Fair play to Swifty for opening this thread - must be heading for a record my son!!

Porterbelly wrote: The Section Paloise , which is well positioned to compete in the finals of Pro D2 home and possibly get in the Top 14, is actively preparing for the next season.

According to Midi Olympique , Pau has set his sights on Fetu'u Vainikolo . Tongan winger Connacht (28 years, 7 selections) would have been offered a contract for two years by the leaders that Pau will face competition from London Irish, who offered him a contract for one season. Fetu'u Vainikolo reserve time response.

www.rugby-transferts.com

If he is to go I'd much prefer FETs to head to France.
Pau is a lovely city right in the foothills of the Pyrenees, just over an hour south of Biarritz....

The Section Paloise , which is well positioned to compete in the finals of Pro D2 home and possibly get in the Top 14, is actively preparing for the next season.

According to Midi Olympique , Pau has set his sights on Fetu'u Vainikolo . Tongan winger Connacht (28 years, 7 selections) would have been offered a contract for two years by the leaders that Pau will face competition from London Irish, who offered him a contract for one season. Fetu'u Vainikolo reserve time response.

www.rugby-transferts.com

i wonder will Lam, like other coachs/mangers in both rugby and soccer sign a family member.

two names that jump out at me is Ben Lam and Jack Lam.

i just watched jack (cousin to pat) come on for the Hurricanes in super 15, he's a flanker, came on here at number 6. he's 25 and after 3 years could play for ireland.

Ben (nephew i think) on the other hand doesnt play in the super 15 YET. he's only 21, 6ft 4+'' and over 17 stone. he plays wing and centre. he's is rated highly by people who seen him play. i seen him play 7's rugby for new zealand which would be my only problem, he's NIQ! worth a gamble on him

Borders no.2 wrote: Saw on another website that Charlie Butterworth the Landsdowne 7 was close to signing with Connacht. (Posted on 1st of April so slightly sceptical) Don't know much about him being honest.

You can find out more about him at 3pm Saturday. He's named at openside v Enisei (that was quick).

connachtexile wrote: Would Reynecke be IQ after next season?

Yes.

Would Reynecke be IQ after next season?

rossie wrote: I think seapoint means he may not have anywhere to go while we might not find anyone better.

I think his attitude is poor though and rather than knuckling down when jhw arrived and facing the challenge his attitude got worse imo. Frank, toh, pod and to a lesser extent duffy and george suffered similarly last season. Id love to have seen how frank reacted to marmion this season. Pod appears happy with bench which isnt good imo. Duffy looks hungry since henshaw arrived and george too with mckeon fit. Hopefully carr will be kick that toh needs to smarten up too.

No I don't mean that, I have no doubt there'll be plenty of clubs happy to have him. I would agree however that we cannot afford to have a third relatively inexperienced Hooker in our squad and there isn't a surplus of those about the place IQ or otherwise with the right experience at the right price...

It's a good move for Scanlon and I hope he makes the most of it. I agree with people about POD but the fact is he has another year on his contract so regardless of what we think we're stuck with him. He needs to improve though otherwise he'll be third choice next year easily and while its good to have a veteran SH I'd rather have a good player there learning and with Parks experience I think the transition wouldn't be as tough as years past.

For me the main position we need is a backrower to replace JOC everything else is secondary. Lam has apparently spent the last few weeks in England, I wonder was he scouting players there?

Well dineen has recieved a 2 yr contract at munster today and scanlon is off to the ritherham titans a club thats proving to be quite the launching pad for irish lads.
Never heard of buttersworth tbh.

Happy to see Aaron Conneely get a shot at it. He looks to have stagnated a bit but hopefully he can push on next season.

Matt Healy? With Vainikolo and Loxton likely to be off and McCrea gone already its a squad signing.

Saw on another website that Charlie Butterworth the Landsdowne 7 was close to signing with Connacht. (Posted on 1st of April so slightly sceptical) Don't know much about him being honest.

rossie wrote: I think seapoint means he may not have anywhere to go while we might not find anyone better.

Nicely put, but as he'd block up a NIQ spot - say for that centre weakness you pointed out - I can't see him staying.

Met him after the Leinster match at the Sportsground, he wasn't playing but he was so happy you'd swear he was an Irishman with one grandparent from Galway, one from Limerick, one from Cork and one from Belfast.

I think seapoint means he may not have anywhere to go while we might not find anyone better.


I think his attitude is poor though and rather than knuckling down when jhw arrived and facing the challenge his attitude got worse imo. Frank, toh, pod and to a lesser extent duffy and george suffered similarly last season. Id love to have seen how frank reacted to marmion this season. Pod appears happy with bench which isnt good imo. Duffy looks hungry since henshaw arrived and george too with mckeon fit. Hopefully carr will be kick that toh needs to smarten up too.

phatguerilla wrote:

sea_point wrote:

rossie wrote: Based on swiftys updated list id like to see a more experinced 7 than coneely backing up faloon. Pity joc hadnt another yr left in tank to support them but think someone need to be found. Ditto at hooker re heffernan. If rael doesnt come in perhaps flavin could do that job for 1 more year. 2 and 7 and pack is complete for me.

We need a third sh. Of ones out of contract murphy has most to offer but at greatest cost. Elsewhere stringer has been spoken about regularly but wont be cheap. Options are thin on ground after that.
13 is the significant problem for me. Yes there are players who can fill in there but for me poolman is a winger and a good one and henshaw is now a fb even if he did play 13 in school. Again options are limited here.

Nothing has been confirmed re: Reyneke as yet, be interesting to see what happens there. Could be an extension by default, ..

I don't like being super negative to a person but... has Reynecke brought anything at all to the squad? He was at least eager last season but gone off the rails completely this year imo.

He does bring a lot of energy onto the pitch, overall he's been good not brilliant but good.

He's prone to being over eager if anything and I think that has a lot to do with coming on from the bench. Last season nearly 2/3 of his appearances were from the bench, and this season it's up around the 75% mark and I think that has a lot to do with it, maybe he's trying that bit too hard.

Hooker's a really tough position to find emotional balance in, probably the toughest on the park because you have to do your scrummaging well, make your big hits defensively, hit your rucks like an auxilliary back row, and of course stay calm in heat of battle even if your lineout pods are creaking to ensure as near 100% lineout wins as possible. Place kicking is the only thing close to it on the pitch, finding that Zen like place to hit the mark when you've been running around for 70 odd minutes and you're on the oppo 5m line with a lineout with a minute to go...

He's clearly a top lad, and he has the experience. I wonder what a season under Pat Lam would do for him.

I really like Flav's too who's been another great servant for us, but I'm not convinced he's got a full season at full tilt in him if required.

sea_point wrote:

rossie wrote: Based on swiftys updated list id like to see a more experinced 7 than coneely backing up faloon. Pity joc hadnt another yr left in tank to support them but think someone need to be found. Ditto at hooker re heffernan. If rael doesnt come in perhaps flavin could do that job for 1 more year. 2 and 7 and pack is complete for me.

We need a third sh. Of ones out of contract murphy has most to offer but at greatest cost. Elsewhere stringer has been spoken about regularly but wont be cheap. Options are thin on ground after that.
13 is the significant problem for me. Yes there are players who can fill in there but for me poolman is a winger and a good one and henshaw is now a fb even if he did play 13 in school. Again options are limited here.

Nothing has been confirmed re: Reyneke as yet, be interesting to see what happens there. Could be an extension by default, ..

I don't like being super negative to a person but... has Reynecke brought anything at all to the squad? He was at least eager last season but gone off the rails completely this year imo.

Ive seen walshe playing and hes an exciting player. Only problem i have with him as 3rd choice is that theres no experience there. Pod is a poor sh imo and walsh cud find himself 2nd choice quickly. While exciting its equally worrying.

Imo you need a minimum of 2 players per position in the centre, wing and fb positions + a couple of utilities as emergency cover. Tonetti, mcsharry and griffin are prone injury and will need support.perhaps jarvis and murphy re worth an extension but we still need one back even after them imo.