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Transfers 2013/14

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TRF_Olyy said:
Tom Arscott from London Welsh to Sale Sharks.

Very happy with that, been really impressed with him this season - classy player, much like his brother at Chiefs.
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Ed Jackson is rumoured to be talking to London Irish too.

If they've got some of their best players talking to their direct relegation rivals, it doesn't bode well for the spirit of self-belief there...
 
psychic duck said:
Strange signing. Aged 23 and never got a look in at the Blues, failing to get past the likes of Taufa'ao Filise, Nathan Trevett or Campese Ma'afu. If he can't get past those two, then unlikely to be of much use at Wasps.
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Duck I thought a guy like you would know quite a bit about this boy.

Ruptured his ACL in the Blues pre-season tour, has only just got back playing. Gatland after his last Varsity match went to see him especially and told him if he carries on he would develop into a good tight head, Gatland encouraged him to sign with the Blues. Blues will be seriously dissapointed that he has signed for Wasps. A massive blow for a potentially very good player.
 
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TRF_Cymro said:
Duck I thought a guy like you would know quite a bit about this boy.

Ruptured his ACL in the Blues pre-season tour, has only just got back playing. Gatland after his last Varsity match went to see him especially and told him if he carries on he would develop into a good tight head, Gatland encouraged him to sign with the Blues. Blues will be seriously dissapointed that he has signed for Wasps. A massive blow for a potentially very good player.
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Pity to be losing player before they get a chance at regional level. Blues could have done with a young, developing tighthead.

Thanks for the info.
 
dullonien said:
Pity to be losing player before they get a chance at regional level. Blues could have done with a young, developing tighthead.

Thanks for the info.
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He's from London, was with the Quins Academy before he moved to uni in Cardiff. Young will know something about him.
 
HenryChinaski said:
I'm actually a bit confused as to whether he's currently at Cardiff Blues or Cardiff RFC. Either way, he's captained Cardiff University in Varsity matches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbmIItbCUvo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Edit. "Cooper-Woolley captained Cardiff University to Welsh Varsity triumph at the Millennium Stadium in 2012, before succumbing to injury which saw him miss most of this season, where he was expected to play a strong role with Cardiff"

Hard to tell, clearly he's been injured, and has also been at University prior to that...still, its definitely a punt. But I've been pretty happy with Dai's punting so far!
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You suck for bringing that game up, I remember drinking through my sorrows in the Swansea bit of the stands :(
 
Thingimubob said:
You suck for bringing that game up, I remember drinking through my sorrows in the Swansea bit of the stands :(
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Haha sorry dude... I watched the whole thing on youtube, I remember when you went 6 - 0 up, your section of the crowd seemed to think it was game set match! :p

dullonien said:
Pity to be losing player before they get a chance at regional level. Blues could have done with a young, developing tighthead.

Thanks for the info.
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I'd hope that the regions will be keeping a very close eye on Will Taylor whilst he's at Wasps. He has similar qualities to Cooper-Woolley by what I've seen of the latter, tall for a prop, powerful and a good carrier. I imagine he's on a fairly modest deal at Wasps, but at the same time could be a future Wales international THP, so maybe after a couple of seasons of working at his scrummaging under Dai, one of the regions should think about making him an offer.

By the way, I found out Jake Cooper-Woolley was on a development contract with Cardiff Blues, which i reality meant he played most of his rugby with Cardiff RFC in the principality premiership. Which will be why you hadn't come across him.
 
HenryChinaski said:
Haha sorry dude... I watched the whole thing on youtube, I remember when you went 6 - 0 up, your section of the crowd seemed to think it was game set match! :p



I'd hope that the regions will be keeping a very close eye on Will Taylor whilst he's at Wasps. He has similar qualities to Cooper-Woolley by what I've seen of the latter, tall for a prop, powerful and a good carrier. I imagine he's on a fairly modest deal at Wasps, but at the same time could be a future Wales international THP, so maybe after a couple of seasons of working at his scrummaging under Dai, one of the regions should think about making him an offer.

