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'He's sorry for leaving, he wants his house back': The Rugby Pod debates Chris Ashton's next move
Where veteran England winger Chris Ashton will next lay his hat has been up for the debate during the Gallagher Premiership circuit breaker this past fortnight. Soon-to-be 34, Ashton is currently at Harlequins where he has played just once in this season’s top-flight and was given the runaround by a carefree Racing attack in the Champions Cup.
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Ashton popped up in London last March following an abrupt departure from the then-Steve Diamond coached Sale whom he joined in 2018 after a single season at Toulon.
Now unwanted by Harlequins beyond the end of this season, the speculation is that Ashton would jump at the chance to mend broken fences with Sale now that Alex Sanderson has been appointed their new director of rugby.
He would allegedly also be interested in returning to Northampton, the club he joined when he first crossed over to union from rugby league in 2007. It is also the place where Ashton is currently living since he was signed by Harlequins.
Last capped at Test level in February 2019, Ashton still an eye for the try line but The Rugby Pod have debated whether that reputation as a finisher will be enough for him to secure a deal for the 2021/22 Premiership season given that finances are tight at clubs and the preference might be to develop younger, less costly players.
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Ealing’s win over Sarries, Eddie’s England squad and a juicy rumour mill to feast your eyes on ?
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— The Rugby Pod (@TheRugbyPod) January 19, 2021
Show co-hosts Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton also wondered whether Ashton’s habit for breaking contracts could count also against him in a market where clubs in England have a salary cap that will be reduced by £1.4million next season.
What ensued was a lively debate and ultimately a plea from ex-England international Goode for some boss somewhere to do Ashton a favour and agree to a deal as he believed his talent still merited another chance. He is how the conversation unfolded:
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AG: Chris Ashton, he’s basically phoning everyone and anyone to get out of Harlequins, I’ve heard.
JH: Desperate to go to Northampton is what I heard.
AG: I think that is where he living now again.
JH: That is where he is living now. It’s a difficult one for him – 34 (in March), he had an absolute shocker against Racing. He was awful but he is still a good player. He’s a winger and the thing now is you look at the profile of players and that list came out about the most well-paid players, the fly-halves and the second rows, with the poor hookers bottom of the food chain.
“Someone like Ashy, who is 34, can score tries, can’t catch a high ball – comes off his forehead – has been around the block a bit, and has left contracts. He left Saracens when he was under contract to go to Toulon. Left Toulon under contract, goes to Sale. Left Sale under contract. Is now at Quins and it looks like they are not going to offer him a longer deal.
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“You’re thinking, well how much does a Chris Ashton want? Well, he’d want £200K, £250K. He might get offered £150K, a bit less. You think of young lads that come through now that are fast and are probably quite raw. You look at how Louis Rees Zammit came through as well.
“There are players like that coming through the system now so if you’re a Northampton or a Worcester or whoever, are you best placed to try and bring an academy player through and fill the void with the money that you have got – and money is tight – with a second row or pay your poor hooker, who is having to work as a binman on the side as well because he is that underpaid.
“Give him a little more money as well. Who’d be a hooker in any rugby team? The lowest-paid players. Who would have thought?
AG: The other thing is the way you described that Jim, not only how much does he [Ashton] want but how much does he want it as well.
JH: Are you questioning his desire from that Racing game?
AG: I’m not. You spelt it out that he left Saracens under contract. He left Toulon while under contract, he left Sale while under contract… that is the thing, do you want to spend a chunk of money on a player when you don’t know how long he is going to be there or not?
“In reality, the only two clubs that he in the UK would give everything for are Saints and Sale. He’d probably give everything to those clubs the last couple of years of his career perhaps if he goes for a couple of years, but he can’t get in the Quins team at the minute. Poor bloke.
“His last performance was bang average but he has got a hell of a track record at scoring tries. It’s a luxury to have him, isn’t it, being honest. I know he has been on the phone constantly to Alex Sanderson, he is phoning Mark Cueto up as well to get him to sign for Sale.
“He’s sorry for leaving, he wants his house back. He doesn’t want to live in Northampton anymore but then he does want to live in Northampton. He doesn’t want to play for Quins but then he does. Who knows? He didn’t want a break two weeks ago. Just give the lad a break. Someone give him a deal because it is good fun watching Ashy play.”
"I'm ready to walk through a wall now myself"
– One Sale fan's response to Sanderson video says it all about how popular an appointment the ex-Saracens assistant is #GallagherPrem https://t.co/N7ZJRP9Y9S
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 19, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments