Fissler Extra: Umaga empire grows in pro rugby, Bulls eye coaching addition

Caylen Umaga, the highly rated fly-half, son of former Rotherham and Samoa international Mike, will start his professional career on the Côte d’Azur and follow in the footsteps of his dad’s late cousin Jerry Collins after signing for Toulon.

The younger brother of England and Samoa international Jacob, who is plying his trade at Benetton, has been playing for Yorkshire Rugby Academy and Northampton Saints Academy.

He is leaving Bishop Burton College, where his dad, Mike, is director of rugby, has taken part in England age-group Development Camps, and will join Toulon, where Collins played between 2008 and 2009 after moving to Europe from the Hurricanes.

Tongan international back-row Sione Vailanu is leaving Glasgow Warriors at the end of the season and has become the eighth player signed by French Pro D2 outfit Biarritz ahead of next season.

Biarritz finished tenth in the French second tier this season, and Vailanu, who plays either No.8 or openside flanker, has made 43 appearances in his four seasons at the club and has played eight times during this campaign.

Fixture

Investec Champions Cup

Leinster

06:45

23 May 26

Bordeaux

All Stats and Data

He played for Saracens, Wasps and Worcester Warriors before moving North of the Border in 2022, and was part of the Scotstoun-based side that was beaten by Toulon 19-43 in the Challenge Cup Final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in May 2023.

Nottingham have raided Champ rivals Cornish Pirates to take electric winger Matty Ward, who has played for Hartpury, Gloucester and Newcastle Falcons, to Lady Bay this summer.

Ward, 24, who stands at 6ft and weighs 94kg, has scored 13 tries in 23 appearances for the Pirates since joining from Gloucester and scored a hat-trick in the 52-0 thrashing of Cambridge last November.

He made one appearance for the Cherry and Whites, scoring a try in the 22-17 PREM Rugby Cup quarter-final defeat at the hands of his former club Newcastle in February 2025.

NRL expansion franchise PNG Chiefs are eyeing a cross-code move for the Pritchard brothers, Brumbies centre Kadin, and his younger teenage sensation sibling winger Treyvon, who plays for the Queensland Reds.

Former Wallabies U20 international Kadin, 21, has made 13 appearances for the Brumbies, with 12 of them coming this season, and Treyvon, 19, has scored one try in 10 appearances for the Reds in his breakthrough season.

The Chiefs have made Treyvon a priority target and can offer around A$300k (£160k) tax-free salary, which would be the equivalent of A$500k (£266k) if he stayed in the 15-a-side code.

Worcester Warriors are being linked with a move for former Wales U20 tighthead Will Davies-King, who it has been announced is leaving Cardiff when his contract runs out at the end of next month.

Davies-King made an appearance off the bench for Northampton Saints this season in their PREM Rugby Cup defeat at the hands of Exeter Chiefs, and Cardiff have said that he was leaving for a club in the English second tier.

And it appears that the Warriors are his most likely destination, given that they lost Tim Hoyt to Lyon next season, leaving Fraser Balmain and Ash Challenger at the club.

Former Springbok fly-half Johan Goosen could land a coaching job with the Bulls after helping their Under-23 team win the inaugural SA Rugby U23 Cup, beating the Lions 33-32.

Goosen, 33, is set to officially announce his retirement and is planning a post-playing career in farming and the insurance industry, but he has been helping out the under-23 team as an attacking and kicking coach.

And according to leading South African publication Rapport, he could land a full-time coaching job with the under-23 side later this summer after his work didn’t go unnoticed.

Former Loughborough Students and Wasps lock Thibaud Flament has locked in his future with Toulouse for another three years until the summer of 2029.

The French international who rapidly went from playing for Loughborough’s fifth team at fly-half to the Wasps first team returned to France six years ago, winning a Top 14 title and the Champions Cup in his first season.

He was due to be out of contract this summer, but it appears that there was never any danger of him leaving the club, and he has followed Joshua Brennan and Juan Cruz Mallia in signing a long-term extension.