them.

I think they got the wrong Van der Westhuizen - typical SRU - same as they signed Jack cuthbert instead of the welsh chappie :-)

mckay1402 wrote:Surely for Cardiff it's got to be iestyn harris.  

IIRC he bagged a hatrick on his home debut.
I think where it went wrong was that he was played at 10 when he was clearly more suited to 12.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Surely for Cardiff it's got to be iestyn harris.  

IIRC he bagged a hatrick on his home debut.
I think where it went wrong was that he was played at 10 when he was clearly more suited to 12.

Xavie Rush's resigning would be a contender for the Blues as well. He signed for Ulster, Blues bought him out of said contract with Ulster and he retired through injury shortly after.

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Surely for Cardiff it's got to be iestyn harris.  

IIRC he bagged a hatrick on his home debut.
I think where it went wrong was that he was played at 10 when he was clearly more suited to 12.

Xavie Rush's resigning would be a contender for the Blues as well.  He signed for Ulster,  Blues bought him out of said contract with Ulster and he retired through injury shortly after.  

Naahr.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Surely for Cardiff it's got to be iestyn harris.  

IIRC he bagged a hatrick on his home debut.
I think where it went wrong was that he was played at 10 when he was clearly more suited to 12.

Xavie Rush's resigning would be a contender for the Blues as well.  He signed for Ulster,  Blues bought him out of said contract with Ulster and he retired through injury shortly after.  

Naahr.

I remember a lot of Blues fans rejoicing at the time, but it turned out to be a bit of a shocker.

Paul Doran-Jones at Quins, signed two seasons ago as an international, leaving quins as fourth choice behind academy boys and a bloke from National Devision 2. He's managed about 3 games in that time and was cack in all of them.

Netani Talei for Gwent Dragons. Now I appreciate he's not the biggest name, but he was/is a Fijiian international, was player of the Heineken Cup (or a similar accolade) a couple of years back with Edinburgh, but signed for the Dragons and was gash. Mainly played from the bench. It's possible he was the victim of being brought in by a different coaching set up and falling out of favour with the new coaches. But I was so looking forward to him and Faletau linking up. I was left very disappointed.

On another note: TJ, I reckon the Dragons could give Edinburgh a decent run for their money on crap imports. Cut price SH (and UK) journeymen who had turned out to be complete turkeys! Good luck tomorrow BTW. Would love an Edinburgh V Dragons semi as I'd like to do the away trip. If it happens maybe we should each play an ex-player 'Journeymen Select XV'?!

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Surely for Cardiff it's got to be iestyn harris.  

IIRC he bagged a hatrick on his home debut.
I think where it went wrong was that he was played at 10 when he was clearly more suited to 12.

Xavie Rush's resigning would be a contender for the Blues as well.  He signed for Ulster,  Blues bought him out of said contract with Ulster and he retired through injury shortly after.  

Naahr.

I remember a lot of Blues fans rejoicing at the time, but it turned out to be a bit of a shocker.

What, because he got injured?

Griff wrote:Netani Talei for Gwent Dragons. Now I appreciate he's not the biggest name

This is clearly not a thread for Drags fans Griff

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Surely for Cardiff it's got to be iestyn harris.  

IIRC he bagged a hatrick on his home debut.
I think where it went wrong was that he was played at 10 when he was clearly more suited to 12.

Xavie Rush's resigning would be a contender for the Blues as well.  He signed for Ulster,  Blues bought him out of said contract with Ulster and he retired through injury shortly after.  

Naahr.

I remember a lot of Blues fans rejoicing at the time, but it turned out to be a bit of a shocker.

What, because he got injured?

....because Blues paid an obscene amount of money buying him out of a contract and wages for a season before he retired.

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Surely for Cardiff it's got to be iestyn harris.  

IIRC he bagged a hatrick on his home debut.
I think where it went wrong was that he was played at 10 when he was clearly more suited to 12.

Xavie Rush's resigning would be a contender for the Blues as well.  He signed for Ulster,  Blues bought him out of said contract with Ulster and he retired through injury shortly after.  

Naahr.

I remember a lot of Blues fans rejoicing at the time, but it turned out to be a bit of a shocker.

