Wayne Pivac is actively helping Jonah Holmes leave Leicester Tigers
Wayne Pivac is hoping he has done enough to convince Jonah Holmes his Wales prospects would be best served by joining a Welsh region for the 2020/21 season rather than see out his current contract at Leicester Tigers. The 27-year-old winger, who earned the last of his three caps last August against Ireland in Cardiff, is teasing out whether it is possible to leave the Gallagher Premiership behind a year earlier than planned to join one of Wales’ Guinness PRO14 teams in time for the new season.
Hosting a media conference call on Wednesday, Pivac suggested there was room to manoeuvre after he explained he had spoken individually to all his England-based players with a view to stressing the importance of having them available to play their club rugby in Wales rather than only have access to them when permitted under World Rugby’s regulation nine if they stay at English clubs.
Pivac chose an elite group of 38 Welsh-based players at the start of 2020 as the WRU changed its funding formula for the elite end of the professional game in Wales and he explained that with possible departures on the horizon, there was potential to accommodate any English-based players looked to move across the Severn.
“We named 38 players so if those 38 players remain in the country there won’t be any room,” he said. “If one or two left then there would be room. In terms of Jonah, I have had several conversations with Jonah, the last one two days ago. Jonah is someone who is exploring his options.
“One is he has got a year to run on his Leicester Tigers contract and that would be to remain there and look at his options post that period of time, or to speak to Leicester Tigers to see can he get out of that contract, see what that would look like and then a club in Wales to want to bring him to Wales.
“After being called-up, I had feedback from Wayne (Pivac) who said, ‘you’re young, you’re confident, just keep doing what you’re doing'. That was reassuring”
– @TaineBash07 tells @OwainJTJones about his quick rise at @dragonsrugby and @WelshRugbyUnionhttps://t.co/py9JbvZb3c— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 28, 2020
“What I can say is he is exploring all those opportunities and I have been speaking with both a club side in Wales and also with Jonah around this matter – and I’d like to see him back. Whether it is this season or next I’d like to see him in Wales. I believe it would help his selection and also it would help the squad if he is there and not returning to England in the fallow weeks.”
There has also been speculation since the suspension of rugby for the coronavirus pandemic that Saracens’ Nick Tompkins would size-up a switch to regional rugby while Hadleigh Parkes was considering a possible move to the Japanese Top League, ruling him out of future Wales selection.
Pivac said it was a wait-and-see situation. “I can’t talk about individual contracts but coming towards the end of any season there is a lot of discussion around players that may be leaving or players that may be coming in. There are some players leaving and there are some players coming in.
“It sort of balances itself out actually. When the clubs have got contacts signed and the ink is dry and everyone is ready to go I’m sure those announcements will be made but there has been some activity as you would expect at this time of the year.
“I’m across a lot of these discussions, I’m involved in a lot of them with players coming and going. Obviously, the 60-cap rule is something that we are driving hard and the exiled players who were involved in the Six Nations this year I have spoken to all of them around our view, what we have learned from the Six Nations this year in terms of running the weeks across the campaign with having exiles versus players playing in Wales and the advantages and disadvantages. That discussion has been had with each individual player and it is fair to say there is a number of players looking to come to Wales.”
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 …
27 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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