NEXT SEASON
By JO'G
July 30 2016
I was intending to write an article on the England U20 teams of the last few years – looking at the influence of those players on the Premiership squads and in fact on the England team. Working out whether those players stayed with their original clubs; that sort of thing
However, when I gather the information about the new Premiership squads for next season I realised that there was perhaps the basis of an article there. I could complete the U20 one later in August. What was interesting was the increasing similarity in the make-up of each club. Although each club is slightly different the similarities are there to be seen. What’s also noticeable is that clubs who lost a number of players last season haven’t necessarily replaced them yet
Squad make-up; most of the squads are around 42 players with 10 Academy guys alongside them.
The breakdown of that 42 and 10 is generally as it is below.
· Props: Seven plus 1 academy
· Hooker: Four
· Locks: Five plus 1 academy
· Flankers: Six plus 2 academy
· Number 8s: Two plus 1 academy
· Scrum Halves: Four plus 1 academy
· Fly Halves: Two plus 1 academy
· Centres: Five plus 1 academy
· Wings: Five plus 1 academy
· Full Backs: Two plus 1 academy
A number of clubs seem to however be slightly lower than the norm: expect some recruitment
· Bath only have 32 senior players; they are especially light all over the backs and at flanker
· Sale have only 35 senior players. They only have 4 Centres, 1 Full back and 1 number 8. They also only have 3 locks. That’s in senior players
· Wasps are incredibly short of flankers – 3 Seniors and 2 Academy and they are the only club with 3 scrum-halves
· Tiggers have only one full-back, but 4 fly-halves
· Sarries have the least number of Senior Props (5) – so I would expect one more even with 2 Academy props
The Academies of clubs seem to be very healthy with most clubs having around 10 – 9 is the lowest
Newcastle with 20; Worcester with 14; Quins and Sarries with 12 each are slightly above the average
What is interesting is that all the clubs have at least one foreigner in their academy.
Newcastle with the biggest academy have 4 and Worcester with the next biggest have 3.
The surprise is Gloucester who have 4 of their 10 Academy players from outside England
Of the 20 Academy players who are not English, 7 are Scottish.
Then the normally contentious area of Foreign players. The premiership seems to have turned a corner with at least 414 of the 624 players being English Qualified. That’s over 2/3
This in fact might be slightly more, as some players registered abroad in the lists may well have finished their residency and be dual assigned. In which case I missed it in my calculations. I did change the Saracens players I knew who were nationalised. However, with the work permits getting more tricky to get hold of, most players now need to be certified internationals in order to get a permit. Having played for someone else, they then cannot become English Qualified
Of the foreign legions the largest is surprisingly New Zealand with 28. There are 25 South Africans, 15 Aussies and 8 Argentinians from the World Cup top 4
The 6 Nation countries are well represented with 26 Scots, 15 from Wales and 14 from Ireland. There are 5 Italians and Picamoles is the only Frenchman
The representation from the South Seas has dropped over the last few years; just 18 from Samoa, 10 from Tonga and 7 from Fiji
Of the rest There are 6 from the USA, 3 from Georgia and one each from Canada, Namibia, Portugal and Russia.
The clubs seems to have an even spread.
Wasps ( I was surprised have only 11), Bath, Northampton and Harlequins are all around 25%
Exeter, Sale, Sarries and Leicester are around a third each
Worcester, Gloucester, Bristol and Newcastle are at roughly 40%.
You could say that the top clubs seem to have a pragmatic amount of foreigners, with the middle clubs perhaps losing out on their English principals.