What, because he got injured?

....because Blues paid an obscene amount of money buying him out of a contract and wages for a season before he retired.

So bad luck then??

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Surely for Cardiff it's got to be iestyn harris.  

IIRC he bagged a hatrick on his home debut.
I think where it went wrong was that he was played at 10 when he was clearly more suited to 12.

Xavie Rush's resigning would be a contender for the Blues as well.  He signed for Ulster,  Blues bought him out of said contract with Ulster and he retired through injury shortly after.  

Naahr.

I remember a lot of Blues fans rejoicing at the time, but it turned out to be a bit of a shocker.

What, because he got injured?

....because Blues paid an obscene amount of money buying him out of a contract and wages for a season before he retired.

So bad luck then??

Undoubtedly bad luck, but then a lot of poor signings are.

Trying to guess for Saints. I suppose the worst signing was the inestimable Corné Krige. Came in with a bonehead attitude on the pitch. He was lucky to last the full season without being tossed out on his bum. Help place the Saints on the direct trajectory towards relegation. Was a major female cleaning device.

RDW, I'm sure we could give an honourable mention to the farce that was Stephen Larkham's signing/non-signing in 2007?

Griff wrote:Netani Talei for Gwent Dragons. Now I appreciate he's not the biggest name, but he was/is a Fijiian international, was player of the Heineken Cup (or a similar accolade) a couple of years back with Edinburgh, but signed for the Dragons and was gash. Mainly played from the bench. It's possible he was the victim of being brought in by a different coaching set up and falling out of favour with the new coaches. But I was so looking forward to him and Faletau linking up. I was left very disappointed.

On another note: TJ, I reckon the Dragons could give Edinburgh a decent run for their money on crap imports. Cut price SH (and UK) journeymen who had turned out to be complete turkeys! Good luck tomorrow BTW. Would love an Edinburgh V Dragons semi as I'd like to do the away trip. If it happens maybe we should each play an ex-player 'Journeymen Select XV'?!

Talei was a fantastic player for Edinburgh and I was gutted to see him go. He was instrumental in our run to the HK semis and I'm fairly sure he made the team of the tournament too.

Saying that, he had a reputation for being quite lazy and not one for training hard (other than in the gym) - maybe that didn't go down well with his new club.

kilo-doug wrote:RDW, I'm sure we could give an honourable mention to the farce that was Stephen Larkham's signing/non-signing in 2007?

Absolutely - what an embarrassment that was.

You've got to wonder what would have happened if he did actually sign?

Can we include coaches in this too? If so, who remembers when Declan Kidney became Gwent Dragons coach??? 2004. Signed the contract but never turned up! Leinster offered him a better deal, the sods, and he backed out of the Dragons!

Campese Ma'afu - Useless

Jarrad Hoeata - Penalty machine

Craig Mitchell - Full on ninja, haven't seen him all season

Dan Parks - One trick pony who only knew how to kick when the Blues had a backline that included the likes of Halfpenny, Roberts and Laulala

Gavin Evans - Well passed his sell by date by the time he got to us, I think I've seen him have one good game for the Blues

Sam Norton Knight - Don't know what his best position is, but its not on the Rugby field

Special mention to Mark Hammett as DOR

For Glaws it is a close call between Jeremy Paul and Chris Patterson. Paul came in on a huge salary as a 60+ cap hooker and played 1.5 games before we had to pay up the remaining 2 years. Patterson was just dire, the weakest back at the breakdown I've ever seen, couldn't tackle for toffee and his club kicking ratio was rubbish; his efforts in the home q/f against Munster will live long in infamy.

Lordy - I forgot about Chris Paterson at Glaws. He was honking.
TJ - very few Edinburgh names here because nobody good would ever want to sign for us.
Who was the Kiwi winger who signed for Weej? His name was about a million characters long.

IronMike wrote:
Sam Norton Knight - Don't know what his best position is, but its not on the Rugby field

Done ok when he played full back though which is what he was and his signing had nowt to do with DY either IIRC.

