Transfers for next season (including transfer rumours!)

porterbelly

While you mention Rotherham, Shane Monahan released by Connacht has signed for them

BrianOFlanagan

Crusaders desperate to hold on to Sonny Bill Williams, I think someone was asking about him earlier.
http://www.espnscrum.com/super-rugby-2011/rugby/story/141479.html

roycon

Mike Phillips to Bayonne confirmed. another name to add to the bayonne list

BrianOFlanagan

roycon wrote: »

Mike Phillips to Bayonne confirmed. another name to add to the bayonne list

Money must surely be the only reason he's going there

irishbucsfan

BrianOFlanagan wrote: »

Money must surely be the only reason he's going there

Or he wants to play for the team that finished above Perpignan, Stade Francais, Toulon and Brive (all European-competition teams) in the best rugby league in the world last season?

BrianOFlanagan

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Or he wants to play for the team that finished above Perpignan, Stade Francais, Toulon and Brive (all European-competition teams) in the best rugby league in the world last season?

Fair point, I just don't see them winning tournaments in the short term but maybe Phillips is thinking of staying a good while. Either way I'd say he's not getting paid tuppence!

stephen_n

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Or he wants to play for the team that finished above Perpignan, Stade Francais, Toulon and Brive (all European-competition teams) in the best rugby league in the world last season?

How is that measured?

irishbucsfan

stephen_n wrote: »

How is that measured?

Arm wrestle between BOD, Carter and Jauzion.


PS, its obviously subjective; but look at the Premiership. ****e. Look at most of the Magners League (Pro12). ****e. Look at the Super 15. Becoming ****e. It's easilly the best right now.

profitius

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Arm wrestle between BOD, Carter and Jauzion.


PS, its obviously subjective; but look at the Premiership. ****e. Look at most of the Magners League (Pro12). ****e. Look at the Super 15. Becoming ****e. It's easilly the best right now.

Some French people say the T14 is boring, forward oriented rugby.

yimrsg

James O Connor and Kurtley Beale sign for the Rebels.

http://www.espnscrum.com/super-rugby-2011/rugby/story/141613.html

wixfjord

yimrsg wrote: »

James O Connor and Kurtley Beale sign for the Rebels.

http://www.espnscrum.com/super-rugby-2011/rugby/story/141613.html

Interesting moves.
The Force will be seriously weakened on the back of this. Wonder will Pocock move too?
I personally find the Super 14 very franchisey (good comparison with NFL imo), compared to our clubs and provinces up here.

wixfjord

http://www.espnscrum.com/wales/rugby/story/141647.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

Peter Smith (Aussie #10) to Ospreys

BoarHunter

profitius wrote: »

Some French people say the T14 is boring, forward oriented rugby.

That is somewhat true. all matchs are crucial and this doesn't help the teams to open the game. However Teams such Montpellier, La rochelle, Toulouse have played an expensive outwide game plan and had different fortune with it.

there are at least 10 teams playing for 6 seats ... and millions of euros invested . So i reckon results comes first before quality.

The clubs don't have the HCup money garantied like the Magners teams, they have to earn it and it's now more crucial since the DIC ( some media image legal rights ) was abolished and created a big gap in clubs finance ( remember Montauban ).

In another way i suppose this can change if Canal+ tell the clubs they will give less money due to the lack of attraction becasue of the poor quality of the game .... so it can be fixed.

theboss80

Bastareaud to Toulon

Link is in French http://www.leparisien.fr/sports/rugby-bastareaud-en-route-vers-toulon-20-04-2011-1415090.php

Tango or waltz, dance Mathieu Bastareaud with the French stage is about to end.While the period of mutations officially opens today, three quarters center of Paris of 22 years (9 selections) completes his departure to Toulon.The standoff ended.Epilogue of a fantastic series where rugby was modeled on the practices of soccer.

