Fissler Confidential: Exeter exit for Tamati Tua?

Toulon and Perpignan are considering a move for Exeter Chiefs inside centre Tamati Tua, who only moved to the Premiership strugglers from Super Rugby outfit ACT Brumbies last summer.

The Chiefs are already losing Joe Hawkins to Cardiff when his contract runs out at the end of the season, and the former New Zealand U20 international’s CV has been doing the rounds of Top 14 clubs, and another unnamed club are keen.

Tua, 27, who has also played outside centre, has made nine appearances for the Chiefs this season, scoring one try after a neck injury forced him to miss all of pre-season and the first block of six Premiership games.

URC Head of Match Officials Tappe Henning explains how match officials are being held accountable

URC Head of Match Officials Tappe Henning explains how match officials are being held accountable

Leicester Tigers are set to follow up their shock six-figure move for Adam Radwan by completing a raid on East Midlands rivals Northampton Saints for another winger, former Gloucester ace Tom Seabrook.

Fissler Confidential first brought news of broke news of the deal in December, and the former England under 20 international talks with the Tigers last week after Anthony Watson announced his retirement.

Chelmsford-born Seabrook, 25, opened his try-scoring account for the season with a hat trick against Munster in the Champions Cup last weekend and then followed it up with another against Harlequins on Friday night.

Fiji captain Waisea Nayacalevu has returned to the South of France after signing a two-year deal with Nice after being told he was surplus to requirements by Premiership outfit Sale Sharks, as exclusively revealed by RugbyPass.

Outside centre Nayacalevu, 34, signed a one-year deal with the Sharks with the option for a second year as a replacement for Manu Tuilagi but has struggled to break into the team, only playing 21 minutes since November.

Nayacalevu, who made 185 appearances for Stade before spending two years in Toulon, joins Nice, who are 14 points adrift of Valence Romans at the bottom of the Pro D2 table, and the Romans hammered them 57-34 on Friday.

Former England lock Jonny Hill was in Paris last week. He is understood to be putting the finishing touches on a move to Racing 92, where he will join Stuart Lancaster at La Defense Arena.

Hill, 30, a Lions tourist in 2021, has agreed to a two-year deal with Racing just a year after a serious patella injury scuppered a move to another Top 14 outfit, Lyon, who ironically are directly below them in the table.

The ex-Exeter Chiefs man used the visit to the French capital to take in Paris Saint-Germain’s brilliant 4-2 win over Manchester City in the Champions League before returning to the North West.

Gloucester are understood from sources in South Africa to have completed a move for South African blindside flanker James Venter from the Sharks, a deal that RugbyPass first reported in October last year.

Venter, 28, who hails from Port Shepstone, has made over 50 appearances for the United Rugby Championship side, but the signing of Siya Kolisi will limit his chances of game time outside of the international window.

Venter was part of the Sharks side that beat Gloucester in the Challenge Cup Final at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in May and is believed to have been offered around £180,000 a season to move to Kingsholm.

Former Premiership champions Saracens could lose Italian tight head Marco Riccioni when his contract runs out at the end of the season with whispers he has been lined up for a return to Italy or France.

Riccioni, who has made 50 appearances for Saracens since joining from Benetton in 2021, started their Premiership final win over Sale Sharks two years later and has played 11 times for Mark McCall’s side this season.

The 27-year-old Azzurri ace, who has played 30 times for his country and started his career with Rugby Calvisano, has been attracting interest from around the continent in recent weeks.

Wallabies captain Harry Wilson is ready to give Rugby Australia a massive boost by signing a new contract and turn down the chance of a lucrative move abroad.

The Queensland Reds No 8 is out of contract with Rugby Australia and seems unlikely to follow his team-mates who are risking missing out on a home World Cup.

“It’s already been seen that it’s a risk that if you sign to play overseas, you might give up your Wallabies jersey. It’s a massive risk. I know how much the Wallabies jersey means to a lot of us,” he told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

Provence Rugby, who are pushing for promotion to the Top 14 from the Pro D2 this summer, are tipped to be close to doing a deal that will see Fijian No 8. Albert Tuisue make the move from Gloucester.

The former London Irish star has made 42 appearances in his three seasons at Kingsholm but has been having talks with Provence, who are third in the Pro D2 table and is set to give an agreement to join them.

While it has been suggested that they could activate an injury clause on former Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons hooker George McGuigan who has played a game this season.

Ilona Maher didn’t only feel the pain of breaking her nose after colliding with three players playing for the Bristol Bears against Leicester Tigers last weekend, but also a ban on TikTok in the United States could hit her harder.

Maher has over 3.4 million followers on the platform, but it only got a stay of execution after Donald Trump stepped in and offered a 50-50 partnership to their parent company, China-based ByteDance.

Maher has 238.7 million likes on her videos and has been posting content on a regular basis since moving to Bristol as she seeks to impress ahead of the World Cup later this year.