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Fissler Confidential: Tom Wright to kiss goodbye to Aussie rugby?

Australia's full-back Tom Wright celebrates scoring their first try during the Autumn Nations Series International rugby union test match between Wales and Australia at the Principality Stadium, in Cardiff on November 17, 2024. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE -use in books subject to Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) approval (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Explosive Wallaby star Tom Wright, who is now in the final year of his current contract with Rugby Australia and who is yet to agree to a new deal, has been linked with a move to the Premiership.

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Wright, 27, who can play full-back, wing and inside centre, has scored ten tries in 37 appearances for his country, including a hat-trick against Wales in November and keeping him two years ago was a big win for Rugby Australia.

Hailed by Eddie Jones as the best full-back in the world, he switched codes in 2019 after leaving Manly Sea Eagles and has said he would like to return to the NRL is being considered by Saracens, Exeter Chiefs and Gloucester.

Sale Sharks have made a move to keep England scrum-half Raffi Quirke after RugbyPass revealed that Exeter Chiefs had offered him a contract to make the switch to Devon next season.

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Fissler Confidential understands that the Sharks were dragging their heels until the Chiefs interest was made public, and they have now moved to keep him in the North-West but have had to dig deep to match the money on offer elsewhere.

Quirke, 23, who was on Harlequins’ wanted list if they needed to replace Danny Care, was offered around £200,000, almost double his current salary, to leave the Sharks but is now expected to confirm he is staying.

Gloucester are still looking to recruit players for next season, with whispers coming out of Exeter are that they have been sniffing around Jacques Vermeulen, who had play anywhere across the back row.

The former Sharks star, 29, who is out of contract at the end of the season, has been linked with a move to Toyota Verblitz in Japan Rugby League One after being blocked from switching his international allegiance to England.

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It is understood that the Cherry and Whites have wrapped up a move for Harlequins outside centre Will Joseph, who has scored three tries in six appearances this season but needs to get his career back on track.

Bristol Bears are believed to be working on a deal that will see them keep on-loan fly-half Harry Byrne at Ashton Gate at least until the end of the current season.

Byrne, 25, who made four appearances for Leinster this season, is due to make his fifth for the Bears when they face Ampthill in the Premiership Cup after signing up for three months as injury cover for knee injury victim AJ MacGinty.

The Bears will be without Max Malins, who ruptured an Achilles tendon in December, for the rest of the season and have asked about Byrne staying after he impressed in his first month in the West Country.

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The Stormers are preparing a contract offer to keep out of favour Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba in Cape Town beyond his contract running out at the end of the season.

Dweba, 29, started his career with the Cheetahs and joined the Stormers in 2022 after two seasons in France with Bordeaux and made his 50th appearance for John Dobson’s side against Toulon in December.

He rejected a lucrative move to Sale Sharks last summer and has been linked with clubs in Japan and France but is now waiting to see what Dobson puts on the table when he makes him his offer to stay.

Northampton Saints are looking to sign a new loosehead for next season as they expect to lose former England under-20 international Tarek Haffar when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Fissler Confidential reported in December that the Tigers were poised to move for Haffar, who is named to start for Saints at Welford Road in the Premiership Cup this weekend, and Saints team-mate Tom Seabrook.

Former England under-20 star Haffar moved to Franklins Gardens after London Irish went out of business and has played 12 games, scoring a try in the defeat against Harlequins last weekend.

Trouble is brewing in France after it was reported that Samoan-born Japanese back-rower Tevita Tatafu had agreed to extend his contract with Bayonne until the summer of 2030.

Tatafu, who is under contract until the summer of 2026, has an exit clause from the final 12 months of his deal, and that is where his problems started with his former club, Bor­deaux-Bègles, claiming they had an agreement to sign him.

It would appear that he initiated a pre-contract agreement with Bor­deaux last September, and they aren’t backing down. He could have to pay substantial compensation, with a year’s salary being the normal amount mentioned.

Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh believes that a decision on whether Joe Schmidt will remain the Wallabies boss beyond the Lions tour this summer will be made before the start of the Super Rugby season in two weeks.

Waugh told the Daily Telegraph in Sydney that they had been hoping to have heard by the end of last year but now thinks that an announcement is imminent.

