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'Loan deal' for England's Ben Earl may already be done and dusted

(Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images)

England and Saracens backrow Ben Earl looks likely to sign a loan deal with Bristol Bears that will see him spend next season in the West Country.

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The backrow was named in England’s Six Nations squad last month after outstanding form for Saracens in both the Premiership and in Europe. He made his England debut against Scotland and has become a prime target of rival clubs following the automatic relegation of Mark McCall’s team.

Earl had been linked to Northampton Saints, Gloucester and Bristol in recent weeks, though it now appears the Bears have won the race to capture the openside.

RugbyPass understands the young backrow is eager to remain in the Premiership to further his elite playing experience and maintain his fledgling England career. Unlike other senior players who have far more experience under their belt, Earl may feel the top-level exposure is still vital for his personal development.

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A product of the Saracens academy, he has been at the North London club since he was 14. Earl made his senior Saracens debut as a replacement in the LV= Cup in November 2016 and featured a further four times, including his first outing in the Aviva Premiership.

He starred for England Under-20s at the Junior World Championships, scoring in the final against New Zealand, and went on to collect some early season minutes in the league this term.

Earl captained his country in this year’s U20 Six Nations prior to crossing for a try on his first Premiership start against Exeter Chiefs.

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Yesterday Elliot Daly became the latest senior player to pledge allegiance to Saracens, following England hooker Jamie George.

“Yeah I reckon I’ll stay, pretty similar to Jamie. I am still in contract,” said Daly ahead of Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland.

“We have the rest of the season to sort it out. At the moment, I’m just thinking about the next couple of games with England and then when I get back to Saracens, we’ll start talking about next year.”

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J
JW 18 minutes 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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