Sale Sharks have signed hooker Tadgh McElroy on a deal that will run until the end of the season.
Injury and form have meant that the 31-year-old hooker was last capped when Eddie Jones was still in charge of the national side, the tenure-ending Autumn Nations Series of 2022.
Last season’s beaten finalists appeared poised to reach a second successive final when they courageously fought back from trailing 5-18 25 minutes into the knockout game at The Rec to lead 23-21 a dozen minutes into the second half.
In the end, this second semi came down to a training ground play that Bath would have executed time and time again out at Farleigh.
Gus Warr, Tommy Taylor, Sam James and Tom O’Flaherty crossed for tries as last season’s runners-up made it four straight bonus-point wins.
Tommy Taylor came through the Sale academy and was capped by England before leaving for Wasps in 2016 and he is now returning to Manchester.
Wasps hooker Tommy Taylor has endured wildly fluctuating emotions in a tumultuous year
Wasps lost four players to Premiership injury inside 34 minutes on Monday and they are likely to need cover at hooker due to the Tommy Taylor situation.
Wasps flanker Thomas Young, full-back Lima Sopoaga, hooker Tommy Taylor and Taylor’s replacement Gabriel Oghre all departed injured during the first 34 minutes.
Not since 2017 has Duncan Taylor worn a Scotland jersey, so watching him walk out in France next Saturday night will be like seeing a dodo strut down Princes Street.