Michael Cheika, the sporting director of Team Capital, who is in charge of recruitment, has failed, although it repeats at every player that his will be there next season.The financial needs of the French stage and thirst for success of the club Var will allow to find a common ground."We want to, but not at any price," says the president Mourad Boudjellal.Linked in Paris until June 2013, Mathieu Bastareaud, whose transfer is estimated at approximately € 300,000, is expected to join Toulon against compensation and the arrival of the Argentine fly-half Felipe Contepomi (34), to whom he remains one year contract on the roads.On the shores of the Mediterranean, Bastareaud find El Dorado.His current salary - around € 10,000 - will be tripled.A house and a car will be available.

But to get there, it took a good amount of movies.Ill at ease, dragging a flagrant lack of enthusiasm on the ground, Mathieu Bastareaud still bears the weight of his "bedside table New Zealand" at the 2009 summer tour, on the shoulders.In Paris, despite the support of its president Max Guazzini, it has not really managed to resurface.The kid in Créteil (Val-de-Marne), found in Massy (Essonne), the impressive size (1.83 m, 115 kg) and promising talent, first fell into a depression before returning without convincing at to be removed from the XV of France by coach Marc Lievremont this season.Semi-revolt of the spurned, supported once again by their leaders.

The man, however, does not blend into the group.The departure of his friend Lionel Beauxis ends in Toulouse to persuade a change of scenery.Before the first refusal of Max Guazzini and Michael Cheika, he insists, is closing."My choice is made," he replies.The atmosphere is deteriorating, he abandoned his agent, is a lawyer, irritates the senior players.A serious argument has even opposed the pillar Rodrigo Roncero during training.At Toulon, the bird of night hoping to find peace.Not sure this is the perfect place.

WeeBushy

I think that is a terrible move for him. He needs to go somewhere where his coach will kick him into shape, not the Real Madrid of rugby.

PhatPiggins

Maybe but Saint-Andre has done a decent job of managing the 156 uber ego's already at the club.

profitius

It sounds like Toulon is the new Ospreys! Plenty of talent who will probably underachieve.

thomond2006

profitius wrote: »

It sounds like Toulon is the new Ospreys! Plenty of talent who will probably underachieve.

IN: Romain Frou (La Rochelle), Eifion Roberts (Sale), Bakkies Botha (Bulls), Steffon Armitage (London Irish), Seva Rokobaro (Aix-en-Provence), Jono Tawake (Narbonne), Sébastien Tillous-Borde (Castres), Matt Giteau (Brumbies), André Pretorius* (Lions), Julien Dumora (Pau), Willie Mason (Hull KR RL), Alexis Palisson (Brive), Luke Rooney (Melbourne Rebels), David Smith (Western Force), Mathieu Basteraud (Stade Francais)

OUT: Benjamin Bastères (Aix-en-Provence), Saimone Taumoepeau (Castres), Mehdi Merabet (Oyonnax), Thomas Sourice (Aix-en-Provence), Emmanuel Bidard (La Seyne), George Smith (Panasonic Wild Knights), Pierre Mignoni (retired), Romain Barthélémy (Albi, loan), Anthony Viard (La Seyne), Felipe Contepomi (Stade Français), Tom May (Northampton), Fotu Auelua (NTT Shining Arcs), Rudi Wulf (Blues), Thierry Brana (Bordeaux-Bègles), Jimmy Peuchaud (La Seyne), Paul Sackey (Stade Français), Clément Marienval (Brive), Gavin Henson

1. Emmanuelli
2. Bruno
3. Kubriashivili/Hayman
4. Botha
5. Schofield
6. Van Niekerk
7. Armitage
8. Lobbe

9. Tillous-Borde/Cibray/Henjak
10. Wilkinson
11. Palisson
12. Giteau/Mason
13. Basteraud
14. Smith
15. Lamont/Rooney

Very strong side.

ambid

Yes Thomond they are a very strong side... on paper. Much like the Ospreys.

thomond2006

ambid wrote: »

Yes Thomond they are a very strong side... on paper. Much like the Ospreys.

