#33333
Alex wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 12:03 pm
Will be good to finally get confirmation on the new signings
And?
Isn’t 16:00hrs Thursday the usual weekly-tease announcement time?

It is at 6Ways anyway. A number of us anxious to know that Sharky the Shark has finally been landed.
#33401
Well that would be interesting but it’ll never happen as he then won’t play for Ireland.

We’ll see soon enough who will be announced!
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#33406
Imagine he'd have to be salaried the best part of £1m p.a to better his circa 500KE plus Ireland cap fees.

But for a prop of his quality available season long with no international call ups - probably worth it. One man 'bomb squad'.


Just cannot see him calling his Ireland career any time soon though - as Olly already said.
#33409
Morning from Worcester: There was the same rumour doing the rounds down here a few months ago. He was said to be the direct replacement for Schonert then already "known" to be coming in your direction. That rumour didn't last long once reality dawned.
#33469
So what does that leave us with:

1. Rodd, Harrison, MacIntyre
2. Akker, Curtis, Ewan, Tommy
3. Sharky, Coenie, Harper

Not a bad set of front row options. And to counter the usual cristicisms, 7/10 are EQP and a (slightly) different 7/10 are academy products. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
#33472
Yareet wrote:
Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:39 pm
So what does that leave us with:

1. Rodd, Harrison, MacIntyre
2. Akker, Curtis, Ewan, Tommy
3. Sharky, Coenie, Harper

Not a bad set of front row options. And to counter the usual cristicisms, 7/10 are EQP and a (slightly) different 7/10 are academy products. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Very pedantic but don’t think Langdon is an academy player, we picked him up from London Irish at 19 ish
#33473
Thekeg wrote:
Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:55 pm
Yareet wrote:
Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:39 pm
So what does that leave us with:

1. Rodd, Harrison, MacIntyre
2. Akker, Curtis, Ewan, Tommy
3. Sharky, Coenie, Harper

Not a bad set of front row options. And to counter the usual cristicisms, 7/10 are EQP and a (slightly) different 7/10 are academy products. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Very pedantic but don’t think Langdon is an academy player, we picked him up from London Irish at 19 ish
Thought he left Irish’s academy to join ours
#33476
I hope it means we use Akker more sparingly. This year even with Curtis and Ewan coming on so well, it felt like Akker started too much and especially when not fully fit.

I love watching Akker, but I’d really like to see him at full impact when fit considering we have great options.
#33480
Depending on how much international sides rotate/rest for this years Autumn Internationals, after a very long season with a Lions tour on top of it, we could be missing up to 3 of those hookers, so good job we've got 4! :mrgreen:
#33481
Schonert's a great signing and should fulfil the role JCW was meant to - an excellent EQ scrummager who is very unlikely to actually play for England. Worth his weight in gold.
Think our squad is in rude health now, especially if Denny's fully firing. The only weakness is at fullback. My view on Hammersley is well documented, hopefully Gourlay or Carpenter can break through this season and offer some competition to James. Is Curtis focusing on 10 now? Could see RDP moving on after this season with Wilkinson and Curtis supporting AJ.
#35000
Does his Dad come with him?!!

He will be linked with everyone. Not sure I believe it. Where’s the budget going to come from. Obviously he’s a step up from AJ but is he worth it when AJ was so good last year and we need to invest in other positions potentially. Plus we have 2 v promising kids coming though.
#35007
Clutch wrote:
Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:14 pm
Where’s the budget going to come from.
Got quite a lot of players out of contract this season, tbf:

Rob du Preez (wouldn't be surprised to see him go to a South African side)
AJ MacGinty (hopefully we retain, but equally wouldn't be surprised to see him either go back to America - as he's spoken about how his wife wants to move back at some point - or look for a big money deal in Japan, as he's had so many injuries)
Lood de Jager
Rohan
Akker
Coenie
Jono
Byron
Cliff
Hammersley
JP du Preez
(I stopped googling at this point because it was becoming concerning how much of our side is out of contract at once!)

The du Preez twins might be up as well - they joined in 2019 and a three year contract is the standard (though we do have a number of players signed on 4 year deals, like Faf)
Last edited by Olyy on Tue Sep 14, 2021 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#35025
Equally though, it would be eye watering money for any other club operating within the SC to get/keep him. I guess it depends on how you want to juggle your budget. Wouldn't want him if he is still heavily involved with England though.
#35029
Yeah, if he's still in the England set up it's a tougher sell but I reckon EJ will replace him with Marcus Smith tbh,

Ford will be on a lot but not an insane amount - apparently on £320k at Tigers, which is less than we pay for Manu (and significantly less than we pay for Faf)
That is with the COVID reduction, though, so he'll be due a payrise (on top of general moving-club-increase). The real money will be if he looks at France or Japan, though
#35034
Debatable that Faf is worth that taking into account everything. Though the big players are the ones that win you the massive games. If he’s mom in the next final it’s a bargain.

https://www.ruck.co.uk/the-three-highes ... 2021-22/4/

No idea how they claim to know all this. Not convinced Lood is on less than 275! Not bad for the best player in the world (ish)
#35044
Clutch wrote:
Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:53 pm
No idea how they claim to know all this. Not convinced Lood is on less than 275! Not bad for the best player in the world (ish)
Simply can't be right can it.