The clubs at risk seem to care more for survival than being politically correct
Changes this year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2016%E2%80%9317_Aviva_Premiership_transfers
BATH
|
IN |
OUT |
|
Luke Charteris (Racing 92) Taulupe Faletau (Dragons) Elliott Stooke (Gloucester) Michael van Vuuren (Leicester) Harry Davies (Cardiff Blues) Kahn Fotuaili’I (Northampton Jack Walker (Yorkshire Carnegie)
|
Willie Spencer (Worcester) Ollie Devoto (Exeter) Rob Webber (Sale) Jonathan Evans (Scarletts) Luke Arscott (Bristol) Max Northcote-Green (Irish) Brett Herron (Ulster) Dominic Day (Toyota Verblitz) Amanaki Mafi (NTT Shining Arcs) Tom Woolstencroft (Wasps) Leroy Houston (Queensland Reds) Horacio Aqulla (Castres) Kyle Eastmond (Wasps) Alafoti Fa’osilvia (released) |
BRISTOL
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IN |
OUT |
|
Martin Roberts (Ospreys) Rhodri Williams (Scarletts) Luke Arscott (Bath) Tusi Pisi (Sunwolves) Jordan Williams (Scarletts) Nick Fenton-Wells (Bedford) Jordan Crane (Leicester) Thretton Palamo (Saracens) John Fisher (Northampton) Soane Tongahu’ia (Oyonnax) Will Hurrell (Doncaster) Giorgi Nemsadzi (Tarbes) |
Matthew Morgan (Cardiff) Marco Mama (Worcester) Dwayne Peel (retired) Craig Hampson (Wasps) George Watkins (Jersey reds) Ellis Genge (Leicester) Tommaso Benvenuti (Treviso) Josh Ovens (released) Darren Hudson (released) James Stephenson (released) |
EXETER CHIEFS
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IN |
OUT |
|
Greg Holmes (Queensland Reds) Ollie Devoto (Bath) Dave Dennis (NSW Waratahs) Lachlan Turner (Toulon) |
Adam Hughes (Dragons) Josh Jones (Salford Red devils) Alex Brown (USA Perpignan) Brett Sturgiss (Ampthill) Jerry Sexton (Irish) Byron McGuighan (Sale) Chrysander Botha (released |
GLOUCESTER RUGBY
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IN |
OUT |
|
Lewis Ludlow (Academy) Matt Scott (Edinburgh) Motu Matu’u (Hurricanes) Josh Hohneck (Highlanders) Andy Symons (Worcester) Tom Denton (Leinster) Dan Thomas (Academy) Ollie Thornton (Academy) Cameron Orr (Greater Sydney Rams) |
Elliott Stooke (Bath) Steve McColl (Yorkshire Carnegie) Luke Cole (Rotherham) Tom Hicks (Rotherham) James Gibbons (Ealing Trailfinders) Rob Cook (retired) Nick Wood (retired) Bill Meakes (Western Force) James Hudson (released) Steph Reynolds (released) |
HARLEQUINS
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IN |
OUT |
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Charlie Mulchrone (Worcester) Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps) Aaron Morris (Saracens) Mark Reddish (Highlanders) George Naoupu (Connacht)
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Kieran Treadwell (Ulster) Tito Tebaldi (Treviso) Ben Botica (Montpelier) Beau Robinson (released)
|
LEICESTER TIGERS
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IN |
OUT |
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Matt Toomua (Brumbies) JP Pietersen (Sharks) Tom Brady (Sale) George McGuighan (Newcastle) Pat Cilliers (Montpelier) Luke Hamilton (Agen) Ellis Genge (Bristol) |
Leonardo Ghiraldini (Toulouse) Tommy Bell (Irish) Laurence Pearce (Sharks) Vereniki Goneva (Newcastle) Miles Benjamin (retired) Seremaia Bai (retired) Sebastian de Chaves (Irish) Michael van Vuuren (Bath) Jean de Villiers (retired/released) George Tressider (Rotherham) Jordan Crane (Bristol) Tiziano Pasquali (Treviso) Matias Aguero (Provence) Christian Loamanu (Provence) Niall Morris (Leinster) |
NEWCASTLE FALCONS
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IN |
OUT |
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Joshua Chisanga (Kenya Sevens) Vereniki Goneva (Leicester) Sam Lockwood (Jersey) Sam Egerton (England Sevens) Harrison Orr (Ealing Trailfinders) Joel Hodgson (Yorkshire Carnegie) Ben Sowrey (Worcester) Evan Olmstead (London Scottish) David Tameilau (San Francisco Rush) Nick Civetta (RCI Medecei) Andrew Davidson (Glasgow Hawks) Kyle Hooper (Sharks)
