[Olyy]

They did do once or twice in the Junior Worldcup but, as above, it's mostly been Burrow/Sodeke with Kpoku at 6 (or off the bench)

[ledzepsfr]

From reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/rugbyunion/com ... le_sharks/

[Lord Elpus]

Rumours about Faf returning..............

[SSR]

Lots of rumours but no confirmations. Not getting my hopes up yet.

[SSR]

DDP rumour ...
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/rival-pr ... ug-of-war/
Weird if true?

[Olyy]

Not holding my breath on the Faf rumour, coming from Ruck.co.uk
Would also be a bit of a weird one as well already have 2 senior and 3 academy 9s - do we need another? I know there's rumours of Raffi leaving but they aren't until next season

Bath need another backrower to be fair, how can they manage with only like 20 tier 1 internationals? Poor lambs

The SA Sharks rumours make more sense with them losing Kolisi

[ledzepsfr]

Wouldn't want Faf back.
Think it would be a step backwards.

[dinogyro]

Has anybody seen Faf in action in Japan? I'm just wondering what his current form is.

[SSR]

New Years wish, I hope some of the transfer rumours become signings. The wait is killing me.

[Olyy]

Nathan Doak has signed a new long-term deal with Ulster so that puts that rumour to bed

[SSR]

Quite excited that Wainwright apparently signed by Tiggers. Obviously means that our
signing to replace DDP is much better than him.

[Olyy]

With Curry still at 8 now that Dugdale is back I wouldn't hold your breath on a replacement being signed

Hope I'm proved wrong, but have a feeling we'll reshuffle/promote from within, like we did in the second row

[SSR]

RugbyPass interview with Axe has a couple of interesting asides ....
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/sales-en ... borthwick/
We are not chasinfg Faf and hoping to make DDP an offer to stay.
Transfer rumours disappearing fast.

[RugbyMarvel]

Rumours up to now…

Junior Kpoku - 5
Tom Willis - 8 (Bordeaux)
Chandler Cunningham South - 4/6/8 - (re-signed)
Mitchell - 9 (re-signed)
Doak - 9 (re-signed)
Faf - 9
Lozowski - 13/12/10/15
Daly - 15/13/14

Fact we are going for 9s mean 1 of Quirke or Warr off.

Even considering keeping DDP is silly now. He has barely played in 2 seasons and when he has, he’s been nowhere near his best. Can’t see him wanting to stay either so if we did keep him, fairly certain it won’t go well.

Dead wood we need to release: McIntyre, McElroy, Harper, WGJ, S Bedlow (I’d probably put O’Flaherty in there as he has great moments but also so many bad ones).

Why aren’t we giving Logan a shot at 8?

[Olyy]

Pretty sure Warr has multiple seasons left on his contract and Quirke has one - I think the talk of us signing a new 9 has been agent talk tbh, neither supposed target really made sense and one has re-signed, the other Axe claims we've not even spoken to

I think McIntyre is going to retire but calling him deadwood is harsh, he's scrummaged well this season
WGJ I'd consider keeping - outside of the idiotic Bath game he's gone well enough. Don't think you can lose both him and Harper at once when the academy guys below are still a year or two away from being ready, you're never gonna find two tightheads to sign (I could see us keeping harper and WGJ leaving, though)

McElroy is a weird one - he should've played the games that Caine did, realistically. I remember reading an interview with him before we offered him a full contract that said he wanted to be somewhere he was going to be playing a good amount of rugby - I can't see him staying even if we offered him a new deal

[RugbyMarvel]

Pretty sure Warr has multiple seasons left on his contract and Quirke has one - I think the talk of us signing a new 9 has been agent talk tbh, neither supposed target really made sense and one has re-signed, the other Axe claims we've not even spoken to

I think McIntyre is going to retire but calling him deadwood is harsh, he's scrummaged well this season
WGJ I'd consider keeping - outside of the idiotic Bath game he's gone well enough. Don't think you can lose both him and Harper at once when the academy guys below are still a year or two away from being ready, you're never gonna find two tightheads to sign (I could see us keeping harper and WGJ leaving, though)

McElroy is a weird one - he should've played the games that Caine did, realistically. I remember reading an interview with him before we offered him a full contract that said he wanted to be somewhere he was going to be playing a good amount of rugby - I can't see him staying even if we offered him a new deal

Contracts starting to mean less and less. Warr is contracted to us until end of next season. Raffi apparently too, but when he signed there was initially a rumour it was a 1 year but then it became 2. I would put money on him being on a 1+1. Appreciate just rumours but there is no smoke without fire and the Mitchell rumours are fairly concrete as truth. Why would we sign Mitchell with both still on our books?

SiMac has scrummaged fine but across open play he has lost a lot this year. When he does carry it is with very little intent and I’ve seen him get smashed when in D. He’s been a great servant and dead wood was a harsh term, but he isn’t up to it at the level we need.

The WGJ issue for me is that he isn’t EQP and I think we need those spots to be filled by quality only. He had that horrific game but I just haven’t seen much quality either. Agreed difficult to lose him and Harper. I do think we might though, then potentially go in for Sinckler who says he wants to come back for 2027… then run Bell or Raymont at 3rd choice.

[ledzepsfr]

Doesn't necessarily mean that Quirke or Warr are leaving. I quite like Raffi on the wing/full back. Gives us unexpected options. I think he has expressed he is looking at options though.

