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Jersey add six backs including Olowofela and a Russian club centre

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Jersey Reds have further ramped up preparations for the new 2021/22 Championship by announcing the signing of a half-dozen backs, adding to the confirmation earlier this week that they had snapped up ex-Sale prop James Flynn and back row pair Alex Humfrey and Wesley White, a son of the 2007 Springboks World Cup-winning coach Jake.

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Scrum-halves James Mitchell, Harry Simmons and Will Lane have now been added to the Jersey squad by the Championship club’s director of rugby Harvey Biljon, along with centre Jordan Holgate and wingers Ryan Olowofela and Will Brown.

Mitchell, a brother of current England call-up Alex, joins from Doncaster following previous stints at Northampton and Connacht, and ex-England age-grade player Simmons has arrived on a season-long loan from Leicester Tigers.

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Lane, the third scrum-half who had been with Worcester academy and Loughborough, now becomes an official part of the squad after spending some time last season with the Reds.

An intriguing recruit is Holgate. Having been with the Bulls academy and Boland in his native South Africa, he spent a year at Western Force before playing in recent times for Slava Moscow, the club whose home ground was the venue for Jersey’s eye-catching win over Russia prior to the 2019 World Cup.  

Ex-England 7s winger Olowofela joins after two years at Northampton where he played alongside twin brother Jordan. He was among a quartet of players released by the Saints on May 26. Former Scotland U19s cap Brown comes in from Ampthill after a previous stint at Loughborough.

The Channel Islands club, who last month hosted the British and Irish Lions for a training camp at their Stade Santander International ground, finished mid-table in last year’s Championship with five wins from ten matches and will open preparations for the new season with visits from Leicester and Sale for friendlies on August 27 and September 3. 

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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