How is your team shaping up for next season?

[Tigersman]

So currently Tigers looking like under contract next season. (Development squad)
1. Genge, Bateman, Gigena (Grahamslaw)
2. Polota-Nau, Youngs, Kerr, (Mahoney)
3. Cole, Cilliers, (Heyes)
4. Spencer, Fitzgerald, Voss
5. Kitchener, Wells, (Lewis)
6. Kalamafoni, Williams, Mapapalangi
7. O'Connor, Evans, (Reffell)
8. Thompson, Denton, (Tuilagi)
9. Youngs, Harrison (Simmons, White)
10. Ford, Ford, (Hardwick)
11. May, Holmes,
12. Toomua, Owen, Tait,
13. Tuilagi, Smith, (Thacker)
14. Thompstone, Aspland-Robsinon, (Olowofela)
15. Veainu, (Worth)

Confirmed IN: Spencer, Denton, Thompson, Voss
Confirmed OUT: Thacker, Betts, Mulipola, McGugian,
Rumoured IN: Steve Mafi, Gaston Cortes, Paddy Ryan, Jimmy Stevens
Rumoured OUT: Hamilton, Malouf,
Not rumoured out but yet to have a new deal: Rizzo, Traynor, Baumann, Ryan, Catchpole, Brady, Pakalani,

Also 6 forwards from U18 and 1 back to be brought up according to Allen on Radio Leicester.

32 confirmed players + 4 "Rumoured" players = 36 potential players so far next season, could see another 3 signings coming in on top of that would need to be IMO (Assuming the rumoured in are all true) Centre, Full Back and another prop potentially to come.

[Which Tyler]

Code: Select all

LHP    Nathan Catt         Beno Obano         Lucas Noguero Paz
HK     Ross Batty          Tom Dunn           Jack Walker           ?Nathan Charles?   ?Michael Van Vuuren?
THP    Henry Thomas        Anthony Perenise   Max Lahiff            Victor Delmas
LHL    Luke Charteris      Charlie Ewels      Levi Douglas
THL    Dave Attwood        Elliott Stooke
BSF    Matt Garvey         Tom Ellis
OSF    Francois Louw       Sam Underhill      Josh Bayliss
#8     Taulupe Faletau     Zach Mercer        Paul Grant
   23-25				
SH     Will Chudley        Chris Cook         Kahn Fotuali'i        Darren Allinson   ?Will Homer?
FH     Freddie Burns       Rhys Priestland
LW     Joe Cokanasiga      Cooper Vuna        ?Jack Wilson?
IC     Jamie Roberts       Max Clark          ?James Wilson?
OC     Jonathon Joseph     Jackson Willison
RW     Samesa Rokoduguni   Aled Brew          Ruaridh McConnochie   ?Jeff Williams?
FB     Anthony Watson      Tom Homer          Darren Atkins
   18-22
   
   
Academy as it stands:
LHP	Sam Nixon       Will Vaughan
THP	Jack Edmonson   Arthur Cordwell   Kieran Verden
LHL	Rhys Davies
THL	Will Britton
BSF	Miles Reid
			
SH	Max Green
FH	Rory Jennings
LW	Harry Davies
OC	Max Wright
RW	Levi Davies
FB    Will Partington
   13

Supposedly looking for another 10 or 10/12; whilst looking to keep James Wilson and one of those hookers, but probably not Jack Wilson, Homer Jr or Jeff Williams. May be more graduates that just Atkins and Bayliss; and inevitably the academy will have a fair bit of turn over in both directions. I can't see Rory Jennings or Harry Davies being offered another contract; whilst Nixon, Vaughan, Green and Wright will all be 22 by the beginning of the season, with the latter 2 brought in as very senior academy players.

I really want Levi Davies to stay and be promoted to the seniors - mosty because I loved being able to name an AWC team with "a pair of Levi's"

[Mellsblue]

What with Bedford’s re-signings leading the BBC 10 o’clock news, I won’t bore you with 7/8 players we have signed for next season.

[Stom]

Quins are looking actually reasonably good on paper, I think... The paper is the important part, though...

Marler, Boyce, Auterac, Holenstein
Buchanan, Elia, Ward, Crumpton, ?Gray?, (Piper)
Sinckler, Collier, Swainston
Horwill, Glynn, South, ?Matthews?, ?Symonds?
Merrick, Dombrandt, ?Twomey?
Robshaw, Bothma, Chisholm, (Lamb)
Wallace, (White)
Luamanu, Clifford
Care, Lewis, Mulchrone, (Waters)
Smith, Catrakilis, Lang, Swiel
Visser, Earle, (?Aspland-Robinson?)
Tapuai, Saili, ?Sloan?
Marchant, Alofa, (Cheeseman)
Walker, Mikalcius, (Ibitoye)
Brown, Chisholm, Morris

Matthews, Twomey, Gray, Sloan and Aspland-Robinson all rumoured to be off, along with John Okafor, the 2nd row. I'd be disappointed to lose a couple of those (Twomey, Sloan and SAR, mainly).

