Transfer news, rumours, suggestions, frenzied speculation, and outright lies - Season 2023-24

[francoisfou]

Midi Olympique are speculating this morning about Julian Montoya attracting the interest of Top14 clubs.
I don't know when his current contract at Leicester expires but who'd blame him for heading this side of the Channel?

The Telegraph says Montoya will join Pau next season.

Midi Olympique report that he'll be on a three-year contract.

[FKAS]

Midi Olympique are speculating this morning about Julian Montoya attracting the interest of Top14 clubs.
I don't know when his current contract at Leicester expires but who'd blame him for heading this side of the Channel?

The Telegraph says Montoya will join Pau next season.

Midi Olympique report that he'll be on a three-year contract.

He's about to turn 31 so a three year deal on a hefty contract just makes a lot of sense for him. Cracking player and if he's on anything close to the silly money LCD was offered (£300k+ a year after tax) then he'd be foolish not to set him and his family up for life after rugby.

[FKAS]

If Pollard is to be replaced by Costelow as rumoured (Costelow is still friends with a number of his Tigers academy cohort and some social media posts had them at an event together recently) then Tigers will have a marquee spot and cash to spend looking at replacements. There's some expected attrition around the backrow with at least one, possibly two of Cracknell, Hatherall and Rogerson moving on.

Question marks over whether Dan Cole and Ben Youngs fancy playing for longer though.

[Puja]

If Pollard is to be replaced by Costelow as rumoured (Costelow is still friends with a number of his Tigers academy cohort and some social media posts had them at an event together recently) then Tigers will have a marquee spot and cash to spend looking at replacements. There's some expected attrition around the backrow with at least one, possibly two of Cracknell, Hatherall and Rogerson moving on.

Question marks over whether Dan Cole and Ben Youngs fancy playing for longer though.

Even if Cracknell, Hatherall and Rogerson move on, we'll have Carnduff and Ilione needing more gametime, as well as Beets coming in halfway through this season, so it's not as big of an issue as it looks immediately.

Puja

[FKAS]

If Pollard is to be replaced by Costelow as rumoured (Costelow is still friends with a number of his Tigers academy cohort and some social media posts had them at an event together recently) then Tigers will have a marquee spot and cash to spend looking at replacements. There's some expected attrition around the backrow with at least one, possibly two of Cracknell, Hatherall and Rogerson moving on.

Question marks over whether Dan Cole and Ben Youngs fancy playing for longer though.

Even if Cracknell, Hatherall and Rogerson move on, we'll have Carnduff and Ilione needing more gametime, as well as Beets coming in halfway through this season, so it's not as big of an issue as it looks immediately.

Puja

Yeah I'm not worried about the movement in the backrow. Josh Manz looked good before injury then there's the couple of Welsh under 20s and Williams also coming through. Losing a couple of the squad guys is just cap saving we can use to retain the homegrown talent.

If Dan and Ben are staying the hooker is the only real area of concern, assuming Costelow is replacing Pollard. Dweba nearly joined Sale in the summer but opted not to leave during his contract, he's out of contract in the summer and he'd potentially for in well.

[FKAS]

Rumours linking Dan du Perez with Bordeaux.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Have heard Tigers have enquired about brining Henry Arundell back from France.

[FKAS]

Have heard Tigers have enquired about brining Henry Arundell back from France.

Presumably as a replacement for Ant Watson who's rumoured to be looking for a chunky final payday in his next contract and is unlikely to be offered that at Tigers with his injury history.

Not see Arundell play for a while, I presume the issues around his work rate have improved significantly whilst in France.

[jimKRFC]

According to the Times, and Fissler, Bristol have failed in a bid to sign Marcus Smith from Quins. Clearer looking for a 10 to replace AJ.

How long is Finn Russell's deal? Would be a great fit for Bristol!

[FKAS]

Quins used the freed up marquee spot vacated by AE to keep Smith until after the next world cup. Wise move for them and probably for him a well.

