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Fissler Confidential: A tale of two Springbok transfers
By Neil Fissler
The Dragons are in talks to snatch Wales openside Thomas Young on a three-year deal from United rugby championship rivals Cardiff when his contract in the Welsh capital runs out at the end of the season.
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Young, 32, who can play anywhere across the back row, had attracted interest from the Premiership, where he played 146 times at Wasps under his dad Dai, but looks like making the shock move to Rodney Parade.
A move to a non-Welsh club would have made him ineligible to add to his four test caps because he has fewer than the 25 caps needed under the controversial rule, but a switch to another region keeps his dream alive.
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Top 14 big spenders Toulon, La Rochelle, and Racing 92 are, according to sources, interested in signing a Wallaby centre next season with the CVs of two players out of contract later this year doing the rounds.
One is that of Brumbies outside centre Len Ikitau, 26, who hails from Brisbane and has won 40 Wallabies caps scoring six tries as well as making 62 appearances touching down 18 times.
The second player doing the rounds is Western Force’s Hamish Stewart, 26. He can play inside centre, fly-half, or full-back. He has won two Wallaby caps and played 81 times for Queensland Reds before moving to Perth.
The Stormers are poised to win their battle to keep one-time Springbok skipper Salmann Moerat, who is out of contract at the end of the season in Cape Town, until after the 2027 World Cup.
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Moerat, 26, who became the first Muslim to captain the Springboks when he led them out against Portugal last summer, had been wanted by Premiership outfit Sale Sharks and Top 14 side Bayonne.
The Sharks were understood to be willing to pay as much as £330,000 a year to tempt him to the North-West, with Bayonne likely to pay as much, but Stormers boss John Dobson has persuaded him to stick with him.
Springbok full-back Willie Le Roux is set to perform a full u-turn and remain at the Bulls next season despite telling them he wouldn’t be seeing out the final 12 months of his three-year contract.
Fissler Confidential reported last November that the 35-year-old had been spotted in Bath, but they bulked at his £450,000 a year wage demands as he held out for a better off from Japan, which never arrived.
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Two-time World Cup winner Le Roux is now speaking to the Bulls about potentially spending the final days of his career in South Africa rather than overseas, and it’s understood an agreement is close.
Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter says people will see in the next few weeks how his squad is shaping up for next season, and he looks to step up his recruitment for next season.
“In the next few weeks, people will see how our squad is shaping up for next year. We haven’t got loads of recruitment to do. We are talking to three or four players in important positions for us.
“It looks very exciting for the future. If we can add a bit of quality, experience and leadership, we have got the makings of a strong squad,” said Baxter who has seen his side struggle in the Premiership and Champions Cup this season.
Brive have lined up a move for Harlequins lock Irne Herbst as the promotion race at the top of the Pro D2 for next season hots up.
Brive, who are currently third in the table behind runaway leaders Grenoble and second place Provence, want to partner Herbst with former England skipper Courtney Lawes next season.
The South African started his career with Southern Kings before moving onto Benetton in Italy and has made over 60 appearances for Harlequins since moving to the Premiership three years ago.
Michael Cheika could emerge as a surprise candidate to become the next coach of Australia’s Rugby League team when he leaves Leicester Tigers at the end of the season.
Fissler Confidential reported last week that Cheika’s CV is doing the rounds in France and that Racing 92 bosses were taking a look at it, but he still fancies a cross-code switch.
Cheika, who was in the running for the top job with NRL giants South Sydney Rabbitohs last year, and the whispers are that he could be asked to take charge of the Kangaroos for their tour of England later this year.
Former Ireland and Lions star Jerry Flannery was spotted in Toulouse last week, but it was nothing more than an invite to watch training sessions at the Ernest-Wallon.
Flannery, 46, who started his coaching career as a strength and conditioning coach at Arsenal before returning to Munster as scrum coach moving onto Harlequins in the Premiership.
He has been running the defence of World Champions South Africa since 2024, and it was just a case of Toulouse opening their doors to coaches and letting them watch training sessions.
Harlequins are poised to announce that they have lured Argentina lock Guido Petti to South-West London next season after signing a three-year deal to leave Bordeaux.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Petti, 30, who has played for Bordeaux since 2020 when the Jaguares disbanded, has penned a deal with former Premiership champions Quins until 2028.
Petti, who also plays in the back row and who has won 85 caps for his country and played 64 games for his country, will follow another lock Ulster’s Kieran Treadwell into moving to Quins next season.
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