Silly Season Transfer Rumours 19/20

First topic message reminder :

New year, new thread, new scuttlebutt, rumour and misdirection.

LondonTiger wrote:

Welly wrote: Tigers sign Jordan Taufua.

Where does he play?

Mainly 6 but also 7 and 8.

LondonTiger wrote:

Welly wrote: Tigers sign Jordan Taufua.

Where does he play?

Across the back row apparently. Heck of a signing though not the biggest, so line out could still be a concern

He's a big carrier, big tackler, ideal at 6 I'd say. Just an all action physical player, think Tigers fans will love him

Fantastic signing that. Young, versatile, available all season and a cracking player.

Similar kind of all action style to Guy Thompson but at an even higher standard. No disrespect meant to Thompson there either who has been excellent for Tigers when fit this season.

Could give us a very dynamic backrow of Taufua/Thompson/Denton next season.

Some fairly unsubstantiated rumours of us wanting to bring back Hamish Watson (rumoured not to like Cockers) and Slater (Murphy described him as a lost player he'd like to have back at a fans forum). We could see more interesting recruitment yet.

With Glaws going for Saffas, taking Slater back would be good. Watson sounds like a rumour with minimal legs I feel.

Watson is out of contract this summer and preciously left Tigers because Cockers wouldn't give him a look in. But of a 2+2=5. Then again we are rumoured to be losing BOC and Evans so could be in the market for an openside.

I heard the Watson rumour at an Edinburgh game a few weeks back. Doesn't sound like there's anything in it, though I'd take him in a heartbeat of course.

Jamie Ritchie is very well considered, Barclay is in contract and Bradbury is Cockers style of hard carrying back rower. Then there's the one man offense Mata who may be on the move. I think a few people have put those options together with Watson being out of contract and managed to make 2+2=potato.

Slater would be an excellent bit of business. Spencer, Wells, Green, Slater and a marquee lock would be exactly the step-up Tigers need in the sides weakest area.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Watson is out of contract this summer and preciously left Tigers because Cockers wouldn't give him a look in. But of a 2+2=5. Then again we are rumoured to be losing BOC and Evans so could be in the market for an openside.

Watson has not given a contract from the U18's because the Academy manager didn't think he was big enough.
Cockers didn't have much of a say of the U18's.


Slater has a year left I believe.

Sean O'Brien to London Irish after the world cup

Welly wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Watson is out of contract this summer and preciously left Tigers because Cockers wouldn't give him a look in. But of a 2+2=5. Then again we are rumoured to be losing BOC and Evans so could be in the market for an openside.

Watson has not given a contract from the U18's because the Academy manager didn't think he was big enough.
Cockers didn't have much of a say of the U18's.


Slater has a year left I believe.

Hamish Watson left at 20 to join Scotland 7s. Cockers was good in many ways but wasn't big on back young talent and particularly in giving them a break early in their career.

Can't find anything on how long Ed signed on for when. Joining Glaws. I'd imagine they'd be keen to keep him what with him captaining the side in the absence of Heinz.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Welly wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Watson is out of contract this summer and preciously left Tigers because Cockers wouldn't give him a look in. But of a 2+2=5. Then again we are rumoured to be losing BOC and Evans so could be in the market for an openside.

Watson has not given a contract from the U18's because the Academy manager didn't think he was big enough.
Cockers didn't have much of a say of the U18's.


Slater has a year left I believe.

Hamish Watson left at 20 to join Scotland 7s. Cockers was good in many ways but wasn't big on back young talent and particularly in giving them a break early in their career.

Can't find anything on how long Ed signed on for when. Joining Glaws. I'd imagine they'd be keen to keep him what with him captaining the side in the absence of Heinz.

No Hamish left after the U18/u19's. (Can't remember if he they had the U18 league set up like it is now)

I thought Watson was released by Tigers when his age group were graduating from academy to development squads, which is usually 18 or 19 in the Tigers system.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjCfb4fleva/

That's an interesting post from Watson's instagram. A note that he saved on his phone after a meeting when he was released by Tigers.

Maybe I'm misremembering. I thought he was released after playing Scotland under 20s. There being a thought at the time of "why is this lad good enough for Scotland under 20s but not worth a contract for a year or two to see how he develops".

