Best signing in club rugby?

[Leonormous Boozer]

Does anyone beat Isa?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Samu Manoa: SFGG --> Saints

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Freddie Tuilagi.

Not so much as a player but what he brought over with him.

 

[j'nuh]

Jamie Roberts. Not sure if he's the best player, but he's exactly the right jigsaw piece for Harlequins puzzle.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Jamie Roberts. Not sure if he's the best player, but he's exactly the right jigsaw piece for Harlequins puzzle.

BRB best signing has not played one game for club.

<_<

 

[valley commando]

DTH Van De Mere To the Scarlets.
Paul James to the Ospreys
Ma'afu Fia to the Ospreys
Jamie Roberts to Harlequins
Dan Carter to Racing

 

[Irish boy]

Blair Cowan Worcester--> Irish fully admit never heard of him now class act and Scotland international.

Further back Mapasua and Peter Hewitt were brilliant signings

 

[ncurd]

Paul James to Ospreys was only good for Bath....any anyone who plays them.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Paul James to Ospreys was only good for Bath....any anyone who plays them.

Yep Not good for rest of AP though.

 

[RedruthRFC]

Blair Cowan Worcester--> Irish fully admit never heard of him now class act and Scotland international.

Further back Mapasua and Peter Hewitt were brilliant signings

Blair Cowan is a good example of a good signing IMO, the same goes for Samu Manoa. Both were relative unknowns, so had to be identified and both were presumably signed cheaply. Both went on to perform well for the club they signed for. In the case of Blair Cowan, you could argue that Worcester signing him from Cornish Pirates and giving him a chance in the AP, or Cornish Pirates bringing him to the country in the first place was the really astute signing (he was a star for Pirates, I don't believe he performed at the same level for Worcester as he has for Irish). As long as he stays fit, Dan Carter will almost certainly be a good signing for Racing, but when 90% of the "skill" in making the signing was waving a large chequebook around, it's not what I would call inspired.

- - - Updated - - -

Going back a bit, before the days that money was a factor in signings (in theory), Buck Shelford North Harbour -> Northampton. I've never seen one player have such an influence on a side as he did at Saints, nor do I expect to again.

 

[j'nuh]

BRB best signing has not played one game for club.

<_<

Wait what, is this thread "best ever signing" or "best predicted signing for this season"?

If it's best ever signing, my answer is definitely something different, but I have no idea what.

 

[psychic duck]

Yep Not good for rest of AP though.

Paul James has delivered a fair few ass whoopings to Leicester props over the years that's for sure.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

He's taken more than he has given.

 

[valley commando]

Paul James to Ospreys was only good for Bath....any anyone who plays them.

Lets wait and see, he's back home where he belongs now and I think he will improve the Ospreys.

 

[psychic duck]

He's taken more than he has given.

Nah. I would post him scrum****ing Leicester early last season as well if I could find the footage.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Samu Manoa: SFGG --> Saints

Great shout!

For Sale:
Vadim Cobilas went from playing semi-pro in russia to being a very good "oldschool" tighthead after getting a full pre-season under his belt (joined mid-year). I'm not saying he's the best in the world or anything, but a tighthead of his quality would cost quite a bit, whereas we would have signed him for next to nothing so a great signing.

Dave Seymour was a great signing too: released by Sarries because they thought he was a 7s guy (won commonwealth silver) and wouldn't cut it in 1st team XVs.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

DTH Van De Mere To the Scarlets.
Paul James to the Ospreys
Ma'afu Fia to the Ospreys
Jamie Roberts to Harlequins
Dan Carter to Racing

I don't mean to be pedantic and maybe you or someone else might learn from this (or just ignore) but Afrikaans surnames when you have the name the "connectors" are lower case but when the surname stands alone its Upper case for the first:

DTH van der Merwe, Jannie du Plessis, Jean de Villiers, Kobus van Wyk VS Van der Merwe, Du Plessis, De Viliers, Van Wyk. Note if there is 3 (der or den) the middle will always be lower case.

I certainly hope Carter stays fit and can bring the sort of form or at leat game management he has shown of late to Racing. If anyone can replace Sexton it'd be him. Its just a question of does the fit work. Sexton is an amazing player but the fit with Racing just never looked comfortable.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Nah. I would post him scrum****ing Leicester early last season as well if I could find the footage.

Lol

 

[valley commando]

I don't mean to be pedantic and maybe you or someone else might learn from this (or just ignore) but Afrikaans surnames when you have the name the "connectors" are lower case but when the surname stands alone its Upper case for the first:

DTH van der Merwe, Jannie du Plessis, Jean de Villiers, Kobus van Wyk VS Van der Merwe, Du Plessis, De Viliers, Van Wyk. Note if there is 3 (der or den) the middle will always be lower case.

I certainly hope Carter stays fit and can bring the sort of form or at leat game management he has shown of late to Racing. If anyone can replace Sexton it'd be him. Its just a question of does the fit work. Sexton is an amazing player but the fit with Racing just never looked comfortable.

Thanks for that. You are right about Sexton as for Carter lets hope he lasts more than the 5 games before his achilles injury as happened when he was with USAP

 

[Maverick1987]

Nah. I would post him scrum****ing Leicester early last season as well if I could find the footage.

Sorry psychic but he's been smashed way more often than he's been smashing . I watch Bath all the time, I went to 6 games at the Rec (mainly to do with where I live and getting free tickets) last year all of which James played in and all of them he's was poor