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Scotland prop Javan Sebastian considering switch of allegiance
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Fissler Extra: Euro giants eye prodigy, England and Lions great's successor
By Neil Fissler
La Rochelle have lined up a shock move for Cardiff’s Wales U20 winger Tom Bowen and are prepared to pay a transfer fee to lure him away from the Welsh capital.
Bowen, 19, is a former member of the Bristol Bears academy and has scored seven tries in 13 appearances for Cardiff this season after scoring a hat-trick against Munster in October.
Wales Online report that Bowen has caught the eye of La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara, who will need to pay a fee after his contract was recently upgraded.
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Leicester Tigers loosehead Tubuna Maka, 20, is close to leaving Welford Road to move to Pro D2 strugglers Béziers when his contract runs out at the end of the season.
The Fijian-born former England U20 international, who has switched from tighthead to loosehead, has been developing with a series of loan moves to Cambridge, Birmingham, Moseley, and Nottingham.
He has played five times for the Tigers in the PREM Rugby Cup after coming through the ranks, but is close to moving to Béziers, who are 14th in the French second tier, eight points clear of bottom of the table Carcassonne.
Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits that he is close to finalising his squad for next season and is only looking to recruit one or maybe two more players.
The Chiefs, who are chasing three trophies this season, have signed Harry Wilson, Dallas McLeod, Will Butt and Nika Abuladze, and Baxter is happy with the way his squad is shaping up.
“We’re pretty much there, you know, just one or two players at most. So we’re nearing the end, and we’re very pleased with how things are shaping up,” he told RugbyPass.
Former Scarlets back-row Carwyn Tuipulotu, who had a loan spell with Saracens and is now plying his trade with Pau, looks set to move at the end of the season, with Biarritz the favourites to secure his signature.
Former Wales U20 international Tuipulotu, 24, who is a cousin of Taulupe Faletau and the Vunipola brothers Billy and Mako, has found it hard to break into the Pau side this season.
The No.8 has only played four times this season, scoring a try against the Scarlets in the Challenge Cup and was in Biarritz last weekend for a guided tour of their facilities and talks about linking up with them in the summer.
Dimitri Delibes, who has scored six tries in 12 appearances for Toulouse this seasson is poised to leave the Estadi Ernest-Wallon this summer, according to Midi Olympique.
Delibes, 26, who can play on either wing, outside centre or even full-back, is attracting interest from several Top 14 rivals and has had talks with Toulon and Bayonne.
Montpellier have now made a last-minute entry into the race for his signature, and Delibes, who has played 86 times for Toulouse, has requested time to consider his options.
Pro D2 leaders Vannes, who are bidding for a quick return to the Top 14, are on the verge of signing Ugo Boniface to replace veteran former England and Lions loosehead Mako Vunipola.
Boniface, 27, who helped France win the 2018 U20 Junior World Cup, has made 67 appearances since joining Bordeaux from Bayonne in 2022.
But he is behind Jefferson Poirot and Matis Perchaud in the pecking order at the Stade Chaban-Delmas and has jumped at the chance to replace Vunipola in Brittany.
Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam is continuing to mould his squad for next season and has handed contract extensions to winger Aidan Boshoff and Sam Worsley.
Abergavenny-born Boshoff, 20, has been capped by Wales at the under-20 level was educated at Clifton College in Bristol and has scored four tries in nine games for the Bears this season.
Former England U20, fly-half Worsley, who was born in the city, has started 17 of the 33 appearances that he has made for the Bears and is the 14th player to agree a new deal with the club.
Former Leicester Tigers star Julian Salvi, who has been working for the Georgian Rugby Union, is understood to be looking for a return to club coaching next season.
Salvi, who was the defensive coach at Exeter Chiefs before moving to Tbilisi four years ago, has been looking for a job in the Gallagher PREM and the United Rugby Championship next season.
The former openside flanker, who played for the NSW Waratahs before moving to the Tigers, worked with his former Tigers boss Richard Cockerill in Georgia before the former England hooker was sacked in December.
