Silly Season Transfer Rumours 16/17

First topic message reminder :

Gordon Reid is off to Irish.

Actually no!! Thanks for ruining my day Welly!

I was all set to post the link showing Fearns statement, only to realise the statement I'd seen in the last 2 days, was just a repost of Fearns' comments when the initial signing was announced.  Right, well if we can't have Fearns, you can't have Kalamafoni

Bristol have announced the signings of George Perkins and Ehize Ehizode, both very promising English talents.

propdavid_london wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:If Parisse is thinking about following Picamoles to the AP for a stint I suspect there'll be a few clubs interested. The Tigers offy forum will be up in arms (even more than usual) if we don't make a significant attempt at acquiring his services. We really need a ball playing 8.

 That youngster looks pretty useful as a carrying option - Hamilton is it?  

If you're thinking of Luke Hamilton, he is more of a 6 than an 8. Although he has done very well at 8 given it's not his best position and he has ended up there due to lack of genuine 8 options.

He signed after a couple of season with Agen in which he topped the Top 14 tackle count and made a name for himself as a defensive rock. His carrying has been a pleasant surprise since he arrived, he throws his weight around well and is smart with body angles and when he goes to ground. He's a good 6 and I hope Tigers keep him but if he's behind Mike Williams when a region come calling I could see him heading back to Wales.

We can't afford a Parisse even if we got rid of BOC, Croft and Fitzgerald.

Croft isn't on that much anymore either so cutting him to free up cap space as some fans have suggested wouldn't do much. For what it's worth I think Crofty has earnt a new contract with his limited game time this season. He might not be the force he was before the injuries but his line-out work is still excellent in attack and defence. He's also a better defender than some give him credit for. I hope he stays.

Kalamafoni may well be the start and end of Tigers back row signings.

Picamoles showed last weekend what we are missing by not having a genuine number 8. Of course he is a world class player but it should be noted that to keep within the cap (and your means) it is extremely difficult to be strong across every facet of the team, and strengthening one area will cause another area of the team to be weakened. Personally I would rather we had allocated funds to beefing up the pack rather than signing JPP - who while he has brought qualities, pace is not one of them and with the way we were trying to play pace out wide is important. Plus I am an ex-forward so I always want the money spent there.


In short, I am agreeing with Welly and KC. We cannot afford a big name number 8, and there is limited chance of freeing up funds for one.

See if Sarries will swap Billy for sicknote maybe?

king_carlos wrote:Croft isn't on that much anymore either so cutting him to free up cap space as some fans have suggested wouldn't do much. For what it's worth I think Crofty has earnt a new contract with his limited game time this season. He might not be the force he was before the injuries but his line-out work is still excellent in attack and defence. He's also a better defender than some give him credit for. I hope he stays.

Kalamafoni may well be the start and end of Tigers back row signings.

I suspect for this season it prob will be.

Then I guess MOC will decide on who he wants to keep.

TBH with Veainu I think JPP makes a good counter he is solid and despite not looking fast he has made some big breaks and set up a lot of tries for a winger. Him, Veainu and Thompstone all bring different styles and I think it works.

Also if we hadn't of signed him this season our back 3 resources would of really been pushed.

The big question marks in my head our Mauger forwards IMO, I just think he signed those two, to play more dry weather rugby without thinking about winter rugby.

French papers reporting that Fearns is staying in France, according to a club source.

Sorry HKC!!

yappysnap wrote:French papers reporting that Fearns is staying in France, according to a club source.

Sorry HKC!!

Big compensation coming Glaws way though.



Heard a rumour that Veainu and Mike Brown are swapping

LondonTiger wrote:

yappysnap wrote:French papers reporting that Fearns is staying in France, according to a club source.

Sorry HKC!!

Big compensation coming Glaws way though.



Heard a rumour that Veainu and Mike Brown are swapping

That rumour has no legs not sure where you heard that from.



The Glous rugby thing smells a lot like what happened with Niki and Castres or Genia and Bath.

It being a French V English contract clash could also mean Lyon might get away with paying nothing.

Certainly Brown has no legs Gut feel is that it is a case of someone putting 2&2 together to make 6. TV has expressed his unhappiness with the coaching situation, and supposedly suggested he would not have chosen to sign for a MOC team, while Brown has supposedly been seen speaking to estate agents. (Lots of supposedly).