That message does sound like Cockers and MOC didn't fancy him.

king_carlos wrote:I thought Watson was released by Tigers when his age group were graduating from academy to development squads, which is usually 18 or 19 in the Tigers system.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjCfb4fleva/

That's an interesting post from Watson's instagram. A note that he saved on his phone after a meeting when he was released by Tigers.

That means he would have been 19 ( turning 20 in the October of that year). The note does seem to intimate it was the end of his time in the academy plus that we had no development squad. It also quite clearly blames "people up top"

Too good to hope we'd see both return. Pack of;

Genge, Kerr, Cole
Slater, Spencer
Watson, Denton, Taufua

Bench: Youngs, Bateman, Heyes, Green/Wells, Evans/Kalamafoni

We're just not that lucky.

Sean O'Brien confirmed as signing for London Irish in December this year

Manu to Racing rumour is building speed again. He'd join them in December so would be available for the RWC similar to several other contracts.

king_carlos wrote:Manu to Racing rumour is building speed again. He'd join them in December so would be available for the RWC similar to several other contracts.

With his injury record, you would maybe think it would be worth his while to cash in, he may struggle to make another WC cycle in any case. If he was not playing internationally, it would push up his value considerably as well.

I'd be surprised if Manu moved his young family away from Leicester given his missus is a Leicester girl and I know at least one of his brothers still lives in the area. Sounds more like Freddie is playing games with the negotiations.

Currently as things stand I would be surprised if Manu satys

Another huge signing and one that apparently was a little under the radar...?

Irish land Naholo!! https://www.rugbypass.com/news/london-irish-land-all-black-naholo-in-shock-coup-for-club

O'Brien and Naholo in the same week- what a time to be an Irish fan

Thought it was quite well known about Naholo and Irish.

Was mentioned in a few places of media recently.

May well have been but yesterday was the first I heard about it. Cracking signing

Wow. And I thought Bristol went crazy last year.

Welly wrote:Currently as things stand I would be surprised if Manu satys

Well Freddie and Simon Cohen are in negotiations as we speak.

Naholo signing is great, but slightly tempered by news that the Mafi deal is off. I think he would have been an amazing signing for us in the pack.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Watson is out of contract this summer and preciously left Tigers because Cockers wouldn't give him a look in. But of a 2+2=5. Then again we are rumoured to be losing BOC and Evans so could be in the market for an openside.

Watson left the Tigers Academy a decade ago now. He's turned into one of the best opensides in the world in the meantime.

He's a very important part of Cockers' plans and once Barclay is back, you have the Scottish first choice loose forward trio playing in the one place (6 Ritchie 7 Watson 8 Barclay) so I'd be amazed if they didn't tie him to a new deal very quickly.

George Carlin wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Watson is out of contract this summer and preciously left Tigers because Cockers wouldn't give him a look in. But of a 2+2=5. Then again we are rumoured to be losing BOC and Evans so could be in the market for an openside.

Watson left the Tigers Academy a decade ago now. He's turned into one of the best opensides in the world in the meantime.

He's a very important part of Cockers' plans and once Barclay is back, you have the Scottish first choice loose forward trio playing in the one place (6 Ritchie 7 Watson 8 Barclay) so I'd be amazed if they didn't tie him to a new deal very quickly.

GC - I think the Watson to Tigers rumours are a case of hopeful thinking driving speculation.

Watson and Mata are both out of contract but will be wanting much higher salaries than when they last signed. Meanwhile Edinburgh have several strong flankers as you list above. I think that a few Tigers fans have hoped that we might able to nab Watson given the number of loose forwards leaving Tigers should give the club a good bit of cash to recruit with.

Sadly, I can't see him leaving Edinburgh when they are on the up and he's playing as part of a strong back row.

Wasps linked with Sione Vailanu from Sarries as a replacement for Hughes in the back row. Powerful, explosive carrier, and only 24; if Wasps can keep him fit it would be a good signing.

Also linked with Wasps is Leinster's Aussie Scott Fardy - another signing to bolster the back five of the scrum.

And there was me thinking Wasps desperately need a full back...

