Have Enever and Ball definitely signed?
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
YOU SAY WHAT NOW!!!!!Originally Posted by shasta
That would be freaking cool!
C'mon the
I don't think so - it was always only speculation.
Rodda to take massive pay cut - and spurn Waratahs - to come home
Sam Phillips
By Sam Phillips
March 8, 2021 — 7.45pm
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The Waratahs’ woes appear to be impacting their ability to recruit star players, with Izack Rodda set to spurn NSW and sign with the Force in a shock twist to his Australian rugby homecoming.
Rodda wanted to stay in Australia after falling out with the Reds last year but was blocked from doing so and subsequently signed a lucrative deal with French club Lyon.
Izack Rodda is set to accept an enormous pay cut to return to Australian rugby.
Izack Rodda is set to accept an enormous pay cut to return to Australian rugby.CREDIT:GETTY
That contract expires in July and sources close to the 25-Test Wallaby told the Herald he is very keen to make a return to Australia.
Rodda is so eager to come home he has turned his back on offers in the region of $1 million per season in France and Japan, according to an informed source.
He is now weighing up three separate one-year offers from three Australian Super Rugby clubs worth as much as $700,000 less.
The Waratahs are in desperate need of a star lock and have spent considerable time and effort to sign the 24-year-old, who hails from Evans Head, in northern NSW. But the Herald can reveal Rodda is currently leaning towards signing with the Force. The Rebels are the other club currently in the mix.
The contracts on offer are believed to be worth between $300,000 and $400,000 for the 2022 Super Rugby season and do not include any Rugby Australia top-up money.
The difference in the monetary value between each of the three offers is small enough that Rodda’s decision will be based on where he would prefer to live and which rugby environment suits him best. Sources close to Rodda said the Force impressed the big lock when they tried to recruit him following his fallout with Queensland.
Meanwhile, NSW, who lost to the Force on Friday night, face an uphill battle to win a game this season under embattled coach Rob Penney.
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The Waratahs have spent about $1m less on player salaries than their four Australian rivals this season but have not placed an offer too good to refuse in front of Rodda, despite a lack of quality locks and Wallabies players in general.
Rodda being close to signing with one of three Australian clubs will be music to the ears of Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, given the French season ends in July. Rodda could potentially be available for selection as soon as the three Test series against France, or more likely be in the mix for a Rugby Championship return later in the winter.
Rennie identified lock as a weak position for the Wallabies last year and would have recalled Rory Arnold if the towering former Brumbies lock didn’t suffer an injury in the weeks leading up to the Tri Nations.
Matt Philip was one of the finds of the last Wallabies season but Rodda putting pen to paper on a Super Rugby deal for 2022 will help plug that gap.
Before Rodda was blocked from joining another Australian Super Rugby club, director of rugby Scott Johnson was eager to keep him in Australia.
“Was it raised? It wasn’t raised,” Johnson told the Herald last year when asked about the tension. “Do I know there was maybe an issue? Yes, but go and sort it out.”
Rennie was also briefed on the situation before he arrived in Australia.
Meanwhile, Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa and Force reserve hooker Andrew Ready were both handed three-game suspensions after receiving red cards at the weekend.
Alaalatoa was sent off for a dangerous high tackle on Rebels Pone Fa’amausili during the Brumbies’ tense victory over Melbourne in Canberra on Saturday night, and he pleaded guilty to a dangerous tackling charge.
With the Brumbies having a bye in round 5, Alaalatoa won’t return to action for a month, when the ACT side travel to Brisbane to play the Reds on April 10.
Ready also pleaded guilty to striking Waratahs lock Hugh Sinclair on Friday and copped a three-game ban. He will eligible to return on April 9 against the Rebels.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-u...08-p578vp.html
That would be ace. A Rodda/Ball locking partnership along with FLW at 6, Anstee at 8 and Tizzano back at 7 would be pretty shit-hot.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Fantastic signing - evidently he's been playing the house down in France with Clermont.
Staleki Timani - Wallaby lock joins the Force
March 8, 2021
Another Wallaby has joined the Western Force squad, with Sitaleki Timani returning to the club as an injury replacement for the remainder of the season after leaving France for family reasons.
The towering lock adds a wealth of experience to the Force, having won both the French Top 14 and European Rugby Challenge Cup during his time in France.
