Transfers for next season (including transfer rumours!)

sock puppet

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Just as we're talking about England and I haven't seen this pop up here, so..

The RFU handed Cueto a 9week ban for the eye gouge below. Any coincidence that a starting England international got off so leniently? In time for the warm up matches too :mad:

Unlike the eh... no nonsense Magners League?

JustinDee

wixfjord wrote: »

That ain't a gouge imo.
Think the sentence is a little on the harsh side.

There's no such offence as a 'gouge'.
It is 'contact with the eye area' and it is judged on degree of intent, action and conduct history. This is what Cueto was done for.

bamboozle

little173 wrote: »

Take the general point but Lawes completely outplayed Touhy in fairness.

i'm sure Lawes did play well, Touhy still nailed him early on

wixfjord

JustinDee wrote: »

There's no such offence as a 'gouge'.
It is 'contact with the eye area' and it is judged on degree of intent, action and conduct history. This is what Cueto was done for.

Aye, I know that, which is why I said I thought the sentence was harsh.
More of a push away than anything overtly malicious. Also, has Cueto any history of this sort of thing?

Gracelessly Tom

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Just as we're talking about England and I haven't seen this pop up here, so..

The RFU handed Cueto a 9week ban for the eye gouge below. Any coincidence that a starting England international got off so leniently? In time for the warm up matches too :mad:

I think his light sentence is due to the fact that Christian Day (alleged gougee) wrote to the RFU panel and stated he was not gouged, it was merely a hand in his face pushing him away.

GerM

I think Cueto is very lucky to only get 9 weeks to be honest. Was completely unnecessary and he clearly and deliberately makes contact with the eye area. 12 weeks is the standard minimum ban. If that had been in the HEC he would be looking at about 12-16 weeks.

Gracelessly Tom

OT but Alan Lewis has announced he's retiring at the end of the year.

GerM

GerM wrote: »

I think Cueto is very lucky to only get 9 weeks to be honest. Was completely unnecessary and he clearly and deliberately makes contact with the eye area. 12 weeks is the standard minimum ban. If that had been in the HEC he would be looking at about 12-16 weeks.

This is so important. Players need to get away from this nonsense. The laws should be enforced so that players instinctively look to keep their hands away from others' faces, it's almost always a careless and reckless hand incident that players are getting in trouble for. Jennings, Quinlan, Neil Best in recent times are prime examples of this.

The minimum should be the minimum. Enforce it, and we will see less of these incidents imo.

CouchSmart

Until all bans are handed out independently this will continue to happen. Look at the (usual) consistency when the ERC are handing out bans.

GerM

Gracelessly Tom wrote: »

OT but Alan Lewis has announced he's retiring at the end of the year.

Shame. Good referee generally and a nice bloke. If we're being cynical, one would have to assume that repeated criticisms by the NZ coaches last year went a long way to ending his career. He didn't get any of the 6N games and was overlooked entirely for the WC. If Steve Walsh, who has verbally abused a player in a high profile game, can be accommodated I find it somewhat hard to not be cynical in relation to New Zealand's heavy influence on international refereeing appointments.

bamboozle

GerM wrote: »

Shame. Good referee generally and a nice bloke. If we're being cynical, one would have to assume that repeated criticisms by the NZ coaches last year went a long way to ending his career. He didn't get any of the 6N games and was overlooked entirely for the WC. If Steve Walsh, an alcoholic who has verbally abused a player in a high profile game, can be accommodated I find it somewhat hard to not be cynical in relation to New Zealand's heavy influence on international refereeing appointments.

Cross NZRFU at your peril...

didnt walshe get involved in a bit of argy bargy with an english physio or bagman a few seasons ago also, follow them down the tunnel at half time or something sinister

kevin99

Has Alan Lewis reached the age for retirement for international referees?
If not, has he said why he is retiring?
He was a good referee and a very nice guy too. I met him professionally and personally and he was always open, honest and decent.
I noticed he wasn't one of the ten referees appointed to the world cup panel and wondered why?
Neither did he officiate in the 6n.
Is Paddy O'Brien still in charge of referees?
Maybe Lewis's decision has something to do with him being ignored for the world cup and this year's 6 ns/

thomond2006

Steffon Armitage on a 2 year deal confirmed by RCT:
http://www.rctoulon.com/en/news/article/steffon-armitage-toulon/

sock puppet

GerM wrote: »

Shame. Good referee generally and a nice bloke. If we're being cynical, one would have to assume that repeated criticisms by the NZ coaches last year went a long way to ending his career. He didn't get any of the 6N games and was overlooked entirely for the WC. If Steve Walsh, an alcoholic who has verbally abused a player in a high profile game, can be accommodated I find it somewhat hard to not be cynical in relation to New Zealand's heavy influence on international refereeing appointments.

The NZRU have nothing to do with Steve Walsh any more. Your complaints are about 2 years old.

porterbelly

Paul O'Donoghue to Connacht

jolley123

porterbelly wrote: »

Paul O'Donoghue to Connacht

Scource?

jolley123

David Moore to Connacht, announce on the Connacht website.

If the POD signing is true, then that is quite confusing.

l3m0n5

thomond2006 wrote: »

Steffon Armitage on a 2 year deal confirmed by RCT:
http://www.rctoulon.com/en/news/article/steffon-armitage-toulon/

Toulon are going to need 2 or 3 buses for away games.

