Fissler Confidential: Willie le Roux will leave Bulls

Springbok star Willie le Roux is set to leave the Bulls at the end of the season after deciding not to take up the option of a third and final year of his contract with the Loftus Versfeld-based outfit. Fissler Confidential reported last week that the two-time Rugby World Cup winner had been spotted in Bath where Johann van Graan is looking to add a big-name full-back to his Gallagher Premiership title-chasing squad.

His departure from the Bulls would be one less obstacle in the way of le Roux, the 35-year-old who had a spell in the Premiership with Wasps, from probably ending his glittering playing career in the Roman spa city.

Gloucester are believed to be among the Premiership clubs who are interested in luring former Wales openside flanker Thomas Young away from Cardiff when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

The Merthyr Tydfil-born 32-year-old made three appearances for the Cherry and Whites after joining on a short-term deal from Cardiff in 2014 before linking up with his father, former Wales international Dai, at Wasps.

Youngs, who has four Test caps, has not played for Wales since returning to the Blue and Black and returning to the Premiership would end any lingering international ambitions that he may still have.

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter has admitted that the club have not yet offered inside centre Joe Hawkins a new deal to keep him in Devon when his contract runs out at the end of the season. Cardiff are keen on the 22-year-old Welsh international, who would be eligible to kick-start his international career if he returned to South Wales.

The move is increasingly looks likely after falling behind Will Rigg in the Chiefs pecking order. “We are not in talks about a contract extension, but we haven’t had talks about not contracting him either. Will Rigg gives us more go forward, and there is no agenda of leaving him out because he might be moving on,” said Baxter.

Leicester Tigers came close to owning a Super League franchise when they tried to buy Hunslet RLFC after they won the rugby league Championship title in 1999, according to Leeds side’s chief executive Neil Hampshire.

“Leicester Tigers came in and tried to buy the franchise. They wanted to have a dual-code team to go into Super League at the time. The agreement was that the franchise would stay here and that the deal would see Leicester pay to enter Super League. They would pay us £50,000, but we would have to drop down to the third tier again. The club was having none of it,” he told the League Express podcast.

Nick Easter is continuing to attract attention both domestically and internationally after the USA Eagles secured a clean sweep of three wins from three in their autumn campaign. The former England No8 helped them jump up four places in the World Rugby rankings to 15th after securing victories over Portugal, Tonga and Spain.

The director of rugby at Championship outfit Chinnor in Oxfordshire oversaw the American maul and defence, which observers who saw them in action rated as particularly strong.

Michael Cheika had admitted that he doesn’t want to start thinking about speculation linking him with replacing under-fire Wales boss Warren Gatland, despite not yet taking up the option of a second season with Leicester.

It has been claimed in Wales that the former Australia and Argentina boss could be the name in the frame if Gatland is dismissed, but Cheika claimed he didn’t want the distraction of being linked with other jobs.

“I didn’t want to start thinking about those things because I want to concentrate on doing the best job I can. It can distract you from doing the things that you need to do now. The rest will look after itself when the time comes.”

Bristol Bears tighthead George Kloska is on the radar of the four Irish United Rugby Championship sides, who are keen to lure him away from his hometown club at the end of the season. The prop, who celebrated his 25th birthday a fortnight ago and who has also played at hooker, is Irish-qualified and has had spells on loan with Old Redcliffians, Dings Crusaders, Bedford and Hartpury University.

A product of the Bears academy, he has played 51 times for Bristol and only put pen to paper on a contract with Pat Lam’s side towards the end of last season. However, the IRFU could offer him a route into winning Test caps.

Tighthead Rhys Litterick is poised to swap Cardiff for United Rugby Championship rivals Edinburgh next season in a move which could see him pin his international colours to Gregor Townsend’s mast. Litterick, who only signed a long-term contract with Cardiff in April, was discovered by Harlequins in 2021 when playing semi-professionally for National League Worthing and earning a living as a landscaper.

He is qualified for both Wales and Scotland and has made seven appearances for Cardiff this season. Ironically, his only start came in a defeat against Edinburgh at Hive Stadium in October.

Australia’s National Rugby League are looking to step up their cross-code raids for talent by holding a combine in Las Vegas early next year ahead of two games they are playing in ‘Sin City’. The NRL have had scouts in the States contact potential candidates who, if they meet minimum performance standards, will be invited to train for two weeks with one of their clubs.

The best-known entrant so far is Hong Kong and Canada sevens ace Marcus D’Acre, while other sevens players Jack Rampton (Jamaican), another Canadian Cody Nhanala and Americans Adam Channel and Gus Sokol are also taking part.

Clermont Auvergne have made a move to lure highly-rated youngster Nicolas Darquier away from Pro D2 outfit Stade Montois next summer. Rugby Prime have reported that the 20-year-old recently paid a visit to Clermont’s training facilities for a VIP guided tour.

Darquier has made 11 appearances for Stade Montois, who are mid-table in the French second tier this season, and losing one of the brightest talents to the Top 14 would come as a big blow.