Premiership: Anthony Watson linked with Leicester
Leicester is rumoured to be the most likely destination for Bath, England and Lions winger Anthony Watson for next season, should he opt to leave The Rec.
Rumours of his departure have subsided since it was revealed that current Munster coach Johann van Graan would be stepping into the head coach role, but there is still no certainty about his future, nor is there any shortage of clubs lining up to sign him.
Salary cap cuts deep
Sale, Wasps and London Irish are also in line, but the latter is said to be short on salary cap wiggle room and the former has already snapped up Tom O’Flaherty. Wasps have moved many players on ahead of the shrinking salary cap next season, and coach Lee Blackett yesterday said the club was still in the market for backline options.
The salary cap cut has had a huge impact in Exeter, with many of the team’s mainstays heading to pastures new next season, but coach Rob Baxter confirmed on Wednesday that there would be no more departures.
“There are no more senior players leaving. If players come here and are very successful and other clubs target them, you can’t keep a whole group of targeted players,” said Baxter to Devon Live.
“If various clubs want to target individual players of ours I can’t keep hold of 25/26 players – that is the situation a controlled salary cap is meant to create.
“I would never have thought we would lose a frontline back five of the scrum player [Sam Skinner] on salary to a Scottish regional side. I would have thought that guys would have been better off playing for us in the Premiership but that is not the case now, that is what you will see with the reduced salary cap.”
One player who might be at Sandy Park next season is Tom Hardwick. the former Leicester fly-half has been playing for National league side Albi in France, having apparently left Leicester under a cloud earlier this season.
“It’s an opportunity for him to come and get back on with some training, we can see how he fits in, we can assess where he fits in character-wise,” said Baxter.
“Obviously, I am not going to sit here and say I am not aware there were some issues as he left Leicester, I was no different to anyone seeing the headlines that everyone else would’ve seen. So we want to assess him and see how he goes. That’s what it is, it’s an opportunity for him.”
Bristol’s rising star centre Antoine Frisch is subject to interest from at least four clubs, including two Irish provinces, according to local press in Bristol.
Stade Francais and Montpellier are also interested in the youngster, who announced his arrival on the main stage with a barnstorming display in Bristol’s loss to Saracens last weekend.
As well as battling to keep Frisch, there are also reports that Luke Morahan will depart at the end of the season, but no destination has been mooted.
Morahan should at least be fit for the Champions Cup last 16 matches against Sale, along with scrum-half Andy Uren and England prop Kyle Sinckler, who according to Pat Lam has been sitting out since the Six Nations with that most awkward of injuries: “niggles and stuff.”
Lam said that the Champions Cup would now be the defining competition for Bristol’s season, which has petered out in the Premiership.
“This can still be one of the greatest seasons we have ever had,” he said.
“I said to the boys, ‘When Northampton won the Champions Cup, anyone remember where they finished in the league?’ The answer was sixth and no one cared.
“Ultimately there is an opportunity because we are in that last 16 and we are continuing to try and build.
READ MORE: Premiership: Bath snap up Munster flanker Chris Cloete