GerM

sock puppet wrote: »

The NZRU have nothing to do with Steve Walsh any more. Your complaints are about 2 years old.

I never mentioned it was anything to do with the NZRU.

The IRB Refereeing Panel carried any appointments or non-appointments as the case may be. They're headed by the Kiwi, Paddy O'Brien, a man who actually visited the New Zealand team previously to apologise for the performance of a referee who did not referee NZ favourably.

Jedwardian

jolley123 wrote: »

Scource?

The Paul O'Donohoe rumour originated on the PR forum. I suspect it's untrue now that Dave Moore has signed but you never know.

sock puppet

GerM wrote: »

I never mentioned it was anything to do with the NZRU.

The IRB Refereeing Panel carried any appointments or non-appointments as the case may be. They're headed by the Kiwi, Paddy O'Brien, a man who actually visited the New Zealand team previously to apologise for the performance of a referee who did not referee NZ favourably.

So New Zealand influence referee appointments but no one involved in New Zealand rugby has anything to do with it. Okay...

CIARAN_BOYLE

Jedwardian wrote: »

The Paul O'Donohoe rumour originated on the PR forum. I suspect it's untrue now that Dave Moore has signed but you never know.

He was looked at, enquiries were made and either he doesn't want to go west of Connacht decided to go after Moore. Not really sure which

GerM

sock puppet wrote: »

So New Zealand influence referee appointments but no one involved in New Zealand rugby has anything to do with it. Okay...

You obviously imply that I claimed Walsh is under the jurisdiction of the NZRU. I never mentioned that whatsoever and I'm not sure where you got that idea. What I did imply is that they influence the decisions of the IRB refereeing panel via POB.

sock puppet

GerM wrote: »

You obviously imply that I claimed Walsh is under the jurisdiction of the NZRU. I never mentioned that whatsoever and I'm not sure where you got that idea. What I did imply is that they influence the decisions of the IRB refereeing panel via POB.

Well then your comment makes no sense. If they wanted him to be a ref in the world cup so badly they wouldn't have dismissed him.

GerM

sock puppet wrote: »

Well then your comment makes no sense. If they wanted him to be a ref in the world cup so badly they wouldn't have dismissed him.

I've never mentioned that the NZRU want Walsh there. My points were in reference to Lewis and the IRB ditching him whilst they (the IRB) being happy to appoint a referee with such a poor record like Walsh. The NZRU influence was in relation to ensuring Lewis was not appointed, not that Walsh was appointed. I doubt the NZRU give a fiddlers about Walsh officiating at the WC given that they gave him so many chances and only dismissed him when he turned up to a referee's conference off his face drunk.

I can only assume you've misinterpreted my initial post completely.

I think I'll leave it there.

porterbelly

Jedwardian wrote: »

The Paul O'Donohoe rumour originated on the PR forum. I suspect it's untrue now that Dave Moore has signed but you never know.

I was told O'Donoghue by a mate who knows someone in the branch but he told me he made a mistake and meant Moore.

jolley123

porterbelly wrote: »

I was told O'Donoghue by a mate who knows someone in the branch but he told me he made a mistake and meant Moore.

Easy mistake seeing as they're both Leinster scrum-halfs.

I had no idea until now that Moore was playing for Harlequins. I wonder if Conor O'Shea decided on that. I know he said he'll be looking to attract Irish academy players to his team.

I'm happy for academy lads to go over to the premiership. Only four teams in Ireland so it's pretty cut-throat.

David900

Shane Geraghty to Brive.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/15/shane-geraghty-steffon-armitage-france

Probably the right choice for him. Not too sure who is in front of him at Brive but he hasn't got a look in at Northampton. I think he is a far superior player to Meyler but maybe not a 10. His game management needs a bit of work but I think he is a bit like Ian Humphries - he is quite a skilful player and could be excellent in the right environment. He is probably glad he never declared for Ireland because he would probably be uncapped now if he had

GerM

David900 wrote: »

Shane Geraghty to Brive.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/15/shane-geraghty-steffon-armitage-france

Probably the right choice for him. Not too sure who is in front of him at Brive but he hasn't got a look in at Northampton. I think he is a far superior player to Meyler but maybe not a 10. His game management needs a bit of work but I think he is a bit like Ian Humphries - he is quite a skilful player and could be excellent in the right environment. He is probably glad he never declared for Ireland because he would probably be uncapped now if he had

With the signing of Lamb, Geraghty really had no choice but to hit the road. It's a shame he ever declared for England. Don't blame him for it; they're his nation. But if he had stuck with Ireland he could be a fairly handy solution for Munster. Talented distributor who is comfortable at first centre. With some coaching and a good run of games he could have been a very useful player for them. Only ever got two starts for England.

David900

GerM wrote: »

With the signing of Lamb, Geraghty really had no choice but to hit the road. It's a shame he ever declared for England. Don't blame him for it; they're his nation. But if he had stuck with Ireland he could be a fairly handy solution for Munster. Talented distributor who is comfortable at first centre. With some coaching and a good run of games he could have been a very useful player for them. Only ever got two starts for England.

I completely forgot about Lamb heading there. Seems they must have given up on Geraghty so, seems a bit strange, Lamb is fairly shaky himself.