Fissler Confidential: Paddy Jackson set for Premiership return?

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter is set to go back to the drawing board after appearing to miss out in the race to land NSW Waratahs and Wallaby scrum-half Jake Gordon when his contract ends this summer.

Gordon, 31, who has made 104 appearances for the Waratahs, was wanted by the Chiefs to join fellow countrymen Len Ikitau, Tom Hooper and Julian Heaven in moving to Sandy Park next season.

But according to his profile on the Waratahs website, he “has signed to play for French Top 14 club, Montpellier, in late 2025,” a year after Rugby Australia blocked a move to another Top 14 outside Perpignan for another year in Sydney.

Will Felix Jones be the next Bok Head Coach? | RPTV

Will Felix Jones be the next Bok Head Coach? | RPTV

The Boks Office boy speculate as to whether Felix Jones’ return could set him up for a long term future with the Springboks. Watch the full show now on RugbyPass TV.

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Springbok winger Edwill van der Merwe is the latest South African who is set to walk the familiar path to join Sale Sharks when his contract runs out later this year.
The Premiership side announced last week that they have signed his Lions team-mate Marius Louw, and now Van der Merwe, who won his first test cap against Wales last summer, is set to follow him.

The 28-year-old who started his career with the Stormers has scored six tries in 14 appearances for the Lions this season, which is the same as he scored in 18 appearances in the last campaign.

Provence Rugby, who are hunting for promotion from the Pro D2, have put Gloucester and Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe on their shopping list after he won a recall for the last three rounds of the Six Nations.

Former New Zealand under-20 international Anscombe, 33, has also played for the Cardiff and Ospreys since moving from New Zealand a decade ago and has proved his fitness this season after a long-term groin injury.

Anscombe, who has been capped 46 times, said last week that he has an eye on the 2027 World Cup after being recalled for his adopted nation and has played 11 times for Gloucester this summer after signing a one-year deal last May.

Newcastle Falcons are set to borrow £4 million from the Premiership and CVC Capital Partners to stay in business next season and have been linked with a move for controversial former Ireland fly-half Paddy Jackson.

The Premiership’s basement dwellers need propping up just two years after Worcester, Wasps and London Irish all went out of business and would be seen as an absolute disaster if the ten-team competition lost another club.
Jackson, who has been playing in Lyon since the Exiles went bust, is under contract until 2026, while the Falcons recently announced that Ethan Grayson is returning to the club next season on a one-year deal.

Connacht fly-half, Josh Ioane, is staying in Galway for the next two years after extending his contract with the United Rugby Championship outfit Connacht.

The former All Black, who started his career with the Highlanders, signed a one-year contract with the club on the Irish West Coast last summer after spending three seasons in Super Rugby with the Chiefs.

Ioane, 29, has made ten appearances for Connacht this season and has racked up 454 points and is now set to stay with the province until 2027 after putting pen to paper on his new contract last week.

Former Wallaby winger Taqele Naiyara­voro has been released from his contract by Championnat Federal Nationale outfit Narbonne so he can immediately return to his adopted Australia.

Fiji-born Naiyara­voro, 33, who has played for the Waratahs, Glasgow Warriors, Panasonic Wild Knights, Northampton Saints, and NEC Green Rockets, joined Narbonne in July 2024.

But he has only played six times, scoring two tries, ironically with the last coming against Rouen before he was released and started his career in rugby league with West Tigers before crossing codes to the Waratahs ten years ago.

England Player Welfare Manager Joe Marler has joined the cast of the hit telly programme Traitors for a celebrity version, which is set to start filming in the next couple of weeks.

Latest reports suggest that the former England loosehead who announced his retirement earlier this season will be replacing former tennis star Andy Murray for the new series, which will be filmed in the Highlands of Scotland.

Marler, 34, looks set to appear on the BBC series, which it has been announced will feature nine episodes and has appeared on The Wheel and Richard Osman’s House of Games since hanging up his boots.

Jeandre Labuschagne is set to swap the Sharks for Japan Rugby League One outfit Canon Eagles when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Openside flanker Labuschagne, 25, who can also play at lock, has clocked up 45 appearances for the Sharks, scoring two tries, has played eight times for them this season, but has also started twice.

Labuschagne made his Sharks debut against the British & Irish Lions in July 2021 and has secured a lucrative move to Japan, according to a report in Rapport in South Africa.