We're still lacking at lock for me. Symonds is likely coming in to replace Matthews, while Glynn replaced Twomey earlier this season. But Dombrandt is a kid whose best performances have been at 8. Not sure he's ready for AP rugby, leaving us with Horwill, who is quality, and Merrick and Symonds who are good enough...

Also, we lack opensides again, I imagine Ward will play there, while we're short 1 back, I feel. All in, the squad looks a bit better than last year, but nothing like how good it was a few years ago. Freeing up Roberts' wage should surely have left more room to maneuver, especially as we've also lost Stanley and Adam Jones from the playing staff.

But the crunch is the coaching staff. They're quite clearly and obviously not up to it. So it doesn't matter how good our first choice 23 is, they're never going to play to their potential.

[Scrumhead]

Spot on Stom. The squad I still reasonably good on the whole. Certainly better than it’s performing currently.

Tapuai, Auterac and Earle are good signings that improve our 23 and Symons will be a good acquisition if he does indeed sign (he might, understandably, be having second thoughts now). Dombrandt looks to have lots of potential.

All that said, having a decent squad counts for nothing if the coaching team can’t even come close to getting the best out of them.

Even with an average coach, the squad we have should be competing for the top 6. I’d argue a top coach and a bit of luck with injuries could make us genuine play-off contenders. I think there’s a strong likelihood we will finish 11th which underlines how far away the current set-up is.

I also agree on your assessment on what we’re short of.

We need:

A high quality lock: Even if Symons does sign, I still think we need another lock at a similar standard.

A hooker worthy of being first choice: Buchanan is decent when fit, but when I spoke to him a couple of months back at the Stoop, he had no idea when he would be back and it doesn’t look like he’s going to back this season. Elia has lots of potential but I’m not sure he’s good enough to be first choice yet. All I know about Crumpton is that he’s highly rated but very injury prone!

A specialist openside: I rate almost all of our back row players, but even without injuries, I feel like we don’t know what our best combination is. We have versatile players who can cover 2 positions, but if anything that confuses the issue. We are, however, light at 7. Wallace is our only specialist openside and while Ward, Clifford and Robshaw can all play there, I don’t think it’s the best position for any of them. I’m not necessarily looking for a superstar here, but someone who is at least as good as Wallace would be great. Someone like Sam Lewis from Worcester would have been on my shopping list.

[Stom]

Spot on Stom. The squad I still reasonably good on the whole. Certainly better than it’s performing currently.

Tapuai, Auterac and Earle are good signings that improve our 23 and Symons will be a good acquisition if he does indeed sign (he might, understandably, be having second thoughts now). Dombrandt looks to have lots of potential.

All that said, having a decent squad counts for nothing if the coaching team can’t even come close to getting the best out of them.

Even with an average coach, the squad we have should be competing for the top 6. I’d argue a top coach and a bit of luck with injuries could make us genuine play-off contenders. I think there’s a strong likelihood we will finish 11th which underlines how far away the current set-up is.

I also agree on your assessment on what we’re short of.

We need:

A high quality lock: Even if Symons does sign, I still think we need another lock at a similar standard.

A hooker worthy of being first choice: Buchanan is decent when fit, but when I spoke to him a couple of months back at the Stoop, he had no idea when he would be back and it doesn’t look like he’s going to back this season. Elia has lots of potential but I’m not sure he’s good enough to be first choice yet. All I know about Crumpton is that he’s highly rated but very injury prone!

A specialist openside: I rate almost all of our back row players, but even without injuries, I feel like we don’t know what our best combination is. We have versatile players who can cover 2 positions, but if anything that confuses the issue. We are, however, light at 7. Wallace is our only specialist openside and while Ward, Clifford and Robshaw can all play there, I don’t think it’s the best position for any of them. I’m not necessarily looking for a superstar here, but someone who is at least as good as Wallace would be great. Someone like Sam Lewis from Worcester would have been on my shopping list.

You see, I don't think quite the same way you do. I think, while hooker isn't great, it's not bad for us, and wouldn't bother with another one. Elia looks very good, and I wouldn't want to limit his gametime when fit.

Lock, though, I think we should have been looking for one more, but one more better than Symons. We should be looking for Horwill's partner, someone to push us forward. I just feel like, under Horwill, they're all much of a muchness. Glynn is solid, sure, but he's a squad player for a relegation team...

And, again, on the backrow, I don't see the point of cover there. We have White and Lamb who can cover, and Clifford isn't a bad openside at all. If we're going to sign a 7, it should be a first choice 7, as I don't actually think much of Wallace.