Aye. I think the difference is Saint Andre is a good coach, he'll be able to guide that squad to something tangible next year. Playoff place finish in the Top14 and they'll go pretty far in the Amlin.

roycon

ah they are a lot stronger than the ospreys on paper

Amazotheamazing

thomond2006 wrote: »

Aye. I think the difference is Saint Andre is a good coach, he'll be able to guide that squad to something tangible next year. Playoff place finish in the Top14 and they'll go pretty far in the Amlin.

Don't really rate Saint Andre tbh, what has he won with all the money in either Sale or Toulon, one league in England, iirc (back when Sale had money). By comparison, McGahan has won two leagues, McCall has won two leagues etc and no one seems to be calling them the best in the business. Indeed, judging by the various messageboards, McGahan is doing the worst job of any coach in Europe, with a level of success Saint-Andre has yet to approach and McCall looked to be finished in rugby when he left Castres (iirc).

bamboozle

thomond2006 wrote: »

Aye. I think the difference is Saint Andre is a good coach, he'll be able to guide that squad to something tangible next year. Playoff place finish in the Top14 and they'll go pretty far in the Amlin.

how good a coach he is seems to be somewhat diluted by the constant interuptions in first team affairs by the Toulon president, Dr Phil was very happy to bea leaving there i believe, i'm sure the autocratic carry on of the president had a big role in unsettling the first team squad. there is too much player turnover for Toulon to be a good team next season.

TopOfTheRight

Nearly time to give up on Munster announcing anything lads? Most other transfers seem to be done and dusted at this stage and unless we can sneak something for Nonu i dont see much else happening!

PhatPiggins

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Don't really rate Saint Andre tbh, what has he won with all the money in either Sale or Toulon, one league in England, iirc (back when Sale had money). By comparison, McGahan has won two leagues, McCall has won two leagues etc and no one seems to be calling them the best in the business. Indeed, judging by the various messageboards, McGahan is doing the worst job of any coach in Europe, with a level of success Saint-Andre has yet to approach and McCall looked to be finished in rugby when he left Castres (iirc).

Saint-Andre won the English premiership with Sale in 05/06 in an era utterly dominanted by Tigers and Wasps

McGahan won 2 leagues with probably the best/second best squad in the ML (ML best not HC best)

McCall took over last years runners up and the team with the biggest budget in the league (salary cap my hole)

I'd say those are 3 coaches with simialr resources available to them

PhatPiggins

thomond2006 wrote: »

1. Emmanuelli
2. Bruno
3. Kubriashivili/Hayman
4. Botha
5. Schofield
6. Van Niekerk
7. Armitage
8. Lobbe

9. Tillous-Borde/Cibray/Henjak
10. Wilkinson
11. Palisson
12. Giteau/Mason
13. Basteraud
14. Smith
15. Lamont/Rooney

Very strong side.

With just 3 Frenchmen in it. No wonder the national team is all over the place. Can't believe you bracketed Kubriashivili/Hayman together !

BrianOFlanagan

Not surprised to hear of this. Apparently it was a straight swap of Contepomi for Basteraud and while this is a loss for stade, the addition of Felipe definitely makes up for it imo.

porterbelly

thomond2006 wrote: »

1. Emmanuelli
2. Bruno
3. Kubriashivili/Hayman
4. Botha
5. Schofield
6. Van Niekerk
7. Armitage
8. Lobbe

9. Tillous-Borde/Cibray/Henjak
10. Wilkinson
11. Palisson
12. Giteau/Mason
13. Basteraud
14. Smith
15. Lamont/Rooney

Very strong side.

How often will that side play together ? Twice, maybe 3 times in the season. That is why I'll never have any love for the Top 14. They take the piss with rotation sending scratch teams away from home practically conceding games. Toulon are the worst for it and they've paid the price, 8th in the top 14 and coughing up a home quarter in the Heineken to rest the frontline players. It beggars belief that these are the highest paid players in the league with the most money yet the players start the fewest amount of games.

thomond2006

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Can't believe you bracketed Kubriashivili/Hayman together !

