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Henry Purdy to become big spending Coventry Rugby's sixth Premiership signing - reports
By
Ian Cameron
Henry Purdy is set to become big-spending Coventry Rugby’s sixth Premiership signing ahead of the new season.
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According to The Rugby Paper, Purdy will sign for the Championship side after five years at the Cherry and Whites.
Purdy will become Coventry Rugby’s sixth Gallagher Premiership signing, and the eighth player from either the Premiership or the Guinness PRO14 to sign on at the club.
I’d just like to take the opportunity to thank @gloucesterrugby for the journey. It’s been a mad 5 years with both highs and lows, of course. But plenty of amazing memories that will remain with me for a lifetime… https://t.co/0FAi8YO4mh
— Henry Purdy (@henrypurdy_) June 26, 2019
The club have also signed Ryan Burrows (Newcastle Falcons), James Voss (Leicester Tigers), Gareth Denman (Gloucester), David Langley (Wasps) and Luke Wallace (Harlequins), and Senitiki Nayalo from Edinburgh and Gerard Ellis from the Dragons in the PRO14.
The also signed Donald Brighouse from Otago in the Mitre 10, as well as Will Owen (Doncaster Knights), Rory Jennings (London Scottish), Andy Forsyth (Yorkshire Carnegie) and Joe Buckle (Yorkshire Carnegie) from fellow Championship sides.
? NEW LOOK FOR 2019/20!! ?
The city of Coventry's red and green colours are back in the crest
A new phoenix motif to represent our rise through the leagues
'Coventry Rugby est 1874' included for 1st timeCloser to our heritage. Building for the future #OurClubOurCity pic.twitter.com/UqKXXEsjgM
— Coventry Rugby (@CoventryRugby) May 15, 2019
They haven’t had it all their own way however. Backrow Stan South was due to join the Championship outfit on a two-year deal following his release from Harlequins, but following injuries at the end of last season to both Price and Witty, the Exeter Chiefs swooped to recruit the Southampton-born player on a one-year deal ahead of the new campaign.
Moves to the Championship by relatively high profile players are becoming more common as an oversupply of rugby talent from the southern hemisphere continues to flood the market in the north.
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Rugby agent Tom Beattie of TBD Sports recently told RugbyPass that the market for rugby players is very much a ‘buyers market’.
“Clubs are being very strict on the salary caps, and that’s meant that unfortunately some guys are left in a position where there isn’t that contract that there was a couple of years ago.
“It’s certainly a buyers’ market this year, because of the number of players without a contract. A lot of clubs can wait a bit longer and perhaps a player has to take a reduction in salary to get that contract.”
