Steelers keen to lure Parkes over to Japan
WALES star Hadleigh Parkes has become a prime target for big-spending Japanese club Kobe Steelers, according to reports.
The Steelers’ star-studded squad this season included New Zealand greats Dan Carter and Brodie Retallick, as well as Australia stalwart Adam Ashley-Cooper.
The ambitious Japanese side are said to have next targeted Welsh centre Parkes.
It’s unclear when Parkes’ existing contract with the Scarlets, which he signed two years ago, runs out, or whether they have offered him an extension.
The Rugby Paper claim Parkes, who will be 33 in October, is in talks with Kobe about joining them in November despite the tantalising prospect of extending his Wales career and being picked by Warren Gatland for next year’s Lions tour of South Africa.
Parkes has been a regular in the Wales team since bagging a brace of tries on his debut in the win over South Africa at the tail-end of the 2017 autumn internationals.
He has been capped 29 times and was a key player during last year’s Six Nations Grand Slam, and was among the nominations for the player of the tournament which was won in the end by by Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones.
Parkes helped Wales reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in Japan, before they lost narrowly to eventual champions South Africa.
New Wales coach Wayne Pivac brought fellow New Zealander Parkes to Llanelli in December 2014 while head honcho of the Scarlets, and also picked him in his Test starting XV.
The popular Parkes, who qualified for Wales on residency, has made 122 appearances for the Scarlets.
If he leaves the Scarlets for a team outside the country it would halt his Test career. He is 31 caps short of the required 60 laid down by the Welsh Rugby Union for exiles to be picked by Wales.
■ MEANWHILE, Nick Tompkins’ move to Cardiff Blues from Saracens has hit a stumbling block over the length of the deal.
Wales’ newest star hopes to move from Champions Cup holders Saracens following the London club’s relegation from the Gallagher Premiership.
They were condemned to finishing bottom of the table after being hit with a massive 105-point deduction and a £5.36m fine for breaking the English top-flight’s £7m a season salary cap.
Scarlets and Dragons were also interesting in obtaining the services of Tompkins, who impressed during the Six Nations after being picked by Wales boss Wayne Pivac.
He had been an Under-20 World Championship winner with England but qualified for Wales through a Wrexham-born grandmother.
The 25-year-old centre appeared in all Wales’ four Six Nations matches to date and earned rave reviews with England World Cup winner Will Greenwood picking him in his fantasy
Lions team to face global kings South Africa next year.
Tompkins choose Cardiff Arm Park following talks with Blues coach John Mulvihill but Saracens have been unwilling to loan him for more than next season.
Blues had wanted to borrow London-born Tompkins for two campaigns or sign him on a permanent three-year deal.
But, according to The Rugby Paper, he signed a long-term contract with Saracens before being picked for his Wales debut.
That means he can return to Saracens, if he is loaned out, and still appear for Wales with the Welsh Rugby Union’s 60-cap requirement for exiles not being applicable until the deal he agreed with European rugby’s dominant force expires.
Tompkins believes his chances of retaining his Wales place would increase if he’s playing for a Welsh region rather than in the second-tier English Championship with Saracens, who are hot favourites to win immediate promotion back to the Premiership.