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Gloucester Rugby announced five contract renewals during the club’s defeat at the hands of Bath Rugby last night.
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Gloucester delivered the news directly to fans during half-time of Friday evening’s game against Bath Rugby at Kingsholm.
Willi Heinz, Franco Marais, Ed Slater, Ollie Thorley and Billy Twelvetrees have all signed new contracts to remain at the club.
Director of Rugby David Humphreys is delighted to secure the services of some of his high-profile players.
“We talk regularly about the importance of player retention and keeping the core of our squad together on a long-term basis in addition to developing our own talent through the Academy.
“All five of these players are key members of our first team squad and, to do some of our business early, is indicative of our long-term planning and determination to build on the progress we have made in the last couple of seasons.”
Willi Heinze
Currently on Rugby World Cup duty with England in Japan, the experienced scrum-half joined Gloucester Rugby ahead of the 2015/16 season from the Crusaders in Super Rugby.
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2019-20 will be Heinz’s third as club captain, a measure of how highly regarded he is by his team-mates and the coaching staff, and his consistently high performances at club level have seen him earn international recognition.
Franco Marais
27-year-old hooker Marais joined Gloucester Rugby from Super Rugby’s Sharks ahead of the 2018-19 season.
Capped by South Africa at U20 and A level, he provided real competition for places in the hooker position as he made 19 first team appearances in his first season at Kingsholm, including 16 in the Gallagher Premiership.
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Ed Slater
When Ed Slater joined Gloucester Rugby in the summer of 2017, the Cherry and Whites were counting on him to become a key figure in their forward pack, an experienced individual to lead from the front.
The 31-year-old has delivered that and more besides, making 55 first team appearances to date and skippering the side on a regular basis.
Ollie Thorley
Thorley’s talents have long been known about at Gloucester Rugby. But the past two seasons have seen him earn wider recognition.
He scored 10 tries in 15 appearances in 2017-18, but 2018-19 proved to be a memorable one for Ollie as he was called up to train with England, was named Premiership Player of the Month for December, was voted the club’s Young Player of the Season, the RPA Player’s Young Player of the Season and won Citizen Try of the Season at the Gallagher Premiership End of Season Awards.
Billy Twelvetrees
Billy Twelvetrees joined Gloucester Rugby from the Leicester Tigers ahead of the 2012-13 season, and has gone on to become a fixture in the Gloucester Rugby back line.
He skippered the side in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and is closing in on 200 senior appearances for the club, testimony to his consistency and durability. He has been capped 19 times by England also represented the British and Irish Lions.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe 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?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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!
5 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 …
34 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.
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