“We’re hopeful we’ll be able to share a position reasonably soon. We’re really excited about what Super Rugby is going to deliver this year, and we don’t want to distract from the start of Super Rugby on February 14,” said Waugh.

Gloucester are poised to make a move for Cornish Pirates No.8 Hugh Bokenham after his man-of-the-match performance against them in the Premiership Cup on Friday night.

The Cherry and Whites coaching staff used the game to run the rule over the 23-year-old Australian, who has been lined up to replace Zach Mercer, who is moving to Toulon at the end of the season.

Bokenham, who played for Sydney University and NSW Waratahs in his native Australia before moving to Cornwall, has played 16 games for the Pirates this season and has scored five tries.

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R
RedWarriors 1 hour ago
France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Again we beat SA in Durban with an injury ravaged team. Guys like you have been predicting Irelands downfall for years for the same reasons.


Re the draw: NZ and SA were making plenty of noise about the draw until they squeeked through. SA and NZ don’t ‘rise above’ the draw. They BENEFIT from it!!


Should Scotland #5 seed globally but drawn in a Pool with Ireland and South Africa just have ‘risen above it’? Wow, if only your advice had occurred to them.

Should Japan in 2015 have ‘risen above it’ and beaten Scotland when forced to play them 4 days after beating South Africa?


That old chesnut about Ireland playing too many players in 2023. Ireland showed no fatigue in the RWC. We played the backline a lot early for coordination as Sexton back from ban. For professional sports people, you need to look at extreme fatigue to failure at the end of full intensity matches. They are the pertinent minutes. A backline running shapes for 60 mins against Romania is not a recovery issue. Amateur statisticians adding up minutes and jumping to silly conclusions means little.


I saw South Africa struggle badly with fatigue after the Quarter Final. Against Engalnd, in the final, you needed luck. You didn’t rise above it: you got poxed.


(BTW son. YOU haven’t won a World Cup

Also to note: you are jsut adding to the reputation of SA as having the most thin skinned supporters on the planet. A comment about Ireland dominating SA physcially and you can’t accept it. SA are never domianted! (even when they are))

40 Go to comments
P
PR 2 hours ago
France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Oh here we go again - the draw. If Ireland were that good they would rise above the draw. South Africa did. New Zealand did. Ireland, not so much. You seem to think that it matters what happens in the group stages of the WC. The ONLY thing that matters at World Cups is who lifts the cup in the end. That’s it. Do you take any pride in Ireland being ‘the best’ in your group at the World Cup? Does it make up for the hurt of crashing out in the quarters? Do you think it means anything to the All Blacks that they beat the Boks in the pool game in 2019? Of course not. You only care about those things when, like Ireland, you don’t progress past the knock out stages and are looking for silver linings.


Leinster beating an injury-ravaged Stormers means nothing. For starters the best player in the Leinster team was RG Snyman. Also a young Leinster team lost 62-7 to the Bulls a couple of years ago. You don’t know how good youngsters are until they play Test rugby. And that’s the concern for Ireland. They have blooded some youngsters but by-and-large they need to play their best team to get results. We saw it at the World Cup when the game minutes of Ireland players were off the scale.


Meanwhile the Boks had a 85% win record last year chopping and changing using 50 players. This year the wider Bok squad stands at 80. And Rassie will keep experimenting.


As for the Six Nations - I love it. Great comp (even though it only delivered one team in the last four at the last WC). I love the rivalry and the rich history, although winning it is no way near comparable to winning a World Cup. Maybe you need to have won one to understand.

40 Go to comments
B
Bull Shark 3 hours ago
The revitalised Australians are pushing a Super Rugby revival

I am Delisha, I find my marital affairs in a fluid situation; my husband left me with 2kids I felt like ending it all. I was emotionally down. But all thanks go to Dr herbal. I came across several testimonies about Dr Herbal on guestbook as i was

Where’s Delisha gone?


I think it’s unfair and appalling that the moderators silence Delisha about her “fluid marital situation”!


Fascist censors!


I have decided to come to Rugbypass for all my Herbal and cybersecurity news given the many wonderful posts shared here. And now this!


Delisha, where ever you are, God speed. I hope the fluids in your marriage remain strictly between you and your husband.

49 Go to comments
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