George Carlin wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Watson is out of contract this summer and preciously left Tigers because Cockers wouldn't give him a look in. But of a 2+2=5. Then again we are rumoured to be losing BOC and Evans so could be in the market for an openside.

Watson left the Tigers Academy a decade ago now. He's turned into one of the best opensides in the world in the meantime.

He's a very important part of Cockers' plans and once Barclay is back, you have the Scottish first choice loose forward trio playing in the one place (6 Ritchie 7 Watson 8 Barclay) so I'd be amazed if they didn't tie him to a new deal very quickly.

I expect they will. It is an agent favourite tactic to link their client to Tigers to help negotiations along.

Ricardo74 wrote:Wasps linked with Sione Vailanu from Sarries as a replacement for Hughes in the back row. Powerful, explosive carrier, and only 24; if Wasps can keep him fit it would be a good signing.

Also linked with Wasps is Leinster's Aussie Scott Fardy - another signing to bolster the back five of the scrum.

And there was me thinking Wasps desperately need a full back...

Speaking to the Coventry press, Dai Young said they need a FB, centre and winger as priority signings.

LondonTiger wrote:
Speaking to the Coventry press, Dai Young said they need a FB, centre and winger as priority signings.

Yup, with Wade, Daly and WLR offski, the cupboard is looking somewhat bare-ish there. Fekitoa bolsters the centres, and there's quality there, but the back three are where we are exposed massively for next season so far.

I read Dai is scouring the Prem and NZ for back three players, but I'm struggling to think of anyone who would (a) fit the requirement, and (b) be available. I'm sure Dai will pull something out of the bag, though!

Mata isn't out of contract.

Fardy will be down to the IRFU wanting to keep him or not

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/rugby-union/42429299

Mata under contract until 2020.

Owen Frank's off to Northampton then.

formerly known as Sam wrote:https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/rugby-union/42429299

Mata under contract until 2020.

Cheers sam and Welly. There's been so much talk about him re-signing at Edinburgh games that I presumed otherwise.

I'd love to see Watson (or Mata of course) at Tigers but a part of me hopes both stay at Edinburgh. I'm really interested to see what Cockers does with the talent in the Edinburgh pack going forward.

Apparently the Steve Mafi to LI deal has fallen through but they are still chasing Adam Coleman hard.

I'm a big Mafi fan but Coleman is probably more what Irish need with McNally moving to Bath and France van der Merwe getting on.

Steve Mafi did strike me as a luxury signing for LI. Coleman is the tight five muscle that will help them retain their place in the league.

Now if Steve could look at a return to Leicester...

Am I the only one surprised by Mafi's age? When he was at Leicester I always thought he was around 30, but clearly he was only about 20 years old when he arrived there!

He was a hell of a find for us. Nicknamed Steve Murphy by his teammates due to his ridiculous skillset. Gutted when he left and it was a real shame he took the money in France rather than coming back to Welford Road. Still only 29.

Reckon Tigers would chase him?

We've got a lot of backrow options now but all are rather squat and not decent lineout options. Mafi could fit that?

Size of him, he is really a 2nd row now.

I'm not sure Mafi is available. He signed a contract extension in the Autumn so for him to have apparently signed up for us in January seems a bit odd. My suspicion is there was never a deal and rather than Rugby Pass admitting as much they have said that the deal has 'fallen through.' Would be surprised if he is anywhere other than Castres next season.

Who knows what kind of get outs etc are in the contract. We have just seen Daly get out of his contract a year early. Having said that I can't see us paying the wages he's reportedly asking for.

https://mobile.twitter.com/pauleddison/status/1097115095644233733

Savea apparently now available.

Luther Burrell considering a return to rugby league with Warrington Warriors.

Warrington Warriors?

formerly known as Sam wrote:https://mobile.twitter.com/pauleddison/status/1097115095644233733

Savea apparently now available.

Wasps interested, apparently. Unsurprisingly! With Sopoaga, Fekitoa and Toomaga-Allen I guess he'd fit in, with Shields also Kiwi-ish. Fitting Wasps play in black!

Dan Carter back to Racing 92, as a "mid-season medical joker".