Bristol seem to have earmarked a good chunk of cash for a new 10. McGinty is obviously on a fair chunk now.

[Mellsblue]

I thought MacGinty was very good yesterday but obvs getting on now.

[FKAS]

He'll be 35 by the end of the season. He a perfect back up option but relying on him to be the front line option might be optimistic.

[Mellsblue]

Hence ‘obvs getting on now’.

[jimKRFC]

Quins used the freed up marquee spot vacated by AE to keep Smith until after the next world cup. Wise move for them and probably for him a well.

Bristol seem to have earmarked a good chunk of cash for a new 10. McGinty is obviously on a fair chunk now.

Story I hear is that Bristol are currently well under, around £1M, under the salary cap. Due to small squad and not being big payers.

[FKAS]

Quins used the freed up marquee spot vacated by AE to keep Smith until after the next world cup. Wise move for them and probably for him a well.

Bristol seem to have earmarked a good chunk of cash for a new 10. McGinty is obviously on a fair chunk now.

Story I hear is that Bristol are currently well under, around £1M, under the salary cap. Due to small squad and not being big payers.

The names leaving have been bigger than the ones arriving. Wouldn't surprise me if they've got spare cap and with MacGinty on a wedge there'll be money to play with. Who's available might be more of a limiting factor.

[FKAS]

Various rumours that Quins want to add some weight in the 12 channel with different sources linking Ollie Lawrence and Solomane Kata with moves next summer.

Bath and Quins both interested in Raffi Quirke who's apparently open to leaving Sale. Danny Care rumoured to be retiring and taking his commentating gig full time whilst Bath want a young understudy for Spencer.

[francoisfou]

Gloucester scrum half Stephen Varney (although I don't think he's played this season as he's fallen down the pecking order) is said to be about to sign for Top14 Vannes with immediate effect.

[Puja]

Gloucester scrum half Stephen Varney (although I don't think he's played this season as he's fallen down the pecking order) is said to be about to sign for Top14 Vannes with immediate effect.

If Vanes doesn’t move to Vannes then why are we even bothering.

Agreed - Vannes should be looking to build a brand there: Van Zyl, Van der Flier, Van der Merwe, Vanneste, Vainikolo...

Varney's close enough - we'll take it as a good starting point to build on.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Various rumours that Quins want to add some weight in the 12 channel with different sources linking Ollie Lawrence and Solomane Kata with moves next summer.

Bath and Quins both interested in Raffi Quirke who's apparently open to leaving Sale. Danny Care rumoured to be retiring and taking his commentating gig full time whilst Bath want a young understudy for Spencer.

I feel like both of those were circulating a while back when Esterhuizen left. I suppose we need more than one 12 option but with Anyanwu finding his feet now I want to see him consistently starting at 12.

The Lawrence rumour seems odd. I don't know if he's stated a preference for 13 but it does seem to be his best position. Bath are on the up and I think he's best mates with Redpath, as well as getting to play in the presence of Finn Russell.

Kata is certainly powerful, but I'd compare him to Lasike before Esterhuizen.

[Puja]

Various rumours that Quins want to add some weight in the 12 channel with different sources linking Ollie Lawrence and Solomane Kata with moves next summer.

Bath and Quins both interested in Raffi Quirke who's apparently open to leaving Sale. Danny Care rumoured to be retiring and taking his commentating gig full time whilst Bath want a young understudy for Spencer.

I feel like both of those were circulating a while back when Esterhuizen left. I suppose we need more than one 12 option but with Anyanwu finding his feet now I want to see him consistently starting at 12.

The Lawrence rumour seems odd. I don't know if he's stated a preference for 13 but it does seem to be his best position. Bath are on the up and I think he's best mates with Redpath, as well as getting to play in the presence of Finn Russell.

Kata is certainly powerful, but I'd compare him to Lasike before Esterhuizen.

