1
'The London Irish thing fell through, they didn't have the dollar'
The Rugby Pod show co-hosts Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton delved into the latest transfer rumours on this week’s show, providing updates on what they have heard regarding the future next season of Anthony Watson at Bath and Nathan Hughes at Bristol as well as mentioning a curious potential signing for Irish side Leinster from the Top 14.
ADVERTISEMENT
Watson, an England regular who also played in the 2021 Lions Test series down in South Africa, has been sidelined since injuring his ACL playing for Bath last October. With his club in freefall over the winter, it was speculated that the much-admired back three player would quit the Stuart Hooper-run team at the end of his ninth season.
However, that might no longer be the case for the 28-year-old Watson now that Bath has revised their plan and have a new head coach arriving for 2022/23 in the guise of South African Johann van Graan from Munster.
There was also chat about the prospects of where Hughes, the 30-year-old No8 last capped by England in March 2019, might next lay his hat. He was a headline Pat Lam signing for Bristol in summer 2019 from Wasps but things haven’t worked out this season with Hughes currently on loan at Bath and strongly linked with a switch to France.
Mention of France, the other prime rumour talked about on The Rugby Pod was an already stacked Leinster possibly signing Charlie Ngatai, the 31-year-old from New Zealand who earned his single All Blacks cap in 2015. He is nearing the end of his fourth season at Lyon in the Top 14 having joined them in 2018 from the Super Rugby Chiefs.
Pod pod pod https://t.co/QxWai8iIrV
— Emma Wassell (@emmacwassell) March 29, 2022
Here is how the transfer talk segment of The Rugby Pod unfolded this week after presenter Andy Rowe asked Hamilton, the ex-Scotland lock, and Goode, the former England out-half, what rumours had been floating around:
Hamilton: Maro Itoje to Worcester.
ADVERTISEMENT
Goode: I don’t think is happening, Jim.
Hamilton: I’m just trying to put something in the mix for Worcester. There is a few. Anthony Watson to Leicester. I heard the London Irish thing fell through, they didn’t have the dollar for him.
Goode: I heard he was staying at Bath now.
Hamilton: I’ve heard that as well. I’ve heard that he is staying at Bath but Leicester are the ones that he could go to because the money is there. Wingers don’t get paid as much as we think.
Goode: No, don’t let him go to Leicester because we want Ashy [Chris Ashton] to get another year.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hamilton: I want him at Rosslyn Park, that is where I want Ashy to be honest.
Goode: Here’s one for you, Charlie Ngatai – hell of a name, hell of a player – leaving Lyon to go to Leinster. Leinster don’t need any more quality in the centres. They have got internationals galore. Just get a homegrown kid coming through. Yeah, I heard Charlie Ngatai is going to Leinster… Nathan Hughes to Clermont is another one that I am hearing whispers of.
Hamilton: I heard Bristol wanted him back.
Goode: I think (that is) more of an injury crisis. It’s interesting when you hear why did he leave Bristol. I don’t know. It’s very strange.
Hamilton: I don’t know, don’t know. There were people at live shows shouting stuff but I couldn’t hear them. It’s his hair apparently, his lid.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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 commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments