Luke McLean leaving Treviso for Sale.

The Ospreys have announced the signing of South African second-row Rynier Bernardo on a three-year deal. Bernardo will join Fiji centre Josh Matavesi from Worcester

Ya seen that

Rumours flying around of Hogg to Ulster

Jackson to wasps confirmed.

Gareth anscombe considering an offer from cardiff blues. Mother is cardiff born and gatland supporting move with a view to world cup inclusion.

Surprised at this he was being talked about for New Zeland only recently. I suppose it makes sense in that he'd be a squad player for Wales but a fringe player for NZ.

Its a net saving of 2m for Fir not 4m and that is ringfenced for domestic championship and new super acadamies planned to develop players.
Its not the fixtures against italians during internationals that damage league but the clashes of the top teams without their stars during that period. Tv and paying public want to see the stars play and when leinster play ospreys in november or ulster v glasgow in march its not good for the leagues image imo.

Gareth anscombe considering an offer from cardiff blues. Mother is cardiff born and gatland supporting move with a view to world cup inclusion.
Tom Pyrdie and Ashley smith re sign for dragons.
Ruadhri jackson made offer by wasps.

rossie wrote:

sea_point wrote:

rossie wrote: Another departure from treviso. Italian international prop cittadini joins wasps.
Im now of the opinion that keeping the italians in the league was a mistake and damaging to the brand. They will effectively be 2 development teams next season.

Wouldn't bet on it, wait until we see who they get in as replacements first before writing them off.

I don't think the Italian Federation discourage their elite players from playing outside Italy in the way that the IRFU/RFU/FFR do, and for me that's a good thing. It's a very small Pool over there, and time spent with some of Europe's elite clubs can only help the players and ultimately the national team...IRB protocols ensure that Italy won't take any pain, their in season International schedule is similar to ours (three rather than four AI's)...

Apparently treviso were close to going bust around the time they announced they were pulling out of the league. They dont have the money to be competitive in the market anymore. We sacrificed the celtic identity of our league to include them imo(at a premium admittedly) and now they arent of a standard to compliment the competition. To make matters worse the 4 extra fixtures mean that the 6ns and AIs impact our league more than it should and they are commercially very unattractive fixtures.

That was just a play by Treviso, because Zebre receive a much higher level of funding from FIR and once FIR made their play to the Pro12 with the break up of the HEC/ERC to remove the extra bond they were paying they knew there was another €4m in the pot to try get their mitts on.....

There has been no significant additional impact from their participation at 6N/AI time than there was previously,from memory it was always a period where Connacht under delivered consistently when expected to achieve a run of wins against weakened squads. Ton benfair to Treviso they consistently finished higher than us....

Also going back to my original points, front row is not an area that Italy struggle for resource, what their younger players lack is the winning environment and higher standards of professionalism set in B&I so a few players moving to other leagues is win/win for Italy as it allows them to develop more depth than two Pro Regions can allow and also like us facilitates recruiting experienced NIQ's. €4m can buy plenty of experience that's for sure....

sea_point wrote:

rossie wrote: Another departure from treviso. Italian international prop cittadini joins wasps.
Im now of the opinion that keeping the italians in the league was a mistake and damaging to the brand. They will effectively be 2 development teams next season.

Wouldn't bet on it, wait until we see who they get in as replacements first before writing them off.

I don't think the Italian Federation discourage their elite players from playing outside Italy in the way that the IRFU/RFU/FFR do, and for me that's a good thing. It's a very small Pool over there, and time spent with some of Europe's elite clubs can only help the players and ultimately the national team...IRB protocols ensure that Italy won't take any pain, their in season International schedule is similar to ours (three rather than four AI's)...

Apparently treviso were close to going bust around the time they announced they were pulling out of the league. They dont have the money to be competitive in the market anymore. We sacrificed the celtic identity of our league to include them imo(at a premium admittedly) and now they arent of a standard to compliment the competition. To make matters worse the 4 extra fixtures mean that the 6ns and AIs impact our league more than it should and they are commercially very unattractive fixtures.

sea_point wrote:

rossie wrote: Another departure from treviso. Italian international prop cittadini joins wasps.
Im now of the opinion that keeping the italians in the league was a mistake and damaging to the brand. They will effectively be 2 development teams next season.

Wouldn't bet on it, wait until we see who they get in as replacements first before writing them off.

I don't think the Italian Federation discourage their elite players from playing outside Italy in the way that the IRFU/RFU/FFR do, and for me that's a good thing. It's a very small Pool over there, and time spent with some of Europe's elite clubs can only help the players and ultimately the national team...IRB protocols ensure that Italy won't take any pain, their in season International schedule is similar to ours (three rather than four AI's)...

Where is the FIR going to get the players to make Treviso competitive? At this point it would have to be foreigners and that doesn't seem like a good use of their money unless the players can become Italian qualified. Honestly at the moment Zebre are the more competitive of the two so it might be easier to build them up but still it looks like the Italians will be propping up the Pro12 table next season.

S_P you seem to be making Rossie's point for him. If the Italians are ready to have their best players go off to France and England to play their club rugby what will there be left to do with the two teams in the Rabo but use them to develop their younger players?

rossie wrote: Another departure from treviso. Italian international prop cittadini joins wasps.
Im now of the opinion that keeping the italians in the league was a mistake and damaging to the brand. They will effectively be 2 development teams next season.

Wouldn't bet on it, wait until we see who they get in as replacements first before writing them off.

I don't think the Italian Federation discourage their elite players from playing outside Italy in the way that the IRFU/RFU/FFR do, and for me that's a good thing. It's a very small Pool over there, and time spent with some of Europe's elite clubs can only help the players and ultimately the national team...IRB protocols ensure that Italy won't take any pain, their in season International schedule is similar to ours (three rather than four AI's)...

Another departure from treviso. Italian international prop cittadini joins wasps.
Im now of the opinion that keeping the italians in the league was a mistake and damaging to the brand. They will effectively be 2 development teams next season.

Rory had a sneaky top ten at Agusta. Might need a few wins to get Carter, but you cut your cloth accordingly I suppose.......... buy what you can afford

Fair play Rors !

connachtexile wrote:

He could have been Italian !!!! Whata mistaka to maka

Just when he thought he was out they pull him back in.

Ulster, um, obviously, like, made him an offer he couldn't refuse?

Sorry. I'll go sit on the naughty step for a while.

SA lock Rynard Landham joins dragons on 3yr deal.