Re Fearns, Glaws could choose to sue the player for breach of contract?

LondonTiger wrote:Certainly Brown has no legs  Gut feel is that it is a case of someone putting 2&2 together to make 6. TV has expressed his unhappiness with the coaching situation, and supposedly suggested he would not have chosen to sign for a MOC team, while Brown has supposedly been seen speaking to estate agents. (Lots of supposedly).


Re Fearns, Glaws could choose to sue the player for breach of contract?

Can you point to me where he said that bit about MOC or is that hearsay? As I have heard he doesn't mind MOC. (But yeh he is unhappy Mauger left). I will say be careful what you hear re MOC and players just yet a lot of Tigers supporters have a agenda against MOC (some valid some not) and try to spin things as such.

Also the cap between the two will be a fair amount of difference.

From what I have heard Brown rumour is rubbish and has been from the start but who knows, I reckon if he does leave Wuins it will be for Exe.

Could well try and she the player again I'm not sure what loopholes there are.

3rd hand hearsay Welly. From a friend whose daughter has a friend that works at Oval Park. So about as reliable as Chris Ashton's anger management control.

I'd be gutted if Brown left Quins.

Yes at Int level he's not the player he was, but this weekend showed how good he can be at club level still. I've always thought he'd be another 1 club man, like Monye before him. Although these days that's tougher and tougher.

I just can't see how the Fearns rumour can be true. Seriously why would anyone choose to stay in Lyon over coming to Gloucester?

LondonTiger wrote:3rd hand hearsay Welly. From a friend whose daughter has a friend that works at Oval Park. So about as reliable as Chris Ashton's anger management control.

Would also be incredibly unpopular with the fans, TV is very much a favourite.

I doubt we have any significant budget for further backrow signings but expectations are still high on the offy forum. I think there's some unrealistic fans who are going to be disappointed with the boards recruitment. 

Jonah Holmes, Joe Ford and Kalamafoni doesn't really inspire.

Not sure if it's already been mentioned but just read that Sarries have signed Christopher Tolofua the Toulouse and France hooker.

Potentially a very good signing for both, he's very lazy and has missed out on any Int caps because of it. Saracens will certainly change that.

Im sure Tolofua came off the bench in the 6N??? May be totally wrong

He did for one game Sgt. He seems to be the third choice in France behind Guiraddo and Chat. Which is good going when you consider the likes of Kayser and Swazevski  (sp apologies) are still available for international recognition. 

Tolofua has great potential and is still relatively young. Was signed last summer I believe. Can only be a good thing for him to go to the AP. For France too if his fitness improves the same manner Picamoles's did.

whocares wrote:Tolofua has great potential and is still relatively young. Was signed last summer I believe. Can only be a good thing for him to go to the AP. For France too if his fitness improves the same manner Picamoles's did.

Saracens are probably the fittest squad in the country. They rotate well to keep players fresh. Sometimes it takes a while for new players to come through as they have a distinctive blitz defence and high work rate to adapt to. Hooker is an area of strength as well so if he doesn't perform he won't play.

Sorry to be picky,  but  will be, re Picamoles fitness. After a long injury lay off whilst at Toulouse he got into great shape,  losing excess flab, in the build up to last world cup. He has maintained those fitness levels whilst at Northampton but he certainly hasnt been transformed by Saints regime.
Tolofua, on the  other hand, isn't the fittest hooker in France ( Chat probably is)  and Sarries will definitely improve that aspect of his game.

Ruan Ackerman confirmed as Gloucester Head Coach for next season

formerly known as Sam wrote:

whocares wrote:Tolofua has great potential and is still relatively young. Was signed last summer I believe. Can only be a good thing for him to go to the AP. For France too if his fitness improves the same manner Picamoles's did.

Saracens are probably the fittest squad in the country. They rotate well to keep players fresh. Sometimes it takes a while for new players to come through as they have a distinctive blitz defence and high work rate to adapt to. Hooker is an area of strength as well so if he doesn't perform he won't play.

Brits is 35 though and in May will be 36. I think Brits will be slowly eased out but his last 2 games have shown he still has a lot to offer! Certainly as an impact player.

Also Brits is useful during the international window.

Not every player with a low workrate is transformed at Saracens, it's a sink or swim mentality. James Johnston didn't work, the 7s chap whose name I forget came and went.

