Bath raid rivals to sign four players
Bath Rugby have raided Premiership rivals for three players and signed another from local rivals Cornish Pirates – all four are English-qualified.
Lewis Boyce will join the Blue, Black and White following two seasons with Harlequins. The 22-year-old has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting loosehead props in the country and was rewarded with a place in Eddie Jones’ 35-man squad for England’s Six Nations campaign last year.
“I’m really looking forward to continuing my development with Bath Rugby. I’ve hugely enjoyed my time at Harlequins and am fully focused on the next five months as there is a lot of rugby still to be played this season with the club challenging strongly on a number of fronts.” Boyce said.
Christian Judge arrives in the West Country from Cornish Pirates and comes with Gallagher Premiership pedigree having spent the season on loan at reigning Gallagher Premiership champions Saracens. The 25-year-old tighthead has made 11 appearances to date for Mark McCall’s side, his most recent coming in the 10-28 victory over Lyon in the Heineken Champions Cup.
“I’ve had a great experience this season with Saracens – it’s not only helped to develop my all-round game but given me that world-class competition week in, week out. To have the opportunity to come to Bath next season is huge for my career, and one that I’m relishing.” Judge said.
Continue reading below…
Watch: Eddie Jones on his 35-man England squad for the Six Nations
Will Stuart joins the club having come through the Wasps Academy, with the tighthead prop making his first team debut during the 2017/18 season. The front rower featured in England’s triumphant World Rugby U20 Championship in 2016, and has continued to show his promise for his club side making 24 appearances.
“There is a great deal of emphasis placed on developing young players at the Club, which was fundamental in my decision to move to Bath. I feel there is no better place for me to learn and I have no doubt that I can make big strides forward as a player.” Stuart commented.
Bath will also welcome Mike Williams from Leicester for the 2019/20 season. Comfortable across both the second row and back row, the 27-year-old has spent the last three and a half seasons with the Tigers appearing 70 times. At 6ft 5 and 18 stone, Williams will add a considerable physical presence to the squad.
Reflecting on his move Williams said “I’ve played against Bath on a number of occasions during my time with Worcester and Leicester, so to be able to pull on the shirt at the Rec for the first time will be a really special moment. The squad for 19/20 and beyond looks very strong and I’m excited to be part of that.”
Director of Rugby, Todd Blackadder said: “We’re delighted to bring in four quality players, who will bring significant strength to the pack going into next season. They’re all players who are aspiring to achieve, and that’s exactly the ambition we share as a Club.
“We are going to go into next season even stronger as a squad, and Lewis, Christian, Will and Mike will play a huge role for us moving forward. They have a real hunger to develop and have the traits we look for to enhance the competitive environment both on the training field and matchday.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments