Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Zach Mercer, Billy Vunipola again linked with Top 14 moves – report

Zach Mercer on England duty versus the Barbarians (Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images for Barbarians)

Out-of-favour England No8s Zach Mercer and Billy Vunipola have both again been linked with transfers to the Top 14 for the 2024/25 season. Mercer, the French league’s player of the year in 2022 when Montpellier were crowned champions, hasn’t been able to get a lasting look-in with Steve Borthwick’s Test set-up after he was initially convinced to return to the Gallagher Premiership by Eddie Jones to try for the Rugby World Cup squad.

ADVERTISEMENT

Jones had twice capped Mercer when he was at Bath before his switch to Montpellier but the Australian’s sacking in December 2022 hampered Mercer’s Test recall chances and his only Borthwick selection was for a couple of weeks of training last June before the official World Cup training squad was named.

He has been surplus to international requirements since then and has now been touted for a switch to Toulon if the stumbling block of a hefty compensation fee for Gloucester, with whom he signed a long-term deal, is sorted out.

Video Spacer

Simon Raiwalui on what his new role with World Rugby entails

Former Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui chats about his new role as High Performance Pathways and Player Development Manager at World Rugby.

Video Spacer

Simon Raiwalui on what his new role with World Rugby entails

Former Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui chats about his new role as High Performance Pathways and Player Development Manager at World Rugby.

Vunipola, meanwhile, was chosen for the World Cup by Borthwick but has been excluded for the current Guinness Six Nations campaign and it is now being reported that he is allegedly set for talks in the coming days with Montpellier.

A Midi Olympique report read: “Still barred from the national team, Zach Mercer is wondering about his future across the Channel and thinks of returning to France. RCT are said to be very interested, but his club Gloucester are asking for hefty compensation.

“According to our information, the Englishman’s CV has been circulated in several Top 14 clubs. The Montpellier club would have sounded him out for a possible return, but the player would not have followed up on this request. The RCT is also said to have shown strong interest in Mercer, to the point of making him a good offer.

“Problem? When he signed with the Cherry and Whites, Mercer signed a long-term, three- or four-year contract. That’s why Gloucester are asking for the tidy sum of €1million to release their back-row who, as he did at Montpellier, is putting in a string of top-flight performances with Gloucester, who are still in a disappointing second-to-last place in the Premiership.

ADVERTISEMENT

“For its part, Montpellier is also continuing its recruitment campaign. After failing to sign Australian XIII star Joey Manu and Scottish centre Huw Jones, who eventually extended his contract with his Glasgow club, the Herault club are looking to strengthen its back row.

“In this sense, the CV of another Englishman, Saracens player Billy Vunipola would be of great interest to Montpellier scouts. According to our information, a meeting between the two parties could take place in the coming days.”

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING The appointment I would make to save Steve Borthwick – Andy Goode The appointment I would make to save Steve Borthwick – Andy Goode
Search