2016/17 Pro12 Players to Watch

First topic message reminder :

I thought that, on the eve of the Pro12 competition, it would be good to discuss which players are worth keeping an eye on this season - whether new signings, young players who perhaps haven't quite yet established themselves or even well known players who are returning from injury or a spell of bad form.

For Ulster:
Charles Piatau - I don't think there needs to be much of an explanation here. What a signing for Ulster and the Pro12.
Stuart Olding - A chance to have a healthy full season of top flight rugby would be wonderful. He is still an exceptional talent.
Kieran Treadwell - I have heard good things about this young lock and I hope he gets the chance to impress.

I would mention Marcell Coetzee but he will not be available for the first half of the season.

mikey_dragon wrote:Have Munster lost their Kiwi centre yet, or is this his final season?

Francis Saili? He is still with them. He is injured though and out for a number of months.

munkian wrote:If Wales consisted entirely of Cardiff.

If you put your town/area/county in the search engine along with the WOL address you will get the news where you are from.

RiscaGame wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Not having a go, but could you not have done that without generating clicks for the Wail?

People do not have to go on the link. I cannot fathom why people get so uptight about certain media outlets. For me I read it, not just for Welsh rugby, but for most Welsh news, and other Welsh sports, if you can get past some of the people who write for the WOL/WM, then you can keep up with current affairs in and around your area. After all, they are the national news outlet for our country.

People don't have to click on the link, if (as you put it) you put a bit more meat on the bone. All you did was post a link. You could have just said that SS was spot on and then posted the link if you saw fit.

Or copied and pasted the relevant content from the article.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Have Munster lost their Kiwi centre yet, or is this his final season?

Francis Saili? He is still with them. He is injured though and out for a number of months.

Yeah him. He was a bit of a big name signing, but I can't remember him featuring that much. Has he struggled with injuries quite often?

Glasgow have lost some seriously good Fijians since last season, who was that wing come center who went to France ? He was awesome.

LordDowlais wrote:wayne, I am searching the WWW, and I cannot find anything relating to his U20's history.

Lord, if you google his name, you'll find a Fail article that says he is signing a 3 year contract with us, click on that and it says he qualifies for Wales through his Grandfather and that he made his Wales U20 debut against Scotland in 2014 (think) and then he went on to play in every game in the Junior WC for us and that he was very impressive, in the list of articles on google, he was very thankful for the input of RGC in giving him this opportunity.

wayne wrote: in the list of articles on google, he was very thankful for the input of RGC in giving him this opportunity

Yes I read that. Also, don't Scotland use their U20's like we do ? they do not have an A side. So if he has played against them, then he is tied to Wales.

LordDowlais wrote:Glasgow have lost some seriously good Fijians since last season, who was that wing come center who went to France ? He was awesome.

You can't remember any of their names?

One is a player who regularly won man of the match awards, including Glasgow's win in the PRO12 final and a gold medalist with Fiji Sevens. Leone Nakawara (Racing)

The other two were Naiyaravoro (Pan WK) plays wing/second row and Yanuyanutawa, a prop who was released.

Or was there someone else you were thinking of?

Pot Hale wrote:Naiyaravoro

That's the blighter. I think.

Him, and Nakawara were always go forward players, they will be a massive loss to them.

Why do I keep having a nagging thought about a Glasgow winger come center who left for a team in France, possibly Biarittz ?

I must be thinking of Nakawara. Never mind.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Have Munster lost their Kiwi centre yet, or is this his final season?

Francis Saili? He is still with them. He is injured though and out for a number of months.

Yeah him. He was a bit of a big name signing, but I can't remember him featuring that much. Has he struggled with injuries quite often?

I don't think so. I think, like a lot of the Munster backline, he has struggled to make much of an impact. He had more opportunities to show off his skill set when Johnny Holland (who has unfortunately just had to retire) played at 10 at the end of the season.

The Scannell-Saili combination was also starting to look extremely potent as well towards the tail-end of the season. Scannell is certainly another player to watch for Munster.

Ashley Beck...hopefully injury free and a good try scoring record in the pro12

Just thought I would update this to check if anyone has sparked your interest after the opening round of the Pro12?

For Ulster - Jacob Stockdale and Rob Lyttle have certainly sparked interest amongst Ulster fans despite being aged just 20 and 19 respectively. I can see Stockdale in particular getting  a lot of game-time in the Pro12 this season.

Unfortunately I only had the chance to watch the Ulster-Dragons and Munster-Scarlets games.

Rory you left out Ross Kane at TH too, looked solid in preseason against the Saints and again against Dragons and only 21

May not get much game time though with Lutton, Ah You and Herbst ahead of him though Herbst is starting to seem injury prone

I think Rhun Williams, the Cardiff Blues fullback, is one to watch this season.

marty2086 wrote:Rory you left out Ross Kane at TH too, looked solid in preseason against the Saints and again against Dragons and only 21

May not get much game time though with Lutton, Ah You and Herbst ahead of him though Herbst is starting to seem injury prone

Of course, a fantastic debut from him and we all hope that his development may continue down a similar vein.

Dan Goggin having a solid start to the season for Munster- decent prospect.

Scots - watch out for Peter Horne. A much underrated player now getting his chance at 10. Hamish Watson - this might be his year. Favaro and Fagerson worth a watch as well as Blair Kinghorn

Notch wrote:Dan Goggin having a solid start to the season for Munster- decent prospect.

Yeah solid would be best word to describe him. I need to see more of him to judge. Sweetnam is starting to show his talent alright.


Ross Kane looks good for Ulster. Herbst and Ah You would want to watch their back!