[Bronzbronx]

Don't know how up to date this is

https://www.rossendalerufc.com/teams/45 ... 6040/86504

[Flumpty]

Anyone know how Solomona is getting on at Rossendale? Seen he has run out a few times now for them.

He didn't look at all impressive when he played against Kendal the other week - and his opposite number was a young player, playing his first season of senior rugby.
In all honesty, I was expecting him to shine and he didn't. Byron went well against us !

[RinTin]

Anyone know how Solomona is getting on at Rossendale? Seen he has run out a few times now for them.

He didn't look at all impressive when he played against Kendal the other week - and his opposite number was a young player, playing his first season of senior rugby.
In all honesty, I was expecting him to shine and he didn't. Byron went well against us !

Thanks.

I'm still gutted we didn't get to see Byron turn out for Namibia at the WC.

[Flumpty]

Anyone know how Solomona is getting on at Rossendale? Seen he has run out a few times now for them.

He didn't look at all impressive when he played against Kendal the other week - and his opposite number was a young player, playing his first season of senior rugby.
In all honesty, I was expecting him to shine and he didn't. Byron went well against us !

Thanks.

I'm still gutted we didn't get to see Byron turn out for Namibia at the WC.

Playing at Mint Bridge, Kendal wasn't quite the same as the WC, but it was bloody good watch The Horse once again.

[Olyy]

The Rugby Paper saying Bulls are offering Cobus big money to move there next season

Got a bad feeling about that, feels similar to Rohan and Akker's situations, where they'd just had babies then had substantial offers to move home

[RinTin]

Also seeing suggestions that Edinburgh are going to go hard for Gus.

[Bucks1861]

Alex in his YouTube press briefing mentioned Edinburgh targeting Gus because of his talent and potential to play for Scotland

[RinTin]

To be fair to Scotland and Gus he has played U16's, U18's and U20's for Scotland. This kind of justifies their interest in him.

His contract is up at the end of this year isn't it?

[Lord Elpus]

I imagine someone will come looking for Asher if he continues his meteoric rise.

I'm quite happy for Warr to be yet another Mancunian playing for "Scotland"

[DavenportSharky]

On the other hand Cobus has just been joined by his old mate Ernst, has his brother playing not that far away and missed out on the final last season which he will want to put right. There are lots of advantages of being in the U.K. compared to SA not least a U.K. passport for his children? With access to U.K. rugby on TV the SA selectors are not restricted in watching international prospects as his brothers’s caps have proved.

[Olyy]

TRP reported a few weeks ago that Jasper has been offered a very big contract in France (possibly Stade Francais?), could be that both brothers are departing our fair shores

Also could be TRP throwing a bunch of sh** at the wall and seeing what sticks!

I do think having a baby changes things though - being so far away from family/support systems etc.
Akker's move kinda came out of the blue, and I think family was one of the reasons cited for him leaving

[Bucks1861]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/rugby-union/67626170

Maybe why Gus is in demand?

[Evo]

Cobus would be a massive loss to us (on par with his brother leaving the Tigers).

We have no one to do the hard yards after Jono's departure, excluding his new mate from SA.

Think we should do what we need to accommodate him, dare I say in detriment to Johnny Hill.

Cobus gives 100% every game and seems to be developing his ball skills.

Needless to say am a massive fan....

[RinTin]

Saracens just nabbed Mulipola on a short term deal of 3 months.

He would have been a real asset for us in the short term given he can play loosehead and tighthead. Would help Asher to develop as well.

Having an experienced extra body during this hard patch of games would really help imo.

[Bucks1861]

An update re Manu & George.


https://www.rugbypass.com/news/sale-del ... sanderson/

[Olyy]

Telegraph is saying Itoje and Jamie George have signed central contracts as part of new Sarries contracts, with the RFU contributing £160k towards each player

Very interested to see the salary cap implications of these contracts - is the central part outside the cap?

Also be interesting to see whether we land any - Tom Curry and Manu out of contract this season, gotta think Tom is in line for one seeing as he's a guaranteed starter when fit

[RinTin]

Curry and Ford will likely be secured for us. If LCD finds form he could make the list too. Given he is only 30 he could be a key man for England at hooker over the next 4 years if he stays injury free.

Jamie George is an odd one - he's just turned 33 and I doubt will be featuring for England for more than the next 12-18 months. Why does the RFU need to keep him? He is actually preventing the next choice England hooker from getting minutes. I expect Theo Dann to seek out a starting position elsewhere as a result.

EDIT - ignore me re Ford and LCD, I thought Ford only signed a 2 year deal with us and LCD signed for 1 year. My mistake on both parts.

[Olyy]

I really want to see what the actual details of the central contracts are, I hope they release a document about it all (not holding my breath, though)

Maybe it can be used for existing contracts if it's literally just a cash payment - so rather than us paying £300k to Ford next year we pay him £150k and the RFU chuck in the rest, no change to his contract just the financial aspect?

[Yareet]

I really want to see what the actual details of the central contracts are, I hope they release a document about it all (not holding my breath, though)

Maybe it can be used for existing contracts if it's literally just a cash payment - so rather than us paying £300k to Ford next year we pay him £150k and the RFU chuck in the rest, no change to his contract just the financial aspect?

My understanding is that it replaces the England match fees with a guaranteed sum. I'd guess Tom was already getting his salary from us plus c.10 lots of £20,000 (depending on injury/bans). This way he would be guaranteed £160,000.

[RinTin]

Sam Hill has joined Houston Sabrecats in MLR.

Yanks seem pretty excited about this. Happy for him, hope he goes well. Never really showed his Exeter form with us.

[Shark in Exile]

Re Guss am hoping he ll stay, he’s our number one 9 especially as Raffi has become injury prone.
Plenty of reasons to stay in Manchester due to family, friends etc plus England may come calling.

Also will depend if the desire is there to play International Rugby, not all players do

[Olyy]

Plus Scotland don't have any rules around playing in country,
I understand the SRU wanting strong URC sides, but leaving Gus as first choice for the (current) Prem leaders is surely ok?

Unless the whole thing with the SRU getting involved in player negotiations is to make sure players are ineligible for England rather than improving their Scotland chances?

[RinTin]

Money will be a key factor whether we want to accept it or not. Players are seeing more and more how short rugby careers are, and the shrinking salary caps makes it even more difficult for players.

If SRU and the club combine to offer him a much higher salary and a 3 plus year contract (at a club at minimal risk of going under financially), with good odds of being in the Scotland squad increasing the financial reward, then I honestly would not blame him for going. Make hay while the sun shines.

As you say depends on his personal motivations though. Hope he stays.

[RugbyMarvel]

How much do we think Hill is on? 250k?

If he has offers, expect he will from france, let him go.

100-150k straight to Wiese.

Promote Groves. Retain Josh.

[45jumper]

How much do we think Hill is on? 250k?

If he has offers, expect he will from france, let him go.

100-150k straight to Wiese.

Promote Groves. Retain Josh.

Don't disagree with the sentiment but Hill's availability is superb, Wiese's...is not. We'd definitely need to replace Hill if he left.

[Olyy]

Bump everyone up one:

Beaumont replaces Hill, Bamber replaces Beaumont, Groves replaces Bamber

Though with that said if we did lose Hill I'd expect us to recruit - I also think we'll lose Cobus regardless of money so think we'll look to retain Hill so there's not too much disruption there all at once

[RugbyMarvel]

Consideration to try and get Salman Moeerat? Big old unit and know we were interested previously.

Wiese leaves, Moeerat in.

Hill potentially stays, however doubt he will get a central contract and without guaranteed England cash, he might force our hand and look to France.

If we lost both Wiese and Hill, get in Moeerat or one of the many huge young Saffa locks and put some time into them. Do that alongside promoting Groves and allowing Bamber more appearances.

[Bucks1861]

If money is a factor, we could always sign one of these (not):-


Here are the highest paid players on the planet

Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) - £610,000
Steven Luatua (Bristol Bears) - £620,000
Antoine Dupont (Toulouse) - £700,000
Maro Itoje (Saracens) - £800,000
Owen Farrell (Saracens) - £800,000
Dan Biggar (Toulon) - £800,000
Siya Kolisi (Racing 92) - £850,000
Faf de Klerk (Yokohama Canon Eagles) - £900,000
Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) - £937,000
Finn Russell (Bath Rugby) - £1 million-plus

[StalyShark]

Loosehead cover in the sizeable bulk of Val Morozov is worth a shout for a few months. Seems like he’s back in Russia but still wears a Sale hoodie.

[poyntonshark]

I'm sure Axe said at a press conference that they were no longer looking at props, as not financially viable. That may well have been before the full extent of Bev's injury was revealed though.
Jumping in on the speculation I would have thought that Big Val would be ideal, not terribly expensive, premiership proven and familiar with the club and expectations.

[Olyy]

Really hope this doesn't happen

Guess it kinda confirms we're losing Cobus (or Jonny) if we're after a starter

I would much rather we shopped abroad and/or promoted Bamber before going for Ewels who will be expensive and, imo, is not that great (and is as brain fart prone as Hill is, maybe even more)

[Beardedshark]

Hmm, also not sure, however he is a big lump and we do need one of those

[FarnhamShark]

Bamber is a pretty big lump!

[Flumpty]

& Groves isn't to far behind in the big lump stakes !

[Clutch]

Causey a big lad too.