Can anybody remember Jason Jones Hughes for Newport ? There was a massive fight between us (WRU) and the Australian union, as they did not want to lose him, we were told he was the next best thing, there was a load of dosh stumped up for him and he was rubbish.

CJ Van der Linde for any club that has had the misfortune of spending their money on him!

HongKongCherry wrote:For Glaws it is a close call between Jeremy Paul and Chris Patterson. Paul came in on a huge salary as a 60+ cap hooker and played 1.5 games before we had to pay up the remaining 2 years. Patterson was just dire, the weakest back at the breakdown I've ever seen, couldn't tackle for toffee and his club kicking ratio was rubbish; his efforts in the home q/f against Munster will live long in infamy.

Was Patterson played at 10 for Glaws? I can't remember.

For Edinburgh one of the worst signings has to be Nikki Walker. Came to Edinburgh on quite a big salary. Came injured, got fit, got injured again in pre season and has never played since. He is fit as he is playing club rugby for Hawick but think Solomons realised he was rubbish any way.
One of the worst players I have ever seen make it pro!

Majestic83 wrote:For Edinburgh one of the worst signings has to be Nikki Walker. Came to Edinburgh on quite a big salary. Came injured, got fit, got injured again in pre season and has never played since. He is fit as he is playing club rugby for Hawick but think Solomons realised he was rubbish any way.
One of the worst players I have ever seen make it pro!

To be fair he scored a lot of tries for the Hairsprays.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:For Edinburgh one of the worst signings has to be Nikki Walker. Came to Edinburgh on quite a big salary. Came injured, got fit, got injured again in pre season and has never played since. He is fit as he is playing club rugby for Hawick but think Solomons realised he was rubbish any way.
One of the worst players I have ever seen make it pro!

To be fair he scored a lot of tries for the Hairsprays.

I will never know how he managed that. That is one of the biggest miracles ever!

Played against him quite a lot at colts level and was shocked when he got his pro deal.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:For Edinburgh one of the worst signings has to be Nikki Walker. Came to Edinburgh on quite a big salary. Came injured, got fit, got injured again in pre season and has never played since. He is fit as he is playing club rugby for Hawick but think Solomons realised he was rubbish any way.
One of the worst players I have ever seen make it pro!

To be fair he scored a lot of tries for the Hairsprays.

I'm not an Osprys supporter, but really enjoyed watching them around their 'Galacticos' period. Nikki Walker was one of my favouite players for them. Scored some cracking tries for the Ospreys. I was surprised he went off the radar after leaving the O's.

Jannie de Beer for London Scottish. Killed our natural style, was the injured for ages and cost a small fortune.

For Edinburgh it has to be Ben Atiga, laughably rubbish.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:For Glaws it is a close call between Jeremy Paul and Chris Patterson. Paul came in on a huge salary as a 60+ cap hooker and played 1.5 games before we had to pay up the remaining 2 years. Patterson was just dire, the weakest back at the breakdown I've ever seen, couldn't tackle for toffee and his club kicking ratio was rubbish; his efforts in the home q/f against Munster will live long in infamy.

Was Patterson played at 10 for Glaws? I can't remember.

In fairness his better games probably were at 10, but he mostly played on the wing with stints at FB.  It became an opposition tactic to do a crossfield kick and let him catch it, then turn him over in the tackle.  This seemed to work 9 times out of 10!

madmaccas wrote:Jannie de Beer for London Scottish. Killed our natural style, was the injured for ages and cost a small fortune.

For Edinburgh it has to be Ben Atiga, laughably rubbish.

Ben Atiga's playing ability can be questioned though he did have a couple good games last season. At least he made it on the pitch unlike some of Edinburgh's signings over the last 3/4 seasons. Remember Mike Penn. Then there was Jack Gilding!!

I think where Ben Atiga has been a very good signing has been the behind the scenes work. Apparently he is doing a lot of coaching and being a link between the players and coaches.
He has also done a lot of mentoring with the younger players who are now starting to come through. Think he will be at Edinburgh for a while longer but purely in a coaching role.

Majestic83 wrote:

madmaccas wrote:Jannie de Beer for London Scottish. Killed our natural style, was the injured for ages and cost a small fortune.

For Edinburgh it has to be Ben Atiga, laughably rubbish.

Ben Atiga's playing ability can be questioned though he did have a couple good games bbqs last season. At least he made it on the pitch scales unlike some of Edinburgh's signings over the last 3/4 seasons. Remember Mike Penn Ulises Gamboa. Then there was Jack Gilding Allan Jacobsen!!

I think where Ben Atiga has been a very good signing has been the behind the scenes bar work. Apparently he is doing a lot of coaching eating and being a link between the players catering and coaches corporate hospitality.
He has also done a lot of mentoring Nandos with the younger players who are now starting to come through bulk up. Think he will be at Edinburgh for a while longer but purely in a coaching tasting role.

Fixed that for you Maj

Brad Thorn must have read my comments above.

Recent Interview on ESPN

"When I held up the cup with Brian O'Driscoll, that was just gold
The World Cup wasn't really like that for me, it was a duty to my country.  There was too much on the line. There's too much at stake.
I was a senior member of that team and it was a job I just had to get done and then move on with my life. Even to my team-mates, I knew I couldn't show any weakness. I didn't sleep very well, I was pretty much run down by the time we reached the final. The pool stage was fine but when we reached the quarter-finals I shut myself down, it was business time. I was in tears after the whistle in the final and that was because I had put so much pressure on myself."

Sorry Brad.  All is forgiven.  You do remember us after all... and thanks for the help

Majestic83 wrote:

madmaccas wrote:Jannie de Beer for London Scottish. Killed our natural style, was the injured for ages and cost a small fortune.

For Edinburgh it has to be Ben Atiga, laughably rubbish.

Ben Atiga's playing ability can be questioned though he did have a couple good games last season. At least he made it on the pitch unlike some of Edinburgh's signings over the last 3/4 seasons. Remember Mike Penn. Then there was Jack Gilding!!

I think where Ben Atiga has been a very good signing has been the behind the scenes work. Apparently he is doing a lot of coaching and being a link between the players and coaches.
He has also done a lot of mentoring with the younger players who are now starting to come through. Think he will be at Edinburgh for a while longer but purely in a coaching role.

We all enjoy a laugh about Atiga, but he does seem to have taken to the coaching/mentoring role pretty well and Solomans must rate his contribution or why would he have kept him on. There clearly was never any intention of him playing again. Edinbugh have been a coach down for most of this season and he seems to have been a big help in filling the void.

Don't know if he is a big name but Nikki Walker at Edinburgh particularly stinks!

For Leinster, as well as the aforementioned CJ VanDerBigtoe and Tuqiri, who reputedly had a most active social life during his brief stint with Leinster, would add Cameron Jowitt and Eddie Hekenui. two total no-hopers that some genius in Leinster Branch thought would fit the bill.

Great player before he arrived and since he left, but Jean de Villiers' year in Munster was distinctly unimpressive given the size of the pay cheque he was supposed to be drawing down. Our own dear BOD has many impressive qualities but blinding speed was never one of them - so when he burnt JDV on the outside at the RDS it was pretty telling.

Muliaina - the last thing I remember about him when he was playing with NZ was being destroyed on the outside by (I think) Dominici in a NZ-Fra match in NZ. Looks like he spent three years then in Japan stuffing his face before signing for Connacht. God knows what he'll look like after a year eating pasta with Zebre.

Somebody earlier on (Cardiff fan?) suggested Dan Parks. In fairness to Parks, he did a decent enough job during his stint with Connacht.

HongKongCherry wrote:For Glaws it is a close call between Jeremy Paul and Chris Patterson. Paul came in on a huge salary as a 60+ cap hooker and played 1.5 games before we had to pay up the remaining 2 years. Patterson was just dire, the weakest back at the breakdown I've ever seen, couldn't tackle for toffee and his club kicking ratio was rubbish; his efforts in the home q/f against Munster will live long in infamy.

Patterson was a very good tackler usually so I find that a bit odd - you do mean Patterson the Scotland full back?

I'm afraid he does, TJ. Paterson had a total 'mare of a game against Munster. He couldn't have kicked the arse of a fat prop two feet away from him that day.
Sadly, in addition to all the good stuff he did, we will all remember him showing Bergamasco the outside line at Murrayfield. And he took it.

brennomac wrote:

Muliaina - the last thing I remember about him when he was playing with NZ was being destroyed on the outside by (I think) Dominici in a NZ-Fra match in NZ. Looks like he spent three years then in Japan stuffing his face before signing for Connacht.  God knows what he'll look like after a year eating pasta with Zebre.

If he's lucky and innocent. Otherwise it might be bread and water with the Queen's gentlemen jailers.

brennomac wrote:For Leinster, as well as the aforementioned CJ VanDerBigtoe and Tuqiri, who reputedly had a most active social life during his brief stint with Leinster, would add Cameron Jowitt and Eddie Hekenui. two total no-hopers that some genius in Leinster Branch thought would fit the bill.

Great player before he arrived and since he left, but Jean de Villiers' year in Munster was distinctly unimpressive given the size of the pay cheque he was supposed to be drawing down. Our own dear BOD has many impressive qualities but blinding speed was never one of them - so when he burnt JDV on the outside at the RDS it was pretty telling.

Muliaina - the last thing I remember about him when he was playing with NZ was being destroyed on the outside by (I think) Dominici in a NZ-Fra match in NZ. Looks like he spent three years then in Japan stuffing his face before signing for Connacht.  God knows what he'll look like after a year eating pasta with Zebre.

Somebody earlier on (Cardiff fan?) suggested Dan Parks.  In fairness to Parks, he did a decent enough job during his stint with Connacht.

ALL of the players we're naming here were good somewhere. That's why they are/were big names!

For Quins -
Stuart Abbott - never really ever lived up to his potential.
De Wet Barry - 13 appearances in 2 seasons

TJ wrote:

HongKongCherry wrote:For Glaws it is a close call between Jeremy Paul and Chris Patterson. Paul came in on a huge salary as a 60+ cap hooker and played 1.5 games before we had to pay up the remaining 2 years. Patterson was just dire, the weakest back at the breakdown I've ever seen, couldn't tackle for toffee and his club kicking ratio was rubbish; his efforts in the home q/f against Munster will live long in infamy.

Patterson was a very good tackler usually so I find that a bit odd - you do mean Patterson the Scotland full back?

He might of been the Scottish full back, but he certainly wasn't much at Glaws. I have discussed this in the past and he did notably improve after leaving us, but he was utter tripe in the year he spent with us. Perhaps time has changed altered my memory, but I can't recall a top flight kicker missing so many shots in front of the posts, the aforementioned Munster horror show being 3 of them!

Artful_Dodger wrote:For Ulster, our worst signings weren't big names.  Rob Dewey and Tamaiti Horua were both shockers and Paul Emerick deserves a mention for getting red carded in his first match of a 3 month contract.

Good shout on Dewey - who was a fairly high profile signing at the time as a then starting Scottish international.

The Scarlets worst signing ever must be Chris Hala'ufia, arrived never played or trained and then sodded off a few months later.

Other than him it would be Kees Meuws.

For Quins we've had a few big let downs -

PDJ, arrived an Int prop with pedigree, all we got was an injury prone couch potato who enjoyed doing anything but playing.

Nick Kennedy was meant to bring experience and leadership to make up for the loss of Olly Kohn, what happens? He's injured before he arrives, plays about 3 games then sods off to Irish to go coach and has now started pinching our players that he met here!

Tik's, if the rumours are true and he is leaving for LI then that's a shocker, we paid a small fortune to get him (apparently in the region of £200k) he's played a handful of games, been lazy and not bothered in most of them apart from one intercept and is now leaving!

For Montpellier: Justin Marshall and Rene Ranger. Fortunately for the last one he will be back in New Zealand next year.

Ranger was an odd one, out standing in SuperRugby but just so average in France. Shame as on his day he was immense.

yappysnap wrote:Ranger was an odd one, out standing in SuperRugby but just so average in France. Shame as on his day he was immense.

He plays like a headless chicken, and this season make us lose a few vital games. Fortunately J.White finally understood (unlike Galthié) is best place is on the stand.