They do feel more like agent chatter of "This could be plausible, so you'd better tie my client down," rather than an actual rumour based in anything. Kata especially - he's a decent player, but I wouldn't say he's better than Anyanwu (certainly not the Anyanwu that's come out at the start of this season) and he's got far less potential to improve.

Puja

[FKAS]

Various rumours that Quins want to add some weight in the 12 channel with different sources linking Ollie Lawrence and Solomane Kata with moves next summer.

Bath and Quins both interested in Raffi Quirke who's apparently open to leaving Sale. Danny Care rumoured to be retiring and taking his commentating gig full time whilst Bath want a young understudy for Spencer.

I feel like both of those were circulating a while back when Esterhuizen left. I suppose we need more than one 12 option but with Anyanwu finding his feet now I want to see him consistently starting at 12.

The Lawrence rumour seems odd. I don't know if he's stated a preference for 13 but it does seem to be his best position. Bath are on the up and I think he's best mates with Redpath, as well as getting to play in the presence of Finn Russell.

Kata is certainly powerful, but I'd compare him to Lasike before Esterhuizen.

They do feel more like agent chatter of "This could be plausible, so you'd better tie my client down," rather than an actual rumour based in anything. Kata especially - he's a decent player, but I wouldn't say he's better than Anyanwu (certainly not the Anyanwu that's come out at the start of this season) and he's got far less potential to improve.

Puja

I think the Lasike comparison is apt. Kata would give Quins a very different option at 12 to Anyanwu, he would be a very direct option that isn't quite in Anyanwu's game and he's the type of centre that is almost another backrow with his pick and go game and big (sometimes iffy) hits in defence.

Tigers will probably prioritise trying to keep Kelly. Having Kelly and Woodward on the books for at least the next three years would be a boost to the midfield in that they can both offer a creative option at 12 and offer consistency in midfield options. Plus they seem able to combine with Kelly at 13 which hasn't been the case when we tried to do similar with Kelly at 13 outside Kata.

[Puja]

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-2-pr ... ns-sotutu/

Fissler reckons that Leicester and Saracens are interested in signing Hoskins Sotutu, implying that his knee injury is an excuse to get him out of the All Blacks XV tour (that would tie him down to NZ for another 3 years) because he's had talks with Seeks Ballcarrier about switching allegiance to England.

I'm doubting this for a few reasons: 1) Sotutu's hardly guaranteed an England place, given our current riches in the back row, 2) while Leicester and Saracens might have cap space next with players leaving, I don't see them having enough to buy him out of his NZRU contract, 3) there are a bunch of French clubs looking for 8s and he could get international recognition from Fiji if he wants, and 4) it's Neil Fissler and he genuinely wrote the sentence "Saracens haven’t signed anybody to fill the Billy Vunipola-shaped hole left by his departure" in the article like Saracens don't currently have both the current England no8 and Tom Willis on their books.

Leicester might, maybe, be interested, but I suspect we're planning on investing in Beets long-term, rather than looking to sign a big name in the backrow.

Puja

[francoisfou]

If Vanes doesn’t move to Vannes then why are we even bothering.

Agreed - Vannes should be looking to build a brand there: Van Zyl, Van der Flier, Van der Merwe, Vanneste, Vainikolo...

Varney's close enough - we'll take it as a good starting point to build on.

Puja

If Vannes need a top scrum half, they need look no further than Van Poortvliet.

[Puja]

Agreed - Vannes should be looking to build a brand there: Van Zyl, Van der Flier, Van der Merwe, Vanneste, Vainikolo...

Varney's close enough - we'll take it as a good starting point to build on.

Puja

If Vannes need a top scrum half, they need look no further than Van Poortvliet.

Sod off. They can have Van Zyl from Saracens instead!

Puja

[francoisfou]

Varney's close enough - we'll take it as a good starting point to build on.

Puja

If Vannes need a top scrum half, they need look no further than Van Poortvliet.

Sod off. They can have Van Zyl from Saracens instead!

Puja