[Bucks1861]

Thanks to Kieran


COBUS WIESE’S FUTURE

“It is a scenario that we are familiar with and not an uncommon one for us unfortunately. It seems to a degree the nature of a lot of our South Africans who haven’t made Manchester their second home, who have young families and ageing parents. It is a very similar rhetoric to what we have faced over the last three years.

“There are not a lot of players like Cobus but there are a few. I need to keep my powder dry in terms of keeping a lid on the other players we are looking at.”

INTEREST IN CHARLIE EWELS

“We are always looking to strengthen the gene pool. Charlie is a great player so he is someone we are interested in amongst others.

“You have got to keep trying to add to it. Hence why I admitted talking to Charlie because you cannot afford to stand still. For us the most part is retention and that brings its own difficulties. You have still got to add to your core group by way of players with x-factor who you can improve your squad.”

WHEN WILL THERE BE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS?

“Not whilst there are things up in the air. It just adds to speculation, more white noise around the changing room and in negotiations. So I would rather keep schtum for the moment until certain aspects like Cobus and other players are more concrete.

“We are way down the line with negotiations. I think we will have all the negotiations if not signed off then certainly in the process of by the end of the month, before the break. We will give you some news in the next few weeks on who we have retained and who we are looking to sign.”

[Olyy]

Everything does seem to be pointing to Cobus leaving, sadly

Really hope we aren't targetting Ewels

[poyntonshark]

Ewels could be good for our group. I don't think he's international quality, but plenty good enough at club level. My only concern would be cost.

[Olyy]

From what Sanderson said today it sounds like Warr is nowhere near England contention but has had positive noise from Scotland - wonder if that might mean he leaves at the end of the season? Sanderson did say that Edinburgh were chasing him hard, if the SRU are involved now too (they were supposedly involved in the attempts to poach Coles from Saints) it might lean him that way

[Beardedshark]

Don’t see why players need to go to Scotland to play for Scotland. No reason Gus can’t stay with us and play for them.

Unless it’s a cash thing

[Olyy]

There's no rules about it, but just seems to be the way they're trying to do things atm, and if we were already in a tug of war...

[RinTin]

Players who play in Scotland will get paid extra money by the SRU (if they are viewed as international potential/ worth keeping). Don't have to play here, but if you do we will give you more money.

[RinTin]

Just seen online that Tolu Latu, the man we initially chased to join pre LCD, has already left Montpellier. They have let him head over to La Rochelle to cover injuries they have.

His second game for Montpelier he was red carded, his sixth game yellow carded - 2 weeks later Montpelier let him go. We dodged a bullet for sure.

[RugbyMarvel]

Times reporting that Jonny Hill set to sign wit a top 14 club, most likely Lyon, so leaving us at end of this season.

So both of our starting locks seemingly off, feels like Warr probably off bearing in mind Sandersons recent press comments and still slightly worried re Roebuck and Reed…

[Olyy]

Times reporting that Jonny Hill set to sign wit a top 14 club, most likely Lyon, so leaving us at end of this season.

So both of our starting locks seemingly off, feels like Warr probably off bearing in mind Sandersons recent press comments and still slightly worried re Roebuck and Reed…

The Rugby Paper saying LCD also being targeted by Lyon

[Bucks1861]

More speculation on Hill. A lot of smoke for there to be no fire. Personally I’d be sorry to loose him.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/jonny-hi ... sale-lyon/

[RinTin]

If he does go to Lyon does that mean Joel Kpoku could come back to England? Real prospect and someone heavily touted for England before he left.

Hill out (along with a hefty salary) - Kpoku to take some of that wedge given he has been used to the finer things salary wise in France.

Wiese and Hill out, Ewels and Kpoku in. Strong second row options retained for next season with Ernst and JLDP back up options.

[Olyy]

Ewels would be a big stepdown from even Hill, and would cost a bomb - i really hope we're not chasing him too hard

Interesting that in that article they say Lyon are chasing Rusi Tuima as well - he's been so good for Chiefs since moving from 8 to 4, would be a big loss to them


In more positive news I've seen a rumour that we (and Bath) are after Mason Grady - he's an incredible talent

[Olyy]

If he does go to Lyon does that mean Joel Kpoku could come back to England? Real prospect and someone heavily touted for England before he left.

Hill out (along with a hefty salary) - Kpoku to take some of that wedge given he has been used to the finer things salary wise in France.

Wiese and Hill out, Ewels and Kpoku in. Strong second row options retained for next season with Ernst and JLDP back up options.

I read an interview with Kpoku a month or two ago it sounds like he has no intention of ever moving back to the Prem - I reckon he's going to stay there long term and try and play for France (he was already fluent in French before moving Lyon)

[FarnhamShark]

After Friday's performance, I can't see much risk of Gus playing international rugby.