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Fissler Confidential: A Lion to return to Welford Road?
By Neil Fissler
Racing 92 could offer Dan Lancaster a new deal after Glasgow Warriors attempted to put some distance between themselves and a move for the Scotland-qualified fly-half when his contract runs out this summer.
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Lancaster, 23, has been in superb form for Racing since, at the start of February, they sacked his dad, former England boss Stuart, playing 23 games because of fitness problems to Owen Farrell.
Racing have won five of the last six games in the Top 14 and Challenge Cup that former England under-20 international Lancaster has started, and sources in France have told us that a new deal could be on the cards.
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Harlequins could offer Fijian international hooker Sam Matavesi a route back into the Premiership when he is released by Top 14 outfit Lyon a year early at the end of the season.
Truro-born Matavesi, 33, has been offered around Premiership clubs after making 16 appearances following his move from Northampton Saints and recently was a target for Top 14 strugglers Vannes but the move failed to materialise.
However, it is understood that Quins are exploring signing the former Plymouth Albion, Cornish Pirates and Toulouse man after he became surplus to requirements at Lyon after they extended Camille Chat’s contract until 2029.
Geoff Parling has been linked with a return to his former club, Leicester Tigers, as part of a new-look coaching staff next season if he finds himself surplus to requirements when Les Kiss becomes the new Wallabies boss.
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Parling, who joined the Tigers from Newcastle Falcons in July 2009, spent six years at Welford Road before moving to Exeter Chiefs and has spent the last seven years working in Australia after ending his career with Melbourne Rebels.
He joined Joe Schmidt’s coaching team as the Wallabies’ new lineout coach in April 2024 but has been linked with a return to the Premiership. Rugby Australia is set to confirm Kiss’s appointment at any time.
Billy Searle will stay with Pro D2 outfit Agen next season despite drawing interest from Leicester Tigers, who were keen to bring him home to the Premiership after failing to meet a clause in his contract.
The Exeter-born fly-half, 29, has played for Launceston, Plymouth Albion, Bristol, Wasps, Worcester Warriors, Bath, and Cornwall since starting his career in 2014 and is under contract to Agen until 2027.
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But Midi Olympique has reported that the clause allowing him to move to the Premiership, Top 14, or even Japan had to be activated before March 31, and as it wasn’t, he will remain at the club for at least another season.
Australian Schoolboys back-rower Heinz Lemoto could become the latest highly rated Junior Wallaby star to be picked up by a French club, with European champions Toulouse keen on snapping him up. Fissler Confidential reported at the end of March that Bayonne had completed a deal for under-18’s sevens star Declan Minto to move to the Top 14 later this year. There is no sign of the talent drain ending anytime soon. Lemoto is weighing up his future, but Toulouse are the front-runner’s for his signature, and he would be eligible to become JIFF-qualified and play for France if he serves a five-year qualification.
Kurt-Lee Arendse is locked in talks with the Bulls about turning his temporary move to Japan Rugby League One outfit Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars into a more permanent arrangement.
Springbok winger Arendse, 28, is due to be under contract to the Bulls until the end of next season, but according to South African publication Rapport, he is loving life in Japan and wants to stay. But if the Bulls refuse to release him from the final year of his contract, it’s been reported that he refuses to rule out opening talks about a long-term extension to his stay with the Pretoria-based franchise.
Glasgow Warriors have been interviewing for a new defence coach to join Franco Smith’s coaching staff in the summer with it being suggested that Roddy Grant, who left Ulster at the start of the season, has emerged as the front-runner. Grant, who was born in Botswana to Scottish parents, won Scotland A and sevens honours and played 138 games for the Warriors arch-rivals Edinburgh before turning to coaching with the club.
The 38-year-old became a Business Development Manager for Breadalbane Finance in April and has also served as an assistant coach to the Georgian national team when they won the Rugby Europe Cup earlier this year.
Edinburgh have confirmed that former Scotland sevens scrum-half Charlie Shiel has signed a new one-year deal and will remain with his home town club for a ninth season. Shiel, 27, joined Edinburgh in 2016 and has played 83 times for the club and has put pen to paper on a new deal with Ali Price, set to make a move to Top 14 outfit Montpellier on a two-year deal this summer. “It’s been great working alongside the younger nines, like Hector Paterson and Conor McAlpine. I get a real buzz out of sharing my experiences and helping them develop,” he said.
Former England No.8 Nathan Hughes is on the move in Japan after joining Japan Rugby League one strugglers Urayasu D-Rocks on loan from the Black Rams. Fiji-born Hughes, 33, has spent the last three seasons playing for the Black Rams after leaving Bristol Bears and has been a regular in his first two seasons with the Tokyo-based Black Rams.
Urayasu D-Rocks are currently bottom of the Division One table, eight points adrift of MIE Honda Heat and have signed Hughes until the end of the season in the hope of avoiding the drop into Division Two.
Former London Irish and Saracens boss Brendan Venter is returning to coaching this summer after joining Western Province for their Currie Cup campaign. Former Springbok Venter, 55, who has also worked for Italy and the Boks, will be joined on the WP staff by Lions and Scotland star Josh Strauss in a bid to turn around last season’s dismal form. Venter, who works as a medical doctor, joins WP, who last season finished seventh out of eight teams and only managed to win just three of their 10 matches.
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