1
Fissler Confidential: England and Scotland centres' future in play
By Neil Fissler
Bath have opened talks with England inside centre Ollie Lawrence, who is out of contract at the end of the season. With the Gallagher Premiership club tight on the salary cap, he has yet to reach an agreement amid links with Glasgow and Scotland ace Sione Tuipulotu.
ADVERTISEMENT
Birmingham-born Lawrence, 25, has been a key player since joining from Worcester in October 2022. In 2023, at the end of his first season in Somerset, he was voted the Premiership Rugby player of the season.
Lawrence, who has won 27 England caps, has played 38 games for Bath on top of the 57 he made for the Warriors before financial problems forced them out of business, leaving him to depart for The Rec.
Sale Sharks are looking at Scotland and British and Irish Lions outside centre Chris Harris, who is in the final year of his contract, but Gloucester have made him an offer to stay at Kingsholm next season. Carlisle-born Harris, who is 34 in December, has made 92 appearances since joining Gloucester from Newcastle Falcons in 2019 after he made 101 appearances for the Kingston Park outfit.
The ex-England Counties international, who can also play at inside centre and on the wing, has made three games this season. Ironically, his last appearance was in the defeat to Sale on October 4.
Former Bristol Bears scrum-half Andy Uren will be staying in Italy for the next four seasons after signing a two-year extension to his contract with Benetton, the United Rugby championship outfit. Bristol-born Uren made over 150 appearances for his boyhood club before being granted an early release in 2023 by Pat Lam from his contract, which still had three years, after playing second fiddle to Harry Randall.
He was due to be under contract to Benetton, who picked up their first win of the season against the Sharks last weekend, until 2026 but has now agreed on a two-year extension, taking him through until 2028.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fijian international outside centre Sireli Maqala could leave Bayonne when his contract runs out at the end of the season but is likely to stay in France and join a rival Top 14 side. The 24-year-old, who can also play on the wing and at full-back, is in the sights of Racing 92 and Bordeaux-Begles, according to our friends at French website Rugby Prime.
Maqala came off the bench in Fiji’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to England last year and has won nine caps for his country. He joined Bayonne in 2021 and helped them win promotion to the Top 14 in his first season.
Harlequins have joined the crowd of clubs in the race to land Sale scrum-half Raffi Quirke, who is out of contract at the end of the season and could kick-start his career away from Manchester. The 23-year-old has seen his career stall after the emergence of Gus Warr and a series of injury problems.
He has also been offered to to Premiership rivals Bath and Saracens, but Quins are looking for someone to replace veteran former England international Danny Care, who it appears will call time on his career after a successful bow in the media.
ADVERTISEMENT
Bordeaux have offered Sale’s former Springbok back row Dan du Preez a deal to join them next season after he held a successful Zoom meeting with the Top 14 side a couple of weeks ago.
RugbyPass revealed that Durban-born 29-year-old was on their radar to replace Tongan-born Japanese international Tevita Tatafu, who will return to Japan’s League One next summer when his contract run out.
Meanwhile, if du Preez rejects a move to the Top 14, Northampton Saints’ former South Africa U20s international, Juarno Augustus, is another player who interests Bordeaux and they could make a move for him instead.
The Stormers have stepped up their bid to lure Springbok loosehead prop Ntuthuko Mchunu away from his home town club, the Sharks, amid rumours surrounding the future of back-to-back World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff.
Kitshoff hasn’t played since he started Ulster’s EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat in Clermont in April, and the rumour mill in South Africa has been awash this week with murmurs about his future in the game following his return to the Stormers.
Maritzburg College-educated Mchunu, 25, has won three Springbok caps, including playing against Wales and Portugal in the summer. He is being seen as Kitshoff’s replacement rather than to compete with him.
According to the French newspaper Midi Olympique, Lyon have won the battle with Pau to sign former England No8 Sam Simmonds when his contract with Montpellier runs out at the end of the season. Pau, who have been chasing Simmonds since last season, had revived their interest in reuniting him with his younger brother Joe at Stade du Hameau next season, but it now looks unlikely to happen.
Simmonds, who is being forced out of Montpellier by the arrival of Billy Vunipola, is set to wrap up the move to Lyon unless there is a last-minute change of heart.
Northampton are set to step up their bid to sign a couple of players as short-term cover after hammering Sale 47-17 at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday evening. The Premiership champions jumped above the Sharks in the table after securing their third win in five games at the start of the defence of the crown they won against Bath at Twickenham.
Sources have told RugbyPass that they have been looking to see who is available for a move to the East Midlands. They are looking for cover in the back row and also someone for the front row.
Cardiff have put a world-class back row on their shopping list for next season, a sign that they believe that they might not be able to keep hold of one or more of a trio out of contract at the end of the season. Taulupe Faletau, Dan Thomas and Thomas Young are all in the last year of their contracts and Cardiff have been asking to be kept in touch about any players who are interested in moving to Wales.
Fissler Confidential understands that Matt Sherratt is also keen on signing a tighthead and a starting outside-centre on his shopping list as well.
Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV
