Sale Sharks set to hijack Kyle Tonetti's move to Connacht.

thomond2006

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12331_6182202,00.html

Sale Sharks are in talks with Leinster back Kyle Tonetti about a possible switch to Edgeley Park.

The Ireland Sevens international had been expected to follow Shane Monahan to Connacht however the Sharks have now opened negotiations.

"We are in currently in talks but nothing has been agreed as of yet," a club spokesman told the Irish Independent.

Tonetti, a talented fly-half/centre, has been playing for Blackrock after failing to break into the Leinster first team after coming through the club's academy.

The 23-year-old is known to Sale boss Mike Brewer, though, after the former All Black worked with Tonetti during his spell as assistant coach at the Irish province.

Interesting one, will it benefit his career more to go to the west or to the Premiership?

toomevara

thomond2006 wrote: »

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12331_6182202,00.html



Interesting one, will it benefit his career more to go to the west or to the Premiership?

Hmm hard to say. The Sharks are a mess at the moment, and were frankly lucky not be relegated this year. They've recently appointed Mike Brewer as coach, and Tonetti has worked with him before, maybe that's the attraction.

profitius

Connacht can only offer him 1 year so for him personally he should go to Sale. Maybe he'll make a name for himself and return in a few years.

thomond2006

toomevara wrote: »

Hmm hard to say. The Sharks are a mess at the moment, and were frankly lucky not be relegated this year.

It seems only yesterday they went down to France with the likes of Lobbe and Luke McAlister and hammered Clermont.

The exodus of players and Phillipe Saint-Andre in the off-season last year has crippled them.

As a Connacht fan I'm obviously going to say he should join Connacht. I think he should think long and hard before joining Sale. Ok its better money and he might get a 2 year deal which gives him more stability but will he be any closer to first team rugby? Looking at the Sale squad its difficult to see him getting much gametime. The other side to this is when he does get the chance the pressure will be immense. Due to the issues of relegation and so forth in the premiership the pressure is immense and there won't be the same latitude given to players to try something different.

It reminds me of something Bradley said before which in fairness was true. He was talking about Fionn Carr and was basically saying the likes of Leinster aren't prepared to persist with Fionn Carr as he learns and makes mistakes, this pressure would be even greater in the Premiership. Tonetti has nothing to lose with a 1 year contract at Connacht, even with the cloud hanging over Connacht Rugby its a competitive squad that is going in the right direction, he's likely to get 20+ first team games and he's keeping his options open should Leinster or Munster come calling. If Sale want him enough they'll still want him next summer with a season's first team rugby under his belt.

Junior

The other thing is that with the Premiership it's burn out central, it's not a league for development I think. Your expected to hit the ground running, considering the amount of games I'm not sure it's conducive for a young player.

CatFromHue

the money could be better that could be one point, plus as mentioned above there is more stability in a 2 year contract than in a 1 year one.

also he has been in the academy for a season or 2 and he is now 23, maybe he is looking for a different challenge than he'd get here in Ireland. He will be a relatively unknown over there which sometimes has its good points.

i dont think it would be a disaster for him to go to Sale.

Its a hard decision but id take it.

As regards the burn out issue, for someone who has little first team rugby that could possible be an attraction. more games that is!

of course he still has to get to the first team stage too

profitius

Heres an interesting thought, is Tonetti Italian qualified? They could be looking at him too in future.

GymJim

profitius wrote: »

Heres an interesting thought, is Tonetti Italian qualified? They could be looking at him too in future.

No!

anonymous_joe

Tonetti's a Saffer isn't he? (Ancestry wise.)

wonton

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Tonetti's a Saffer isn't he? (Ancestry wise.)

even if his parents were born in sa, he could still have an italian grandparent though

danthefan

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Tonetti's a Saffer isn't he? (Ancestry wise.)

Born there as far as I know. Moved to Ireland at a young age.

Poached you might say.

chupacabra

danthefan wrote: »

Born there as far as I know. Moved to Ireland at a young age.

Poached you might say.

Nah i wouldnt call that Poached.... now Wilkinson.. thats what i would call poached.

We also have a promising half-saffer half-irish lad who played scrum half/fly half for Kings Hospital and should really have been in the JWC squad ahead of both of the SH's on the team. Name's Peter Du Toit.

bamboozle

chupacabra wrote: »

Nah i wouldnt call that Poached.... now Wilkinson.. thats what i would call poached.