I'm also concerned with the drop off in quality between Care and Lewis/Mulchrone. And if we do lose SAR, we're short one back, who can be squad cover, that's no issue. But with our injury record, I don't want Alofa to be starting 20 games...he's just not good enough to start most weeks. Sure, have him as cover for the internationals, but we need more cover so we don't have to keep playing him.

[ilovelamp]

Glaws currently looking like:

LH – VRR, Hohneck, McAllister, Seville
Hooker – Hanson, Marais, Motu’u, Walker/Mullis
TH – Balmain, (Dreyer), Denman, Knight
Locks – Savage, Galarza, Slater, (Mostert), Craig
Flankers – Ludlow, Polledri, (Kriel), Clarke, Safe, Hinckley
No 8 – Ackermann, Morgan, Evans
SH – Heinz, Vellacott, Braley, Randall
FH – Burns B, Williams, Evans
Wings – Banahan, Sharples, Thorley, Purdey, Seabrook, Halaifonua, Tonks
Centres – Atkinson, Trinder, (Van Rensberg), 12Trees, Creed
FB – Woodward, Marshall, Hudson

Dreyer, Mostert, Kriel and Van Rensberg are all not 'official' yet but I'm told are done deals and have been for some time.

We are light at 10 if Owen Williams, as expected, heads back over the bridge. There are rumours that Freddie Burns may be on his way back to us though. Personally I would love to see us go for Cipriani, he fits Ackermanns game plan to a tee.

Afoa is a huge loss, the guy is a phenom, and we are also rumoured to be losing both Randall (to Bris) and Motu'u (no great loss).

[Warrior85]

(Edited since Weir has been confirmed today)
Worcester are looking ok. Replaced some big players well and will hopefully add on or 2 more.

1. Waller, Black, Bower
2. Singleton, Annett, Taufete, Isaac Miller (Cutting)
3. Schonert, Milasinovic, Kerrod, (Morris)
4. Bressler, Barry, Kitchener (Clegg)
5. Fatialofa, Phillips, (Scott)
6. Mama, Faosilvia, Cox, (Dodd)
7. Lewis, (Mama again), Kirwin, A lot of these back rowers can play across the line
8. Du Preez, Van Velze, (Hill)

9. Hougaard, Baldwin, Heaney, (Wooten)...Not sure if Arr or Dowsett have contracts for next year
10. Lance, Weir, Shilcock, Heathcote(depends on concussions)
11. Adams, Humphreys, (Hearle)
12. Mills, Te'o, Butler
13. Venter, Beck, Olivier, (Lawrence)
14. Heem, Hammond, Howe
15. Pennell, Van Breda, (David)

Confirmed in: Francois Venter, Jono Lance, Scott Van Breda, Ashley Beck, Michael Heaney, Cornell Du Preez, Michael Fatialofa, Isaac Miller, Callum Black and Duncan Weir

Confirmed Out: Spencer, Denton, Willison, Taylor, Scotland-Williamson, Sam Olver

Out of contract but no word yet: Donncha O'Callaghan (wants one more year I think), Dewald Potgeiter (supposedly off to Toulon but no official confirmation), Biyi Alo, Jonny Arr, Michael Dowsett, Tom Heathcote, Kurt Haupt

We desperately need 1 more quality lock. We also need another premiership ready tighthead.

Other than 1 or 2 more additions this looks like it could be possibly our strongest ever premiership squad with some actual quality back-up. Backs look very strong and I have been told to watch out for Van Breda as he has some potential and good kicking ability. Pack looks a little short on quality but with another decent lock to partner the exciting Fatialofa we could be ok.

[jimKRFC]

Out = 23
Bevington, O'Connell , Tonga'uiha, Crumpton, Gompels, Harris-Wright, Liney, McMillan, Cortes, Gendall, Giltrow, Nemsadze, Tuohy, Robinson, Glynn, R. Williams, Searle, Newey, Palamo, Lemi, Varndell, Wallace and J. Williams,

In = 15
John Afoa, Shaun Malton, Nic Stirzaker, Yann Thomas, Ally Muldowney, Tiff Eden, Harry Thacker, Jake Heenan, Jordan Lay, Lewis Thiede, Jack Gosgrove, Tom Lindsay, Piers O'Conor, Randell and Charles Puitau

Supposedly still a few to be announced, so no idea what the team will look like.

[kk67]

Doing an almost daily flick through the bbc sport news in the mornings I'd been under the impression Sale had been quietly buying for next season but it now occurs to me it might have also been Brizzle. Have they snagged a few old stagers ?.

[Which Tyler]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... _transfers
The wiki list is always useful for the confirmed signings. Sale p ltd have a couple announced

[Tom Moore]

Anyone know where Cokanasiga is off to?

Without a team, the interesting ones for me are Shields (on the basis of does he go straight into the EPS?) And McConnichie to Bath, top top 7s player.

[Which Tyler]

Bath, but awaiting LI's relegation before confirmation