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Ulster sign All Black tighthead from Wasps

Photo by Bob Bradford/CameraSport via Getty Images)

Ulster have announced the signing of one-cap All Black Jeff Toomaga-Allen from Wasps on a one year deal from next season.

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The 31-year-old has been at the Coventry Building Society Arena since 2019, making 62 appearances for Wasps to date, but is part of a mass exodus of former All Blacks making the move to the United Rugby Championship at the end of the season, with Malakai Fekitoa joining Munster and Vaea Fifita joining the Scarlets. Compatriot Jimmy Gopperth is also parting ways with the club at the end of the season in order to join Midlands rivals Leicester Tigers.

The 6ft 4in tighthead will bring a wealth of experience to the Kingspan Stadium having won a Super Rugby title with the Hurricanes in 2016 and having started for Wasps in the 2020 Gallagher Premiership final. This is alongside his All Blacks cap he earned against Japan in 2013.

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Toomaga-Allen said: “I’m really excited about the chance to join such a great club as Ulster. I’ve heard the fans are amazing, and I can’t wait to get stuck into next season.”

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland said: “Jeff has played at a high level in Super Rugby and the English Premiership for a number of years and as such he will bring considerable experience to bolster our tighthead roster, as well as being a great mentor for the younger players in our squad.

“We look forward to welcoming Jeff to Ulster.”

It was announced just over a week ago that the tighthead would be leaving Wasps at the end of the season, but now he has found a destination.

“Everyone at Wasps would like to thank Cameron, Michael, James, Rob, Pieter, Jeff and Marcus, along with their families, all the very best for the future,” said Wasps director of rugby Blackett.

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“All seven players have shown immense dedication during their spells with us, and their contribution, both on and off the pitch, has been significant.”

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Tom 52 minutes ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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