We also have a promising half-saffer half-irish lad who played scrum half/fly half for Kings Hospital and should really have been in the JWC squad ahead of both of the SH's on the team. Name's Peter Du Toit.

i've heard of him, he's meant to be a big unit for a 9

Built like a bullet Du Toit is, he was Leinster U19s last year though, we'll see him next year.

He's playing U20s this summer for Leinster again

[Jackass]

Wow, we could use a top quality scrum-half! Hope he comes through. He may not be in the world cup squad now, but if he's good enough, he'll get picked up on.

I think it would be terrible if Tonneti went to Sale. I think he'll get better development at Connacht, I think they should build an entire team of young U-20 players and upcoming players. It'll toughen them up and give them a chance to up their game to a whole new level, you can't get that on the training pitch. Lead by about 5 or so quality senior players. (Quinlan?)

Keep them in Ireland, develop them here, and let Connacht build a good team on the most promising players in the country and some of the biggest players coming to the end of their career. Evn make it a cultural thing, players like O'Connell, O'Driscoll, Horgan, D'Arcy, O'Gara etc. etc. all do a last season with Connacht...it would be great to see the legends of Ulster / Munster / Leinster playing together and also seeing the most promising talent in the country, you could make a quality team!

Goodluck2me

chupacabra wrote: »

Nah i wouldnt call that Poached.... now Wilkinson.. thats what i would call poached.

We also have a promising half-saffer half-irish lad who played scrum half/fly half for Kings Hospital and should really have been in the JWC squad ahead of both of the SH's on the team. Name's Peter Du Toit.

bamboozle wrote: »

i've heard of him, he's meant to be a big unit for a 9

ridiculous comment, Du Toit wasnt even starting for UCD first XV this year, the person who was... John Cooney starting 9 in the JWC, no contest there.

Cooney is a class above, although older too to be fair.

Also Cooney much bigger than du Toit, by about 10KG!

ALH-06

[Jackass] wrote: »

Evn make it a cultural thing, players like O'Connell, O'Driscoll, Horgan, D'Arcy, O'Gara etc. etc. all do a last season with Connacht...it would be great to see the legends of Ulster / Munster / Leinster playing together and also seeing the most promising talent in the country, you could make a quality team!

I'd think it quite sad to see legends like O'Driscoll, D'Arcy & O'Gara etc playing out the remainder of their careers at a racetrack in Galway in front of 2000 spectators. I wouldn't want that, and neither would they.

fatguy2k1

I still don't know where all this talk of Connacht signing Tonetti has come from. His name has never been mentioned in the Branch.

Re: getting start players to play a final year in connacht - what's the point in that? Connacht are a development team not a retirement team. We are here to develop the young players that wouldn't otherwise get game time in the other provinces.

Malmedicine

Goodluck2me wrote: »

ridiculous comment, Du Toit wasnt even starting for UCD first XV this year, the person who was... John Cooney starting 9 in the JWC, no contest there.

Cooney is a class above, although older too to be fair.

Also Cooney much bigger than du Toit, by about 10KG!

Have you seen Du Toit (I know you have)? He is definately bigger than Cooney don't know about better but bigger definately.

chupacabra

Goodluck2me wrote: »

ridiculous comment, Du Toit wasnt even starting for UCD first XV this year, the person who was... John Cooney starting 9 in the JWC, no contest there.

Cooney is a class above, although older too to be fair.

Also Cooney much bigger than du Toit, by about 10KG!

I never said anything about him being bigger than Cooney. And from what i saw from the LSC Du Toit has it all and will go far.

fatguy2k1

fatguy2k1 wrote: »

I still don't know where all this talk of Connacht signing Tonetti has come from. His name has never been mentioned in the Branch.

It was in the Irish Times a few weeks ago that he was heading to Connacht with Monahan and in yesterday's Advertiser it said he had initially signed for us but has since entered talks with Sale.

galwayboss

Tonetti has moved to Connacht from Sale hopefully he will bring a life into to the backs i think he could be a good signing

LeeroyJones

Good stuff. Good strong 'second five-eighth' style centre, hopefully a successful move for province and player