Read more............
Western Force have strengthened their forward pack for the remainder of Super Rugby AU with the signing of former Wallabies lock Sitaleki Timani.
The 18-Test forward has been playing for Clermont Auvergne in France for the past four years, after originally having departed the Waratahs for Montpellier in 2013.
Thirty-four-year-old Timani will add further experience to a Force pack that already boasts veterans Jeremy Thrush and Greg Holmes, and rising stars Brynard Stander, Fergus Lee-Warner and Tim Anstee.
"Firstly, I'd like to thank Clermont for all their support over the years and most recently in our decision to return home for family reasons. They have been a big part of our lives and I wish them continued success in the future. I wouldn't be the player I am today without them," Timani said.
"Linking back up with the Western Force where I started my professional rugby career is something I could never have imagined. They are a club with great ambition, and I can't wait to reunite with the Sea of Blue at HBF Park soon."
Force head of rugby Matt Hodgson says Timani's addition will help offset some of the injuries the franchise has already suffered in Super Rugby AU, including their long-awaited first victory since 2017 against the Waratahs last Friday night.
"Timani adds invaluable experience to the team. His consistency in Super Rugby and overseas proves his adaptability and dynamism," Hodgson said.
"Having a player of Timani's class join the group at this stage after a few injuries is fantastic and we can't wait to see him back in the blue jersey."
From ESPN
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"Pain heels. Chicks dig scars and Glory lasts forever." Shane Falco
Who are the injured players? I only know of Godwin
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
We are a bit thin on locks. I Reckon he's injury cover - hopefully untin Ball & Enever ink contracts.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Sounds like they have been trying to jeep it under wraps for a whiles
Western Force sign former Wallabies second-rower Sitaleki Timani
Nick Taylor
The West Australian
Mon, 8 March 2021 7:06PM
Western Force have signed former Wallabies second-rower Sitaleki Timani, who began his Super Rugby career with the club, after returning from France seven years after leaving Australia.
Rumours have been circulating for weeks about the future of the towering Timani with constant Force denials of his impending move.
He has left Top 14 club Claremont having also played for Montpellier. A Clermont spokesman said he was being released for family reasons.
Clermont club manager Neil McIlroy said: “We did everything we could to keep Sita, at least until the end of this season, but we couldn’t go beyond his will and hold him against his will.
“The health situation, in the international context that we know, weighs very heavily on his family unit. It is a decision that we are obliged to respect even if we deeply regret it.”
Timani, 203cm and 118kg, who made 18 Wallabies appearances, played for Perth Spirit in 2007 and made his Super Rugby debut the following year.
After eight appearances he moved to the Brumbies and then the Waratahs who were also interested in re-signing him.
Timani, 34, played eight Super games for the Brumbies and 42 for the Waratahs before moving to France after his last Wallabies appearance.
He has won both the French Top 14 and European Rugby Challenge Cup.
“Linking back up with the Western Force where I started my professional rugby career is something I could never have imagined,” Timani said.
“They are a club with great ambition, and I can’t wait to reunite with the Sea of Blue at HBF Park soon.”
Head of rugby Matt Hodgson said: “Timani adds invaluable experience to the team. His consistency in Super Rugby and overseas proves his adaptability and dynamism.
“Having a player of Timani’s class join the group at this stage after a few injuries is fantastic.”
Hey TIF The front page has both Enever and Ball listed as signed, did I miss something?
Also seeing traffic that we are in the running to sign Rodda. That’s a lot of Locks being touted as coming back to Australia.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/rodda-to-take-massive-pay-cut-and-spurn-waratahs-to-come-home-20210308-p578vp.html
The Rodda story is only talking about him maybe signing for playing 2022 with the Force , but Timani story looks he is signed for playing in 2021.
Yeah I read that that’s why I wrote in the running to sign. Not signed.
Generally speaking you aren’t learning much if your lips are moving!!!
Unfortunalty I think Covid has had some bearing on the ability for players to relocate after stories announced of signings.
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Apparently in a story in the West by Nick Taylor it says Sitaleki is a injury replacement for Manu Siaosi from the academy and wider training group. Don't know much about him but maybe his misfortune allowed us to get Sitaleki. Sorry, can't get the story from the paywall
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