[Lord Elpus]

Why on earth would Mitchell leave the free-flowing rugby at the Gardens for the constipated stuff at Barton?

[DavenportSharky]

In the Saints v Quins game I’m not sure if there was a single box kick!

[dinogyro]

Why on earth would Mitchell leave the free-flowing rugby at the Gardens for the constipated stuff at Barton?

Because we're wanting a change of style? Just guessing. Who knows with our recruitment policy?

[Surbiton_Shark]

Chuckled during the Leics vs Sarries game. The prop we signed is the most penalised prop in the Prem

[SSR]

I heard that too, but if our props were not injured so much I am sure that they would be
up there

[Lord Elpus]

Chuckled during the Leics vs Sarries game. The prop we signed is the most penalised prop in the Prem

So he'll fit in nicely at Barton.

[RinTin]

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/prem-clu ... oganimasi/

Out of nowhere. Our own Noah Calouri.

[SSR]

Wing and 15 cover, ideal so I don't expect this to come to anything.

[AndaleManito]

Nice if we can get him for a decent price!

No mention of Kpoku in that article, has there been any official confirmation of that deal?

[Olyy]

No, just rumours

[RinTin]

Newcastle RB on a mad one - Hodge last week, now confirmed Rusi Tuima.

[Olyy]

Damn, that's a great signing - shame we couldn't snag him!

[Olyy]

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/alex-san ... e-setback/

Positive sounds around Kpoku, just comes down to the pennies and pounds

[RugbyMarvel]

If we are serious about competing next season, Kpoku would be huge. If owners willing, a transfer fee for Sinckler (contracted until 2027) would be huge too. 2 years of him to work alongside Asher would be hugely beneficial. We have seen with Bath that having two quality tight heads is hugely important.

On top of the above, the Fijian lad we are looking at looks like a talent - a bit of a gamble as both a huge amount of top level 15s experience but would offer great cover at wing and full back.

Probably then leaves us needing an 8, unless we are going to be trusting Logan / utilising T Curry there also. Either that or as rumoured we push to keep DDP, which I’m not hugely supportive of with his ongoing injury issues.

Need to have some more positive news soon!

[RinTin]

Newcastle being reported as favourites to land Raffi for next season.

Also supposedly set to confirm Will Rigg, Cam Jordan, Sam Graham and Elliott Millar Mills.

[SSR]

Please let that be a malicious rumour. We need to keep Raffi.

[Olyy]

Would much rather they landed Faf

Hopefully we charge an obscene amount to buy out Raffi's contract, if it's true

[45jumper]

Raffi to Newcastle now being reported as a done deal. Next season's recruitment is going to have to be pretty spectacular...

[SSR]

Bu**er! Where is it being reported ? Thanks.

[Olyy]

Telegraph saying two year deal:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... fi-quirke/


Non-paywall:
https://archive.ph/moJqV

[SSR]

I wonder if the Raffi sale has anything to do with the Kpoku buy out ?

[RinTin]

Shit. So Faf to Sale then?

Given Amanaki Mafi is only in Newcastle for 1 season I'm half expecting them to announce DDP too....

[Alex]

Wow that's a bit of a blow!

[DavenportSharky]

Awful. The classiest player we have produced in a while.

[Lord Elpus]

It looks as though the Red Budgies are going to top the Premiership in squad size easily surpassing Barf.
Oh for an elastic salary cap.

[Olyy]

Read somewhere that the contract they gave to Josh Hodge is pretty crazy, completely dwarfs what he was on at Exeter, so gotta imagine they're paying big time here too

[RinTin]

It looks as though the Red Budgies are going to top the Premiership in squad size easily surpassing Barf.
Oh for an elastic salary cap.

Not at all - the vast majority of the Falcons squad are only contracted until the end of this season including some of the bigger signings such as Williams, Mafi, Chamberlain, Lee-Warner and Wade.

Falcons will just completely reset their squad for next year and rebuild.

[DavenportSharky]

No point in keeping someone who is unhappy. With his injury problems I would not want to be playing on a plastic pitch for 11 out of 18 Premiership matches a season. Hope they have a great medical team.

[SSR]

The surface must be a worry to injury prone players. Saracens and Glos are having a bit of a torrid time with injuries as well.

[RinTin]

The surface must be a worry to injury prone players. Saracens and Glos are having a bit of a torrid time with injuries as well.

Glos are going into this European window with a part timer as their first choice hooker, it's mad. Can imagine they have made some enquiries about McElroy on loan.

[Olyy]

The surface must be a worry to injury prone players. Saracens and Glos are having a bit of a torrid time with injuries as well.

Glos are going into this European window with a part timer as their first choice hooker, it's mad. Can imagine they have made some enquiries about McElroy on loan.

Was thinking that too - McElroy must be going mad with boredom, he's not even being loaned out to champ sides or anything

[Yareet]

The surface must be a worry to injury prone players. Saracens and Glos are having a bit of a torrid time with injuries as well.

Glos are going into this European window with a part timer as their first choice hooker, it's mad. Can imagine they have made some enquiries about McElroy on loan.

Was thinking that too - McElroy must be going mad with boredom, he's not even being loaned out to champ sides or anything

Specialist positions are a nightmare. We need three hookers for every matchday and I'd suggest 4 for training to give players a break. With LCD likely to be away for the 6N, McIlroy's time is coming.

[DavenportSharky]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... ynd9ry5gyo