Not sure what you're getting at there phat. Take note I'm assuming a lot with the following response!

Kubriashvili was first choice ahead of Hayman for a lot of the season. Hayman couldn't always be picked because he has a non kolpak passport and Kubriashvili played well anytime he was selected so he eventually became first choice. Many Toulon fans I spoke to rate him higher than Hayman and have been disappointed with the impact "the greatest TH in the world" has made.

Morf

thomond2006 wrote: »

Not sure what you're getting at there phat. Take note I'm assuming a lot with the following response!

Kubriashvili was first choice ahead of Hayman for a lot of the season. Hayman couldn't always be picked because he has a non kolpak passport and Kubriashvili played well anytime he was selected so he eventually became first choice. Many Toulon fans I spoke to rate him higher than Hayman and have been disappointed with the impact "the greatest TH in the world" has made.

I'm sure they could fine many, many teams and a major rugby nation to take him off their hands if they aren't satisfied.

Amazotheamazing

Morf wrote: »

I'm sure they could fine many, many teams and a major rugby nation to take him off their hands if they aren't satisfied.

They probably could but there's a feeling the new rules don't suit Hayman and he's been fairly much trading on his rep in Toulon. He wouldn't be the first player to lose form.

GerM

porterbelly wrote: »

How often will that side play together ? Twice, maybe 3 times in the season. That is why I'll never have any love for the Top 14. They take the piss with rotation sending scratch teams away from home practically conceding games. Toulon are the worst for it and they've paid the price, 8th in the top 14 and coughing up a home quarter in the Heineken to rest the frontline players. It beggars belief that these are the highest paid players in the league with the most money yet the players start the fewest amount of games.

You've no love for the T14 where teams build large squads and employ a rotation system but it's alright for the ML to put out second string sides and treat the competition as an afterthough? Conceding games on the road? Toulon beat Biarritz and Perignan on the road and earned losing bonus points in Stade, Racing, Castres and Clermont. Montpellier and Toulouse are the only teams from the top 6 that they went to and left empty handed. They could have finished 3rd going into the last day but bottled it to a fantastically well drilled Montpellier side. Also, for about the 5th time, Toulon do not have the most money. The budgets of Toulouse and Clermont are both higher (Toulouse's massively so) and Racing have offered higher wages.

The T14 is easily the most competitive and absorbing league around. On the last day of the regular season, any one team from 8 could still have claimed the Bouclier. The season round up on ESPN last night was one of the most entertaining things I've seen this year.

Morf

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

They probably could but there's a feeling the new rules don't suit Hayman and he's been fairly much trading on his rep in Toulon. He wouldn't be the first player to lose form.

Could be the rotation policy or any number of things really.

JustinDee

GerM wrote: »

The T14 is easily the most competitive and absorbing league around

I find it as boring as batsh*t, refereed far too loosely and find the competing teams becoming less and less French each season to the point of being a joke.
No interest in it whatsoever (but enough to post that I have none ).

Amazotheamazing

Morf wrote: »

Could be the rotation policy or any number of things really.

could be that the Georgian is just better than him.

RAKM

http://sport.scotsman.com/rugby/Rugby-Smith-may-link-up.6792453.jp

Matt Williams possibly going to Narbonne.

Morf

I hope not. I really enjoy the Breakdown.

thomond2006

Morf wrote: »

I hope not. I really enjoy the Breakdown.

Aye, I missed it when I was in France. He's one of the reasons I want to get Setanta for the RWC.