Vunisa hasn't yet made an impact, I would have hoped.

If a player is willing to graft though.... I think Skelton will have benefitted from his small stint at the club.

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/saracens-re-sign-wallaby-skelton/

Skelton signs on permanently at Saracens.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:http://www.planetrugby.com/news/saracens-re-sign-wallaby-skelton/

Skelton signs on permanently at Saracens.

Could be the making of Skelton if they can fix his work ethic and turn him into something other than a big lump

They've obviously seen something in him......I must admit, I didn't think he was anything special.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:http://www.planetrugby.com/news/saracens-re-sign-wallaby-skelton/

Skelton signs on permanently at Saracens.

I am glad. His important tackle on Manoa was a nice highlight this season in his cameo.

https://www.facebook.com/eatsleeprugby/videos/1360741820666721/?fallback=1

It's why stopping players on the gain line/ pushing them back is important.

I know some fans think a player's defence is good if they make a tackle even if they get pushed backwards or need help.

Very few people are big or strong enough to stop Manoa from that far out on their own.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:They've obviously seen something in him......I must admit, I didn't think he was anything special.

He's been distinctly average at international level, and better off the bench for the 'Tahs, despite the hype about his size. He's generally lacked the engine to go all game. But the slower pace of games up North will help there, and Sarries are pretty good at getting the best out of players

Falcons sign Sam Stuart (scrum half) from Richmond.....Egerton to leave to carry on his studies.

Mike Ford sacked from Toulon. Cockerill finishing the season as head coach.

Hilarious. What goes around comes around for Mike Ford.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Falcons sign Sam Stuart (scrum half) from Richmond.....Egerton to leave to carry on his studies.

So our SH stocks stay the same...Takulua, Young, Stuart. - Dawson

whocares wrote:Mike Ford sacked from Toulon. Cockerill finishing the season as head coach.

The guy that has taken his boss' job at every club he has been at finally gets his comeuppance

As much as it seems wrong to defend Mike Ford is he really doing that badly?

4th in the Top 14 and 1/4 final in my opinion could be worse. Not Ford's fault that Toulon haven't sufficiently replaced the Wilkinson shaped hole or invested in playing personnel to change the fortunes.

2nd in their ERCC pool was generally the likely outcome.

On a side note I still think Leicester got rid of Mauger too soon.

Playing personnel is an issue.

Mauger should have been given until the end of the season. The board made a snap decision after the Exeter game which looks hasty after the three games that followed it.

Ford may have only agreed to stay on for this long once he was told he wouldn't be in charge next season. The laid back nature of the Toulon displays haven't been good.

you also have to remember that Mauger was only ever temp head coach. he was great with the backs but I wasn't convinced with the forwards

What held Mauger back was that he's a young coach who struggled to work with his experienced mentor and when given the big job didn't have the ability to get a cohesive set of tactics implemented quickly. The overly direct forwards play and sticking with the three lock option just didn't work when combined with the rest of the game he was implementing.

I think we needed to bring in an experienced forwards coach to work with him until the end of the season as our coaching staff are not really experienced.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Mauger should have been given until the end of the season. The board made a snap decision after the Exeter game which looks hasty after the three games that followed it.

Ford may have only agreed to stay on for this long once he was told he wouldn't be in charge next season. The laid back nature of the Toulon displays haven't been good.

2 of those games he wasn't even in charge for though.

Personally i didn't see many improvements in our back line with him coaching. Our game plan seemed to be Veainu will do something with it, unfortutely his NZ signings on the whole have been the biggest let down too.

Being honest here but has Leicester over the last 2 seasons ever looked like a top 3 team? And even if we had gotten to the play offs with him would we have just been smashed by Exe or Sarries away again?

At least this gives MOC time with the players on top of a preseason (which will be missing internationals for a large chunk of it).

Welly wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Mauger should have been given until the end of the season. The board made a snap decision after the Exeter game which looks hasty after the three games that followed it.

Ford may have only agreed to stay on for this long once he was told he wouldn't be in charge next season. The laid back nature of the Toulon displays haven't been good.

2 of those games he wasn't even in charge for though.

Personally i didn't see many improvements in our back line with him coaching. Our game plan seemed to be Veainu will do something with it, unfortutely his NZ signings on the whole have been the biggest let down too.

Being honest here but has Leicester over the last 2 seasons ever looked like a top 3 team? And even if we had gotten to the play offs with him would we have just been smashed by Exe or Sarries away again?

