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Saracens drop biggest clue yet on Owen Farrell's replacment
By Neil Fissler
Saracens have dropped a major hint that they have reached an agreement to sign highly-rated Crusaders fly-half Fergus Burke after they started following him on Instagram.
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Fissler Confidential broke the news on Saturday morning that Premiership champions Saracens were close to signing Burke to replace former England captain Owen Farrell, who is moving to Racing 92 next season.
Burke, 24, was on Gregor Townsend’s radar earlier this year when the Scottish Rugby Union made him a big-money offer to join the Glasgow Warriors and switch his international allegiances to Scotland.
But he has obviously decided that the chance to join one of the biggest clubs in Europe is too good to turn down and is set to make the move when his Crusaders deal runs out later this year.
Burke hasn’t played for the Crusaders this season, who have lost all five of their games. He is recovering from a serious leg injury that will keep him out of action until the middle of next month.
He will be the second fly-half to join Saracens next season, with Mark McCall lined up Newcastle Falcons starlet Louie Johnson to join him.
Worth pointing out he’d still be Scotland-eligible playing for Sarries, although this does make me wonder whether he might be England-qualified too.
And when those in the NH write about NZs depth not being what it was, this is exactly why. The NZR puts all the time, effort and money into these players only to be left empty handed after all the heavy lifting has been done.
John Smit was right when he said there should be transfer fees so the host union gets something for all this one way traffic.
That would be too bad for NZ rugby. Burke’s game has been developing nicely at the Crusaders and he could be a major benefactor of openings at fly half for the ABs. His injury has kept him off the field this year but after McKenzie and Barrett, Burke along with Cameron are next ranked imo. At 24 years, he would still have plenty of time for making (more) money up north or in Japan. In fact, proven ABs can make a lot more.