Here's your rugby headlines for Tuesday, 16 August.
Premiership urged to create transfer list
The Rugby Players’ Association is urging clubs to help create a 'transfer list' of players who are free agents, after a record number of 80 Gallagher Premiership players were left without contracts this summer.
With the Premiership's salary cap being cut from £6.4m to £5m last year, clubs have been forced to tighten their belts. Unfortunately, that's seen a number of players struggle to get contracts, with the likes of England stars Mike Brown and Nathan Hughes some of the bigger names unable to find a new club yet. Welshman Sam Lewis was another highly-rated player let go by Worcester Warriors despite always impressing.
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“The market as a whole is tough for any senior player,” Christian Day, head of player affairs at the RPA, told i. “And it is becoming tougher, because the salary cap is squeezing them. You could find yourself as a 25, 26-year-old good Premiership player, and there just isn’t a spot for you and you need to be flexible. We do think it’s the worst year for that senior middle group of players.
“I wouldn’t say we are getting stories of hardship – certainly there is a lot of adaptation. They’ve likely gone to another league or another part of the world – you have got the French league thriving, the league in Japan is thriving, the MLR in America is starting to recruit good quality players. Or alternatively our belief is the players need to be doing something right now for life after rugby, and they don’t just fall out of the game. That’s the thing we really want to avoid, and we ultimately have to pick up the pieces if that does happen.
“The list is something they do in France, and it’s very successful. We will build and circulate a list of every player who’s coming off contract to make sure that every player has every chance of finding a contract. It’s looking more like it’ll be an end-of-season thing, run it from March through to the end of June, which is when the contracts close off.”
New All Blacks coach praised for stopping 'one-trick pony' South Africa
Former All Black captain Kieran Read has credited new forwards coach Jason Ryan for his roles in beating 'one-trick pony' Springboks at Ellis Park.
Speaking on SENZ Radio on the The Run Home Show, the 128-test No 8 praised Ryan for his immediate impact after the former Crusaders forwards coach was promoted to the New Zealand set-up prior to the matches with South Africa. After conceding multiple maul tries against Ireland, the All Blacks were able to stop the Boks effectively in that area.
“I think it’s hard to see too much detail and maybe the attitude was the biggest one he could shift over in South Africa,” Read said about his former coach at the Crusaders. “Just getting the guys more aligned I think could help.
“Jase is a smart man, and he would’ve seen a few things that he could’ve just provided up to a few guys, individually. I think the way he’s got his senior players in, that forward pack stepping up.
“I guess he can lean on a few Crusaders; Sam Whitelock I’m sure would’ve had a big impact in there, echoing a bit of what Jase has been saying. And then Scott Barrett, I thought, had one of his best games in the lock jersey as well, he was brilliant and went all 80 minutes.
“So, he deserves a bit of credit there, old Jase.”
On stopping the Boks' gameplan, Read described it as a ‘brutal’ type of game but added that they are a bit of a ‘one trick pony’.
“Even on the weekend where we played pretty well, there was periods of play where they were able to get a bit of a roll on,” he said. "They could score points on us and put us under a lot of pressure.
“They are, in some cases you could say a one-trick pony in the way they play. It’s just a brutal game plan from them. It’s so brilliant, you know? Mapimpi chasing high balls, it’s not 50-50 when he’s chasing it. He’s catching everything.
“And they’ve got their maul. So you’ve got to give kudos to our forward pack for scrumming well and stopping the maul basically over the whole series. Stop them winning penalties to then kick to the corner and have another shot.”
Scarlets unveil new home kit
The Scarlets have unveiled their new home kit to mark their 150-year anniversary season.
New partners Castore, who supply kits for the likes of Saracens, Newcastle United and Andy Murray, have designed a pin-striped jersey from newly-developed technical fabrics that have been considered for on-field robustness and comfort, with both the jersey and shorts made of 90% recycled polyester. An away kit will be released ahead of the pre-season friendly with Bristol Bears on September 2, while a third kit will also be unveiled next month.
The jersey will be available online from Tuesday 16 August and in the store at Parc y Scarlets from August 26.
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