Podge_irl

Setanta have had the best rugby coverage for years. Shame they're not seen more. Debatable as to whether this is a good move for Williams and Narbonne. Williams worked wonders at Leinster, but was awful for Scotland. He really needs a talented bunch of players to get the best out of himself.

thomond2006

Perhaps he isn't the best judge of the limitations of certain players? I don't know what he did/didn't do at Scotland, I wasn't following rugby back then. Did he try to make them play sexy rugby?

Podge_irl

Essentially yes. He had Leinster playing some of the best rugby they've ever played. He tried the same approach with Scotland but it didn't work. Mind you, they came damn close to beating France in one of his first games in charge. He is utterly awful at dealing the hand that's dealt him. He's a purist - he has his idea of how rugby should be played, and it's a damn lovely idea of rugby, but if the players aren't suited to it then he struggles.

He's the total anti-Cheika in terms of realism and practicalities.

ALH-06

Podge_irl wrote: »

Essentially yes. He had Leinster playing some of the best rugby they've ever played. He tried the same approach with Scotland but it didn't work. Mind you, they came damn close to beating France in one of his first games in charge. He is utterly awful at dealing the hand that's dealt him. He's a purist - he has his idea of how rugby should be played, and it's a damn lovely idea of rugby, but if the players aren't suited to it then he struggles.

He's the total anti-Cheika in terms of realism and practicalities.

This might be being a bit harsh on Williams. He didn't have many talented players to work with at Ulster, but concentrated on developing a solid game plan and developing young players. He did a lot of good work at Ulster with meagre enough resources.

Perhaps he was over-ambitious at Scotland but he didn't have much at all to work with. It's only going one way over there, which is deeply concerning for European rugby.

bamboozle

ALH-06 wrote: »

This might be being a bit harsh on Williams. He didn't have many talented players to work with at Ulster, but concentrated on developing a solid game plan and developing young players. He did a lot of good work at Ulster with meagre enough resources.

Perhaps he was over-ambitious at Scotland but he didn't have much at all to work with. It's only going one way over there, which is deeply concerning for European rugby.

i'd agree with this, he's a far better coach now that when he started with Scotland, having a grizzled forwards coach would help him out. He'll be missed at Setanta and Off the ball.

pajunior

I think he was fantastic for Ulster, he really laid the groundwork which they are now benefiting from.

Also he is a very honest guy as well he has had no problem admitting that it was his fault he couldn't get the best out of Humphreys and was short sighted in not playing Darcy in the center. Takes a big man to admit that kind of thing.

Btw what sort of coaching has he been doing in Australia?

BoarHunter

JustinDee wrote: »

I find it as boring as batsh*t, refereed far too loosely and find the competing teams becoming less and less French each season to the point of being a joke.
No interest in it whatsoever (but enough to post that I have none ).

Well if you prefer watching your B team hammering Glasgow, llanelli or the like at the week end it's your choice and that cannot be argued .

smurphy29

The Top Catorze becomes a bit of a drop goal competition in the cold and wet winter months, but when it comes to the close season and the tracks dry out a bit it can't be beat. The French really know how to make an event of these big games, and the Magners hasn't really worked out how to do this yet.

If you think the Magners semi-finals played in front of a collective audience of 24,000 had anything on back to back semi-finals in a packed out Stade Velodrome, with two sensational displays from Toulouse and Montpellier, you'd have to be mad.

thomond2006

http://www.3news.co.nz/Nonu-signs-with-Auckland-Blues-for-2012/tabid/415/articleID/217169/Default.aspx

Nonu signs for Auckland for 2 years, going on a sabbatical to Japan after RWC.

CatFromHue

dai young the cardiff coach/manager/director of rugby/guy has conformed he is going to wasps

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_7011280,00.html

he was the head coach of cardiff from the 02/03 season.

theboss80

Botha unveiled by Toulon

http://www.espnscrum.com/francetop14-2010-11/rugby/story/143100.html

PhatPiggins

theboss80 wrote: »

Botha unveiled by Toulon

http://www.espnscrum.com/francetop14-2010-11/rugby/story/143100.html

Has he been banned yet?