At least this gives MOC time with the players on top of a preseason (which will be missing internationals for a large chunk of it).

Two seasons? We've not looked like a dominant top three side in about four. We've reaped what we sowed with our poor academy to first team development and some suspect signings. 

To be honest our jobs for the boys coach recruitment has really hampered us as well, since Meyer came in we've had three coaches outside of the club and the only one not a defence coach was a recent former player. I'd have liked to see us look for a forward coach with some stature to help mentor Blaze and Deacon (Stanko if he continues), someone to challenge MOC in a similar way to Cockers used to.

Will Skelton back at Saracens then. They really do have unbelievable depth and quality.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Welly wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Mauger should have been given until the end of the season. The board made a snap decision after the Exeter game which looks hasty after the three games that followed it.

Ford may have only agreed to stay on for this long once he was told he wouldn't be in charge next season. The laid back nature of the Toulon displays haven't been good.

2 of those games he wasn't even in charge for though.

Personally i didn't see many improvements in our back line with him coaching. Our game plan seemed to be Veainu will do something with it, unfortutely his NZ signings on the whole have been the biggest let down too.

Being honest here but has Leicester over the last 2 seasons ever looked like a top 3 team? And even if we had gotten to the play offs with him would we have just been smashed by Exe or Sarries away again?

At least this gives MOC time with the players on top of a preseason (which will be missing internationals for a large chunk of it).

Two seasons? We've not looked like a dominant top three side in about four. We've reaped what we sowed with our poor academy to first team development and some suspect signings. 

To be honest our jobs for the boys coach recruitment has really hampered us as well, since Meyer came in we've had three coaches outside of the club and the only one not a defence coach was a recent former player. I'd have liked to see us look for a forward coach with some stature to help mentor Blaze and Deacon (Stanko if he continues), someone to challenge MOC in a similar way to Cockers used to.

I don't think it is down to our academy to first team development TBH. Not sure how many players who have gone would have improved us that much TBH.

I think it is down to recuitment.
First two season of Cockers our backs recuitment was poor.
Then the next two season with Mauger and Cockers the Forwards recuitment was poor.

The biggest plus point in my eyes is that next season we can have a backbone really strong young EQP backbone in the pack that if we can keep it together can really develop.
Genge, McGuigan, Barrow, Evans, Thacker.

It's not about the academy developed players adding to the starting 15 it's about them cheaply providing squad strength so we have cap available for better recruitment. Going forward we should hopefully see that emerge again, Smith has been invaluable plugging wholes in our back line over the years and I'm going Worth and Thacker Jnr will now do similar.

Agreed about the young EQ spine emerging. Just a a shame about our recruitment and retaining of players this summer.

"Being honest here but has Leicester over the last 2 seasons ever looked like a top 3 team? And even if we had gotten to the play offs with him would we have just been smashed by Exe or Sarries away again?"

Its funny I wrote on the boards about 4 seasons ago that Exeter were the coming team and they had modelled themselves on Leicester, continuous management ,strong academy and prudent investment. It seems the pupil has excelled its master

Exeter still are yet to pick up major silverware though (I don't count the LV Cup) and haven't done particularly well in Europe.

Still work to do IMO. Exeter have been impressive but still need to make a significant breakthrough.

Perhaps this is their year in the AP.

I think some if he Exeter recruitment has been a little poor. Devoto was a big name signing that doesn't seem to work in their backline, Holmes at prop seems to be done the pecking order and Turner at fullback has been average. The step up from lower mid table to top of the table team seems to have thrown off their recruitment. The ability of Baxter to find gems in the lower league and academy is what underpins their team and in that area they are strong.

They've certainly been better at knowing their tactical identity and recruiting players that fit that style of rugby and the club ethos then Leicester have. We seem to sign somewhat of a scattergun of options.

Rumours of Mamuka Gorgodze to Glasgow to replace Josh Strauss.

Would very much like that to be true.

He's 32 now so hopefully should be good for another couple of years.

Gorgodze would be an awesome signing, he plays lock as well as in the backrow and brings plenty of power and aggression. He won't be cheap though. 

Glasgow have signed Adam Hastings from Bath for next season. 

Bedford have signed Lee Dickson as a player/coach for next season.

No way have Glasgow signed Gorgodze.