[Alex]

Shame to lose him when he's still such an important player for us!

Good luck for the future Rob!

[Olyy]

Good luck in retirement Rob!
Great player, great career and has put in a real shift in the front row for us the last few years.

Be interested to see where he ends up next, as it mentions he's staying within Rugby just not as a player - he was over at Rugby United NY the other week, maybe landed a coaching gig in America?

[eBike]

Chapeau Rob Webber. A player who always gave everything and grafted hard in the unseen world of the front row.

Best wishes for a continued career in rugby

[Elgar]

Great career and great player for Sale. Thanks and best of luck to him.

No doubt the very promising hookers coming through like Langdon, Ashman and possible Dolly will show the benefits of having learned from him.

[Flumpty]

Great career and great player for Sale. Thanks and best of luck to him. (word for word what Elgar said)

The article on the offy reads very well of him.
https://www.salesharks.com/2020/02/11/r ... nal-rugby/

[Davyshark]

Wonder if he is getting involved in shake up at Wasps.
Maybe forwards coach?

[Taplow 1861]

So it seems logical we will be looking for another top class hooker for next season.

With the upheaval at Coventry Wasps I wonder if Tommy Taylor would be interested in a return?

[chris1850]

So it seems logical we will be looking for another top class hooker for next season.

With the upheaval at Coventry Wasps I wonder if Tommy Taylor would be interested in a return?

Like several of our promising players that went to Wasps over the last few years, TT has never kicked on to achieve what he hoped. he hasn't been helped by the fact that he has become very injury prone in his time there. I was gutted to lose him at the time, even as much as Cips going, but I think we can probably do better now.

[Olyy]

I'd take TT back in a heartbeat.
Academy credits, EQP and top class player. Injury issues are a concern, sure, but he's incredibly talented.

[Monty9]

Nick Dolly is the one for me, excited to see him back next season.

[Lord Elpus]

Dolly was quickly replaced in the England U20's by Will Capon of Bristol Bears who's playing in the first XV.

[Monty9]

Dolly was 1st choice for the 6 Nations last season and did very well, Capon was 1st choice for the WC when England didn´t do so well. Dolly is getting good experience at a strong Jersey side this season and I think he will take his opportunity and be good for us next year.

[Elgar]

Can't see why we'd sign another hooker. Think we should be extremely well placed with Dolly, Langdon and Ashman competing to back up Akker. Those three are too good, IMHO, not to be given opportunities this year.

There is no doubting that TT was great for Sale. But things have moved on since then.

[chris1850]

I assume the experiment with Cam Neild has been abandoned?

[Lord Elpus]

Dolly was 1st choice for the 6 Nations last season and did very well, Capon was 1st choice for the WC when England didn´t do so well. Dolly is getting good experience at a strong Jersey side this season and I think he will take his opportunity and be good for us next year.

Dolly started in the U20 RWC campaign and was replaced by Capon - and the results improved. The 6N side didn't do well, they finished third.
In the RWCU20 Dolly started in one game, the defeat by Ireland. Capon started the other two games, both wins .

[StalyShark]

I assume the experiment with Cam Neild has been abandoned?

Sadly, I think he’ll be leaving us in the summer.

[Olyy]

Not gonna lie, I'd completely forgotten about Dolly! He's looked good in what little I've seen of him in a Sharks shirt - if he comes back from loan more accustomed to senior rugby then that can only be a good thing.
I'm also a big fan of Langdon, and Ashman is tearing it up in the u20s.

Maybe you're right in that we can promote from within to replace Webber rather than looking elsewhere.

[Monty9]

Dolly was 1st choice for the 6 Nations last season and did very well, Capon was 1st choice for the WC when England didn´t do so well. Dolly is getting good experience at a strong Jersey side this season and I think he will take his opportunity and be good for us next year.

Dolly started in the U20 RWC campaign and was replaced by Capon - and the results improved. The 6N side didn't do well, they finished third.
In the RWCU20 Dolly started in one game, the defeat by Ireland. Capon started the other two games, both wins .

I´m struggling to see what point you are trying to make? Apart from been usually obtuse? Dolly is a very highly rated England U20 (10 ish caps), currently playing well (10ish app with 5 starts) in a strong Jersey team. He will be great coming back to us next year, as was my original comment and reply.

[Elgar]

I assume the experiment with Cam Neild has been abandoned?

Sadly, I think he’ll be leaving us in the summer.

Can actually see us holding on to Neild.

I think his value to us is higher than to other clubs because we know how good he was a few years ago whereas he hasn’t been in the shop window very much in the last nearly 36 months.

Also when considering:
- Wilson returning to Newcastle;
- possibility of Ben Curry being away with England (even if picked ahead of Ben Spencer to succeed Ben Youngs at 9)
- at least one of the DP twins being required to cover lock at times;
- possibility of Bokke call ups for the DP twins;
- Sam Moore moving on.

[Yareet]

I seem to remember Dimes saying that for each position he wanted a worldie, a Prem standard player and an academy option. In Akker we (arguably) have the star but to me it then feels like we have a large gap to Dolly, Langdon and Ashman.

The upshot of Neild not playing is that we currently have no natural successor to Webber.

I can therefore see somebody coming in for a couple of seasons. If only Brits was still around.

[Alex]

Wonder how long TT has left on his Wasps contract...

[Olyy]

Signed an extension last season but no word in the press release of how long for

[Elgar]

Agree that Dolly and Ashman are unproven, even for all their promise.

But don't we think that Langdon has ticked all the right boxes so far?

Categorising him as ' below premiership standard' seems harsh to me.

Seems to me that all he needs to do now is get more experience and there's only one way he'll get that.

[chris1850]

Agree that Langdon has shown flashes of class when he has come on. He clearly needs more game time to develop and hooker is such a pivotal position in so many ways that he wont become a first team shoe-in for a while yet. Not his fault - all he can do is to keep learning and developing.

Akker has proved a great signing this season, though he clearly needs to keep practising his darts, but I doubt there is a more effective hooker in the loose in the Prem?

[Major Bloodnok]

Akker has proved a great signing this season, though he clearly needs to keep practising his darts, but I doubt there is a more effective hooker in the loose in the Prem?

There's certainly no more devastating hooker from a metre out.

[Basilbullneck]

I suspect Dimes has a bit of experience in identifying suitable hookers and their skill sets!

Good luck to Ron - he does so much of the hard work and graft. He stepped into Mark Jones’s shoes with his sheer work rate. Terrific player and not only will he be going out at the top of his game but he presumably has a good offer elsewhere to be leaving a season early.