WHAT YOU SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THIS MONTH…
“Which new signing is going to have the biggest impact?”
NEW SEASON, new signings.
There may not be as many big southern hemisphere names heading north – next year’s World Cup and the salary cap squeeze no doubt affecting players’ decisions – but there’s still been lots of movement.
Take fly-halves in the English Premiership. George Ford has left Leicester for Sale, South Africa fly-half Handré Pollard comes into the Tigers and AJ MacGinty has swapped Sharks for Bears. Sale will be hoping Ford inspires a climb up the table, as he did at Welford Road; the Leicester faithful await Pollard’s arrival given his Test commitments, meaning title-winning hero Freddie
Burns may have a stint at ten;
MacGinty is set for an interesting battle with Callum Sheedy to start at Bristol.
Elsewhere, Jonny Hill has some big South African shoes to fill at Sale while Hugh Tizard will be hoping to advance his England claims at Saracens.
Leinster have made minimal moves signings-wise – they do have a squad packed with Ireland internationals – but it will be interesting to see how Charlie Ngatai is used in midfield. It’s similar with Malakai Fekitoa at Munster.
Cardiff have seemingly got the best of the deals in Wales, with Taulupe Faletau and Liam Williams both arriving, while Huw Jones will be hoping to maintain the form he showed at Harlequins last season on his return to Glasgow.
As for the Premier 15s, there has probably been the most movement since the league began and the race for the top four is set to be extremely tight. Gloucester-Hartpury have been busiest with the likes of Sarah Beckett, Siwan Lillicrap and Maud Muir coming in – the challenge is for the squad to gel quickly with many of the new signings not arriving until after the World Cup.
Who are you most excited about seeing this term? Let us know, details below.