From other sources of similar veracity that would have Lood as quite a bit cheaper than Launchbury and barely more expensive than Ed Slater. With respect to both of those....
#35063
George Ford is an absolute gem of a flyhalf, potentially the best in the league. If Leicester do well this season (and I suspect they will) then the discussion may well be moot anyway.
But if he is available then we've got to try everything to get him. A northern lad at the top of his game? It's a no-brainer.
Olyy, ledzepsfr liked this
#35104
ageinghoody wrote:
Tue Sep 14, 2021 7:48 pm
Olyy wrote:
Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:47 am
Heard a whisper that Ford is leaving Tigers at the end of the season and we're front runners
Just so long as he's not a swap for Tom!
This may be blasphemous but I'm not 100% sure I'd dismiss that deal out of hand.

If Ford is no longer with England, he'd be a great asset to the club. Tom is without doubt world class but he will be away a lot with England and we have a very able duplicate.

All else being equal (cash, etc), is Ford full-time and Ben a better option than Tom part-time and Ben?

Not a question I can quickly answer
#35110
We need to get rid of Faf and Lood while we are at it. Those Du Preez twins look like they might get selected for more internationals so they'll have to go. What were we thinking of taking on that Manu fella. We had best make sure that we have an up and coming 9 who just isn't quite good enough to cut it, then we can offload Raffi on an unsuspecting rival when he begins to accrue the bucket load of caps that are surely headed his way.


I'm sorry, I just don't understand.
wrinklieshark, Flumpty liked this
#35115
That’s not what he said though is it. The argument of ditching all internationals due to availability is very different to a one-off hypothetical swap.

I don’t think either point would be in reality, but if the money was the same and Ford was available all year versus Tom being with England, it’s a swap I’d make too.
Elgar liked this
#35120
Yep, agree with @Van Cannonball . That was a better post from @Yareet than @poyntonshark gave credit for.

I think it's perfectly fair to say that Ben offers more than Tom pound for pound simply on the basis that he's available more often.

I'd much prefer to keep Tom Curry even if he was barely available outside the play off window. But if you're given the option of a direct swap - you can't have both - for a George Ford that retains his league form but has no test future then it's straight forward for me that you'd go with Ford. Very hypothetical and the reality of a deal would be subject to far more variables of course but that doesn't to my mind undermine @Yareet 's point.

Which isn't a new one or particularly controversial one either, actually.
#35123
Van Cannonball wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:04 pm
That’s not what he said though is it. The argument of ditching all internationals due to availability is very different to a one-off hypothetical swap.

I don’t think either point would be in reality, but if the money was the same and Ford was available all year versus Tom being with England, it’s a swap I’d make too.
I was being flippant as swapping/part-exchange could only be a factor if some sort of negotiation was going on between the clubs. As we're talking "out of contract" then it's irrelevant.

You can gather from my initial post I wouldn't be happy with the swap, particularly as GF is five years older, though I acknowledge that's one reason his international future is being questioned.

I think that may be premature though, as I'd be less than surprised to see EJ have Ford and Smith as his 10s, with Farrell (older than Ford at 30 next week!) in the centre.
#35126
Just for the record, it wasn't particularly @Yareet 's post that was in the direct firing line. This thread has a theme of not wanting players if they are to spend time away on international duty. If George Ford were to be available now I would take him in a heartbeat, whether he still plays for England or not. Salary cap and depth of Mr Orange's wallet notwithstanding. I would happily have Ben, Tom and George in our squad. If the choice were Ben or Tom right now then I take Tom every day of the week. The choice of Tom or George maybe a little more difficult, again both please but if I have to choose I stick with Tom.
#36673
The rugby paper has Joe Jones coming back to us as soon as next week - I'm guessing that means Harper's injury (whatever it is) is going to keep him out for longer than they expected
Not a bad option for a third choice tighthead - looked to be improving for us before he left but wasn't really getting much game time, season and a half starting in the championship hopefully has brought his game on
Academy credit, as well, which doesn't hurt

Also have JP du Preez linked with a move to Glasgow at the end of the season
Would love to see him stay, as he's improved massively since arrival, but can understand him weighing up his options - getting a good run of games at the moment but when Lood and Beaumont are back there's a lot of competition at lock
Or we could just not be re-signing, Axe could have an eye on someone else
#36675
Definitely improving and would be a shame to lose him. Lood is a great player but so far he has not proved his worth due to absence. Similarly Josh is sadly an injury magnet. Phillips can’t have much mileage left in him. That leaves a core of JLDP or DDP, Wiese, and Postlethwaite. One of the weird things about this sport is that you can play for a team for half a season knowing you are leaving. But as Olyy says Etzebeth or Retallick may be joining for all we know!
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