Player rumours

So it sounds as if Nottingham and Donny will be weaker than this year.  Anybody else got any opinions on whether the announced changes have strengthened or weakened their sides?  It was said that with the recession and the French salary cap the standard in level 2 was likely to go up.  So far there seems little evidence to support that theory. Pirates incomers are largely academy players and a couple from Albion.  Welsh have recruited Drauniniu who will be a thorn in most championship sides,  but Worcester seem to be losing rather than retaining players.  No confirmed signings at Exe though Davies (ex-Bath) would be good if true. 

This list of players leaving has been posted on our unoffy site:

robin boot? lorne ward? dorian williams? [dg - retiring? he's served us well and had a fair few injuries recently] chris whitehead (exeter) dan george (carmarthen quins) [dg - heard he's off to uni] gavin o'meara? ben gotting (rosslyn park) ben thomas? tom brown (cardiff blues) neil starling? greg evans (irish team... magners maybe?) ed lewis pratt (australian team... possibly following his friend cipriani?)

Originally posted by dottigirl This list of players leaving has been posted on our unoffy site: robin boot? lorne ward? dorian williams? [dg - retiring? he's served us well and had a fair few injuries recently] chris whitehead (exeter) dan george (carmarthen quins) [dg - heard he's off to uni] gavin o'meara? ben gotting (rosslyn park) ben thomas? tom brown (cardiff blues) neil starling? greg evans (irish team... magners maybe?) ed lewis pratt (australian team... possibly following his friend cipriani?)

The Os have only got the five hookers listed on their site...

Originally posted by Exeforever [  Delaney is, of course, the exemplar of this skill.

I'm not sure he's really human!

Originally posted by Exeforever So it sounds as if Nottingham and Donny will be weaker than this year.  Anybody else got any opinions on whether the announced changes have strengthened or weakened their sides?  It was said that with the recession and the French salary cap the standard in level 2 was likely to go up.  So far there seems little evidence to support that theory. Pirates incomers are largely academy players and a couple from Albion.  Welsh have recruited Drauniniu who will be a thorn in most championship sides,  but Worcester seem to be losing rather than retaining players.  No confirmed signings at Exe though Davies (ex-Bath) would be good if true.    I know it's early days but the signs aren't exactly promising unless a lot haven't been announced on here.  Any views?

Originally posted by Stoatgobbler Originally posted by Mark W-J   All unsubstantiated rumours, started by an unregistered poster.  Are we really letting three props and four hookers go?  But, to be fair, a few of those guys would be expected to be a bit fed-up wih the amount of rugby they've played this season.     I'd be surprised at Dorian going. He's still a resident of these parts and has a baby on the way.

Then he'll be in the Lord Mayor's show next year, not the LW side

Redski,
           It could also be that they signed for 2 years giving them more security than the 1 year a lot of Albion players are offered.

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[QUOTE=Exeforever]So it sounds as if Nottingham and Donny will be weaker than this year.  Anybody else got any opinions on whether the announced changes have strengthened or weakened their sides?

Nottingham signed Ben Buxton for another season

Not as tackling coach, that's for sure.....

Thanks exe really am enjoying it and far more now!!!  does that mean were promoted from this forum to a new GP forum...

Julien Laharrague rumoured to be on his way to worcester, 32 year old former france international.

I think he was who Nottingham had lined up to replace Du Plessis when he went to Saracens, but were unable to bring in due to objections from Donny. Ended up bringing in French from Wasps instead.