Fissler Confidential: England star Elliot Daly in talks with rival PREM club

England and Lions star Elliot Daly has had talks with Sale Sharks about making a move to the North-West when his contract with Saracens runs out at the end of the season.

Fissler Confidential understands that former Wasps ace Daly, who was 33 in October, has been sounded out by the Sharks, who earlier this week signed Joe Marchant after missing out on a series of players.

The deal appears far from done and is one of several the Sharks have been exploring as Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson looks to build a squad that will regularly challenge for trophies.

Daly has scored 15 tries in 59 league appearances for Saracens since joining the club in 2019, and has only just returned from the arm he broke on the Lions tour to Australia this summer.

He won his 74th cap for his country in England’s final Quilter Nations Series match against Argentina and is due for his first club outing of the season this season, after being named on the bench for the visit of Bath.

Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam has refused to say if Wales superstar Louis Rees-Zammit will be at the club next season after joining the club on a short-term basis in August after his failed stint in the NFL.

Rees-Zammit, who spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Kansas City Chiefs, was understood to be one of R360’s leading targets, but will now have to look elsewhere.

Lam is staying tight-lipped. “I’m going to be consistent on recruitment. If I have something to tell you, I’ll let you know. I’d love to keep all my players and bring more players in, and would love to have as many World Class players as I can,” he said.

R360, the Rebal competition that England World Cup winner Mike Tindall is fronting, has announced that it is pushing back its launch from September 2026 to 2028, and even then, there are doubts it will appear at all.

The organisers have been offering huge sums of money for players to join one of their men’s and women’s franchise teams, but there have been few takers amid the threats of bans on playing international rugby.

Springbok lock Jean Kleyn, who is out of contract with Munster at the end of the season, has held a video call with Bayonne as he edges towards leaving South-West Ireland.

Kleyn was thought to be at the centre of a tug-of-war between Top 14 giants Toulouse and Bordeaux-Bègles, but Bayonne appear to have now edged in front of their rivals.

But according to Midi Olympique, nothing has yet been agreed, and his future remains up in the air, especially as he is still features in Rassie Erasmus’s Springbok plans.

Andy Onyeama-Christie could be heading for the Saracens exit door after whispers from North London over the last few days suggest talks over a new long-term deal have stalled.

The Scotland international, who can play anywhere across the back row, won his 1oth cap against Tonga last weekend, has made 99 appearances for the former PREM Rugby and European Champions.

Saracens, who have already lost Tom Willis to Bordeaux next season, could now see Bristol-born Onyeama-Christie, 26, who has recovered from a horrific fractured and dislocated ankle, move elsewhere unless talks get back on track.

Newcastle Red Bulls head coach Alan Dickens admits that he isn’t going to knock on the door of managing director Jonny Petrie asking about a new deal with the club.

Dickens became head coach when the club parted company with Steve Diamond at the start of October, but is out of contract at the end of the season and isn’t looking too far ahead.

“I’ll get on with the job, and when those conversations come, we’ll have them. I’m not going to knock on the door and say what’s happening. I’ll get on with the job, but I’ve absolutely loved it here at Newcastle,” he said.

United Rugby Championship outfit Cardiff have signed Bath hooker Max Pearce on a short-term loan after being hit by injuries and international call-ups in the middle of the front row.

Pearce, 21, has made a couple of appearances for Bath in the PREM Rugby Cup this season is going to the Welsh capital after Liam Belcher suffered a neck injury, and Wales called up Evan Lloyd.

Chippenham-born Pearce has travelled to Parma to face Zebre has been signed on a special one-game license and is set to return to Bath when he returns from Italy.

Californian Legion director of rugby Stephen Hoiles says that he had made enquiries to see if NRL stars Zac Lomax and Ryan Papenhuyzen would be interested in moving to Major League Rugby.

The pair were both set to play in R360, but the plug was pulled on the competition until 2028 on Friday morning, and they are now scrambling to find clubs, with Lomax trying to attract interest in France.

Hoiles has made a pitch for the MLR even though it’s likely to be unsuccessful: “We have spoken to agents. The money in USA rugby isn’t great, but they get to learn the game in good programmes,” he told, SEN breakfast.

Darts World Champion Luke Littler has thrown his weight behind a campaign to knight charity hero and England’s skills and kicking coach Kevin Sinfield.

Sinfield has raised over £10million in a quest to find a cure for motor neurone disease and will embark on his latest charity quest next week following England’s unbeaten Autumn Nations Series.

He hopes to raise £777,777 for his latest challenge of running an ultra-marathon every day for seven days in memory of his best mate and former Leeds Rhinos team mate, Rob Burrow.