Exeter sign a 133kg tighthead with immediate effect
Exeter have moved quickly to fill the void left by injured tighthead Harry Williams by securing the immediate effect signing of Ehren Painter from Northampton. Williams suffered a serious knee injury in the Chiefs’ March 5 drubbing against Harlequins at Twickenham and they have quickly moved to shore up their front row with the race for the final two Gallagher Premiership playoffs spots going down to the wire.
A statement read: “Ehren Painter has completed his move to Exeter Chiefs from Gallagher Premiership rivals Northampton Saints. The 24-year-old tighthead prop, who has played 84 times for the Saints, will move to Sandy Park with immediate effect.
“A product of Northampton’s academy, Painter – who tips the scales at 133kg and stands 6ft 3in – made his senior debut for the club against Saracens in 2018 and has been a regular within their first team ranks ever since.
“Born in London, he represented England at age-grade level, including for the U20s in both the Six Nations and World Rugby Championships in 2018. Now, Painter is set to test himself in a new environment at the Chiefs, who will be grateful for his arrival in the wake of fellow tight-head Harry Williams being ruled out with a significant knee injury.
“Painter is the second new addition to the front row inside a week with the Chiefs confirming at the weekend the arrival of Georgian loosehead Nika Abuladze.”
Painter said: “I’m looking forward to the move and being part of what should be a really exciting end to the season. Exeter are a club I have huge respect for. Having come up against them numerous times in the past, you know the threat they pose in terms of their pack of forwards. Strengths of what they do well are what I like to think I have within my own game.
“Going down there, testing myself in a new environment, it will be good for my game. Having a new outlook on things, learning from different coaches, playing with different players, it’s all going to add to my game.
“At the same time, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone at the Saints. I have loved my time at the club and enjoyed some very special memories over the years. I’ve made lifelong friends and I will always be grateful for the opportunities they have given me.
“As I said, this is a new opportunity for me and it’s one I want to take with both hands. It’s an exciting move for me and with plenty still to play for this season, I hope I can add something to the squad over the coming weeks.”
Exeter boss Rob Baxter added: “Knowing that Harry would be leaving at the end of the season, we have been keeping a close eye on the tighthead market, Obviously, we have got the likes of Marcus Street, Patrick Schickerling and Josh Iosefa-Scott already here, but we had already started talking to Ehren and Northampton about him potentially joining earlier than the start of next season.
“That kind of lined up with plans Northampton had as well, so we started the procedure before Harry got injured. Now that he has picked up that injury, it works doubly well for us to get him here as soon as possible. If everything goes to plan, he should be with us at the end of this week and then we’ll get him registered and available for the remainder of the season.
“He has got a bit of experience, probably without playing the game time he would have liked. At the same time, he is 24, he is a big guy and his super strength is scrummaging. There is no mystery in the fact that we want to add something in that area. Obviously, there are things he needs to work on, but there are things we can help him with as well.
“It’s the same with every player as they change clubs. Sometimes that new challenge can be good for them, so I think he will fit in very well and look forward to getting him down here and cracking on with things.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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 commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments