Rugby Transfer News Round-Up
Although the money changing hands can’t quite match up to football, the Rugby transfer world has been abuzz recently with some high profile players switching clubs. The highest profile has been Toulon’s latest high money move as they enticed Australian centre and stand off Matt Giteau to come to the south of France on an 18 month deal.
This will give Toulon a mouth-watering backline featuring the likes of Giteau, Wilkinson, Sackey, Lamont and potentially Gaving Henson. Coach Phillipe Saint Andre seems to have been given a blank cheque to build a Heineken Cup wining side and with Giteau, he’ll move one step closer.
Closer to home, the Aviva Premiership sides have also been busy building squads for next season. The biggest moves include centre Dan Hipkiss switching Leicester for Bath, Sale bringing in prop Tony Buckley from Munster and Newcastle signed League-convert Rikki Sheriffe from Bradford Bulls. England second row Dave Attwood switched West Country sides going from Gloucester to Bath and London Irish’s Seilala Mapusua will be leaving the premiership to join Japanese Kubota Spears.
Many more players ended speculation about their futures by signing new contracts with their current clubs. To name but a few, Matthew Tait will remain a Flacon, Andrew Sheridan will stay a Sale Shark and James Simpson-Daniel will further his career with the Cherry and Whites.
In the coaching ranks, both Tony Hanks of Wasps and Andy Key of Leeds have parted company with their respective clubs after a poor run of form. For the Wasps job, Dean Ryan, Lawrence Dallaglio and Warren Gatland have already all been speculated.
