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Bristol's big name signings to be given European Cup green light

Semi Radradra could feature for Bristol Bears in European competition. (Photos/Gettys Images)

European rugby officials are set to allow Semi Radradra, Jonny Gray and Aled Davies to play in key quarter-final matches in the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup despite having appeared in the same competitions for other clubs this season.

The enforced ending of the Top14 league in France and the delayed conclusion to the Gallagher Premiership and Guinness Pro14 seasons has seen players move clubs in recent weeks, with new contracts coming into force on July 1.

That has created unique qualification situations and with the quarter-finals of both European competitions to be staged on the weekend of September 18, squads have been bolstered by new arrivals.

While no decision has been formally announced, RugbyPass understands Cup organisers are expecting to be lobbied by clubs like Bristol to allow Radradra to play even though he has appeared for Bordeaux in the same competition this season, while Exeter and Saracens will make the same case in the Heineken Champions Cup for Jonny Gray (Glasgow to Exeter) and Aled Davies (Scarlets to Saracens).

Kyle Sinckler would be free to play for Bristol as he played in a different competition for Harlequins.

Dean Ryan, the Dragons director of  rugby, is hoping to add Wales lock Will Rowlands and centre Joe Tomane to the club’s squad for their quarter-final with big spending Bristol Bears.

Rowlands, who made his Wales debut against France in the Six Nations, is contracted to Wasps but would be the ideal replacement for Cory Hill who has joined the Blues, while Wallaby wing Tomane, who was confirmed to be leaving Leinster last week, would add firepower to a Dragons back line already bolstered by the arrival of two other Wales internationals, Jonah Holmes, from Leicester, and Nick Tompkins on a one-year loan from Saracens.

Ryan has been attempting to bolster a squad that is still lightweight in terms of experience compared to clubs like Bristol and with the Dragons certain to be involved in an expanded Heineken Champions Cup competition next season, strength in depth is a major concern.

Typically, Ryan is up for the challenge and believes the benefits of his players taking on the cream of European rugby will outweigh the negatives.

The former England No8 admits being included in the top flight of European rugby will be tough for his squad and that is why the addition of Rowlands and Tomane would be welcome.

However, neither deal is confirmed as the Dragons prepare for tomorrow’s first Stage One training day that will see them operate in carefully controlled groups of six players due to the continuing lockdown restrictions in Wales.

He told RugbyPass: “We are talking to lots of players and we are always hopeful of recruiting good players and we are keen to talk to them. Rowlands would fall into the same category as Tomane and we are interested in players who want to come to Wales.

“Rowlands has had his first introduction to test rugby and at the moment he is contracted to Wasps and we will wait to hear if there is any change.

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“Being in the Heineken Cup next season is a fantastic opportunity for us. Yes, it will hurt and there will be times when we will have to face the stark reality of some of the bigger clubs but we want the players to have that opportunity.

“It is part of their development and there will be times when our numbers in our squad will make it really challenging but what a great opportunity. We accept there may be some collateral damage as we develop.

“It will be interesting when we face Bristol because they will probably have more games going into the quarter-final than us. You have to be careful focusing on one game and it looks like we could be playing every weekend from October to February anyway.

“You have to look at development window as well, otherwise no one will improve and we are OK with the only disaster being if anyone got a set back in terms of illness. Everything I have heard is that the players who have joined squads during this period can play in European games but I haven’t seen anything official.

“Bristol have significant investment and clear strategy of where they are heading and will be one of the big clubs over the next five or ten years.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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