1
Gabriel Ibitoye, who has gone from Harlequins to Agen and now on to Montpellier, voted Top 14's biggest 2020/21 new signing flop
Three players signed last summer from the Gallagher Premiership – including Gabriel Ibitoye who joined Montpellier on Friday as a medical joker from Agen – have featured in a Top 14 mid-season list of Top Flops voted by the rugbyrama.fr website. Top of the list is former Harlequins winger Ibitoye. Having fallen out with the London club, he signed for Agen for the 2020/21 season but his cross-channel move hasn’t been fulfilling.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The Englishman symbolises the sad first part of the season for Agen, who have 14 defeats in as many games in Top 14. His arrival last summer, after long weeks of negotiation, had raised high hopes, like the off-season of Agen as a whole,” wrote Midi Olympique, the French bi-weekly rugby newspaper, in its review of the website poll where Ibitoye secured 19 per cent of the 28,000-plus votes.
“The former U20 international was billed as a nugget coming out of a great year with Harlequins, totalling 21 appearances every competition combined, 19 starts and ten trials. Across the Channel, many were moved to see a potential candidate for the England XV leave. It’s a fail. Six months later, regularly injured, he played seven games with his new team, for six starts and two tries.
“Agen president Jean-François Fonteneau explained in Sud-Ouest: ‘He hasn’t been involved since the start of the season. He doesn’t invest a lot. He has a Pro D2 clause which allows him to leave in the event of a downhill at the end of the season. He is therefore more in the management of his career than in the involvement with the club…”
Ibitoye has now joined Montpellier as a medical joker for the remainder of the 2020/21 season just five months after leaving Harlequins, while he has been linked with a permanent move to either Bayonne or Toulon for next season.
English winger's attitude called into question by French club boss#TOP14 https://t.co/NHdaCoLBZY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 12, 2021
Other Premiership recruits on the list of new signing flops are former Saracens midfielder Alex Lozowski. The Montpellier centre was listed in joint third place with 13 per cent of the votes while Joe Taufete’e, the American hooker who joined Lyon from Worcester, picked up one per cent of the vote in the poll that had 14 candidates.
In contrast to the downbeat appraisal of Ibitoye, Lozowski and Joe Taufete’e, Will Skelton, the Australian who joined La Rochelle from Saracens, was voted the fourth best signing for 2020/21. He received ten percent of votes in a poll of 22,000 that selected Bruce Dulin, his Rochelle teammate, as the No1 best signing.
ADVERTISEMENT
“What if one of those guys [at the club] is gay or has gay children?"@SimonZebo says he wouldn't play on the same team as Israel Folau, as rumours swirl of the Australian's return to rugby union. https://t.co/kf2E406JaI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 14, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Bar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
35 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
35 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
35 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
35 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
35 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
35 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
35 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
18 Go to comments