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Three Test Lions among 10 rugby free agents still looking for clubs
By Neil Fissler
The life of a professional rugby player isn’t as secure as it once was. Since Covid and three Premiership clubs going bust, there has been a surplus of big-name players available at a time of the year when in a time not too long ago, they would all have been snapped up and signed up on extended deals.
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RugbyPass has cast an eye over some players who were released at the end of last season and who, to the best of our knowledge, have yet to find another club despite next season only being just around the corner and with pre-season well underway.
Virimi Vakatawa
Any doubts about the long-term fitness of the New Zealand-born French international outside centre will have been banished after he played 20 games for Bristol Bears and the Barbarians last season. He is a box office performer who is still one of the best players in his position to be found playing the game.
Dave Ewers
The former England Saxon back row – who offers an option at No.8 as well as at blindside flanker – left Ulster at the end of last season. Ewers is a highly physical player known for his high work rate in defence and was one of the best gainline-winning forwards in the Premiership.
Harry Elrington
He is the victim of a tough market for loosehead props. He is a dynamic and big-hitter performer who, at 30, still has plenty to offer. It was only three years ago that then England head coach Eddie Jones called him up for the autumn internationals as cover for a game against the scrummaging beasts of South Africa.
Max Green
An experienced scrum-half with Premiership experience with Bath, Bristol Bears, and Harlequins, he has been earmarked for international honours with Sweden. Green played for the Barbarians against Samoa in the build-up to the World Cup and, at 28, still has plenty of playing left in him.
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Matt Scott
Scotland centre left Leicester Tigers at the end of last season and returned to Scotland, where his wife Ruth is teaching at a primary school. Scott, the partner in a restaurant business, admits that it’s not certain he will play again because unless the money is right, he won’t be uprooting his family.
Jonathan Davies
The Wales and Lions centre ended his 16-season association with The Scarlets at the end of last season, and despite celebrating his 36th birthday in April, he admitted that he still enjoys training and playing. So, he has no plans for retirement and is open to opportunities either at home or abroad before old father time tells him it’s time to call it a day.
Wyn Jones
There were more than a few raised eye brews when the Scarlets released the Wales and Lions loosehead, who has clocked up over 130 appearances over the last decade. He recently said that he feels fitter than at any time since playing for the Lions but says that he has irons in the fire and is happy to take his time to find the right club.
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Gavin Thornbury
A few years ago, he was on the fringes of a potential Ireland call-up but is now a free agent at 30. The 6’7 lock was one of 11 experienced players let go by Connacht at the end of last season after injuries restricted him to four games, but he is a player with a lot to offer.
Alex Cuthbert
The Wales winger was released by The Ospreys and suffered a serious hamstring injury against Munster in March. But with business interests, including Sportin’ Wales, which produces a magazine and a podcast, a horse breeding venture, TV pundit work, and studying for his coaching qualifications, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he called it a day.
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
It is hard to believe that the former Scotland scrum-half, who has had a long career that started North of the Border before stops in France, Wales, England and Italy, is still only 30. But only managed to play twice for Benetton last season so it remains to be seen where he will pop up next.