By the way, I found out Jake Cooper-Woolley was on a development contract with Cardiff Blues, which i reality meant he played most of his rugby with Cardiff RFC in the principality premiership. Which will be why you hadn't come across him.
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Well ... He's actually been injured since the start of pre-season ... ACL reconstruction. Hence why no one has heard of him much, he gets a mention on most Blues team sheets as he appears injured on them.
 
TRF_Cymro said:
Duck I thought a guy like you would know quite a bit about this boy.

Ruptured his ACL in the Blues pre-season tour, has only just got back playing. Gatland after his last Varsity match went to see him especially and told him if he carries on he would develop into a good tight head, Gatland encouraged him to sign with the Blues. Blues will be seriously dissapointed that he has signed for Wasps. A massive blow for a potentially very good player.
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HenryChinaski said:
I'd hope that the regions will be keeping a very close eye on Will Taylor whilst he's at Wasps. He has similar qualities to Cooper-Woolley by what I've seen of the latter, tall for a prop, powerful and a good carrier. I imagine he's on a fairly modest deal at Wasps, but at the same time could be a future Wales international THP, so maybe after a couple of seasons of working at his scrummaging under Dai, one of the regions should think about making him an offer.

By the way, I found out Jake Cooper-Woolley was on a development contract with Cardiff Blues, which i reality meant he played most of his rugby with Cardiff RFC in the principality premiership. Which will be why you hadn't come across him.
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Will Taylor was let go by the Ospreys to Wasps. I'd assume this was because the coaches thought Jo Rees, and the current U20 props Nicky Thomas and Dan Suter were better prospects. Although it's possible that he left without the coaches wanting him to though.

Not sure why you think Dai Young is some magic scrum coach by the way. Judging by the calibre of props that came through during his decade at the Blues he's clearly not. Gary Powell, John Yapp, Nathan Trevett or Scott Andrews anyone?
 
psychic duck said:
Will Taylor was let go by the Ospreys to Wasps. I'd assume this was because the coaches thought Jo Rees, and the current U20 props Nicky Thomas and Dan Suter were better prospects. Although it's possible that he left without the coaches wanting him to though.

Not sure why you think Dai Young is some magic scrum coach by the way. Judging by the calibre of props that came through during his decade at the Blues he's clearly not. Gary Powell, John Yapp, Nathan Trevett or Scott Andrews anyone?
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For a start, I really don't remember suggesting that Dai is "some magic scrum coach". The obvious development opportunity for Taylor is that he's 22, young for a Tighthead prop, and I can think of worse people to work with than Dai, who has in recent times, turned Phil Swainston from a championship level tighthead to an England Saxons player who can compete with the best. He's also identified that Zak Taulafo should not be made to switch between Loosehead and Tighthead, and Taulafo's performances at scrum time have vastly improved since. In general, the Wasps scrum is infinitely better this season than it was 2010-11 and 2011-12. And we've accomplished this without getting the cheque book out for an established world-class prop.

As for Taylor leaving Ospreys, you've alluding to the possibility that he may have left of his own volition, but you don't seem to think that's likely. Why not? I can think of a number of reasons; He came to Wasps at the same time as Swainston, when Wasps were pretty much without any tighthead at all - a huge opportunity to stake a claim, and indeed he's now benching every week and has had starts. Contrast that with the situation at Ospreys where Adam Jones is the incumbent, and where Taylor has had about 5 bench appearances amounting to 25 minutes or so by the looks of things. He gets to work with a coaching team with a pretty good track record of getting the best out of young players and a coach who has played at the very highest level. Add that to a burgeoning Welsh contingent at Wasps with good connections to the regions at WRU, and I can see why he might have made that move off his own back.
 
HenryChinaski said:
Haha sorry dude... I watched the whole thing on youtube, I remember when you went 6 - 0 up, your section of the crowd seemed to think it was game set match! :p
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Correction, we went 6 - 0 up and carried on getting off our faces :p we then started losing, and carried on with the drinking! Gutted I'm missing it this year!
 
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