|
George McGuigan (Leicester) Todd Clever (released) Andy Goode (retired) Rob Hawkins (retired) Richard Mayhew (Yorkshire Carnegie) Joshua Furno (Zebre) Kensuke Hatakeyama (Sungoliath) Giovanbattista Venditti (Zebre) Kane Thompson (retired) Eric Fry (Sacramento Express) Ruki Tipuna (Rangataua) Jamie Booth (Manawatu) Scott MacLeod (retired) Gonzalo Tiesi (retired) Alesana Tuilagi (released) Anitelea Tuilagi (released) |
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
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IN |
OUT |
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Louis Picamoles (Toulouse) Campese Ma’afu (Provence) Charlie Clare (Bedford) Nic Groom (Stormers) |
Alex Corbusiero (released sabbatical) Matt Williams (Worcester) Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (Irish) Patrick Howards (Dragons) Kahn Fotuali’I (Bath) Jon Fisher (Bristol) |
SALE SHARKS
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IN |
OUT |
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Rob Webber (Bath) Laurence Pearce (Leicester) Kieran Longbottom (Saracens) Josh Charnley (Wigan) AJ McGinty (Connacht) Dan Mugford (Nottingham) Mike Phillips (Racing 92) Halani Aulika (Irish) Lou Reed (Cardiff) Byron McGuigan (Exeter)
|
Vadim Cobilas (Bordeaux Begles) Tommy Taylor (Wasps) Danny Cipriani (Wasps) Tom Brady (Leicester) Phil McKenzie (San Diego Breakers) Nick MacLeod (Dragons) Joe Ford (Yorkshire Carnegie) Chris Cusiter (retired) Mark Easter (retired) Viliami Fihaki (Edinburgh) |
SARACENS
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IN |
OUT |
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Schalk Burger (Stormers) Alex Lozowski (Wasps) Savenaca Rawaca (Fiji Sevens) Mark Flanagan (Bedford) Sean Maitland (Irish) Vincent Koch (Stormers) |
Charlie Hodgson (retired) Rhys Gill (Cardiff) Catalin Fercu (Timisoara Saracens) Kieran Longbottom (Sale) Dave Porecki (Irish) Jacques Burger (retired) Aaron Morris (Harlequins) Thretton Palamo (Bristol) Biyi Alo (Worcester) Ben Ransom (Irish) |
WASPS
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IN |
OUT |
|
Marty Moore (Leinster) Tommy Taylor (Sale) Danny Cipriani (Sale) Tom Cruse (Irish) Guy Armitage (London Welsh) Craig Hampson (Bristol) Tom Woolstencroft (Bath) Marcus Garratt (Cornish Pirates) Kurtley Beale (NSW Waratahs) Matt Symons (Irish) Nick de Luca (Biarritz) Kayle Eastmond (Bath) |
Charles Piutau (Ulster) Alex Lozowski (Saracens) George Smith (Sungoliath/Queensland) Jamie Stevenson (London Scottish) Ed Shervington (retired) Ruaridh Jackson (Harlequins) Bradley Davies (Ospreys) James Downey (retired) Ben Jacobs (retired) Carlo Festuccia (Zebre) Andrea Masi (retired) Lorenzo Cittadini (Bayonne) |
WORCESTER WARRIORS
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IN |
OUT |
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Ben Te’o (Leinster) Jackson Willison (Grenoble) Will Spencer (Bath) Marco Mama (Bristol) Perry Humphries (Academy) Dewald Potgeiter (Yamaha Jubilo) Matt Williams (Northampton) Francois Hougaard (SA sevens) Biyi Alo (Saracens) |
Darren O’Shea (Munster) Charlie Mulchrone (Harlequins) Jean-Baptiste Bruzulier (Nevers) Ben Sowrey (Newcastle) Heath Stevens (London Welsh) Joe Rees (Rotherham) Andy Symons (Gloucester) Alex Grove (Moseley) Ravi Fatiaki (released) Dan George (released) Matt Gilbert (released) Dan Sanderson (released) |
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:08:20:15:50:03 by Darraghgirl.
I share your concern regarding our senior prop numbers, though when compiling my thoughts I "promoted" Titi in the belief that he is too senior to be regarded as an academy player. Also with Thompson-Stringer, Adams-Hale and Walker I think we have 5/6 senior plus 4/3 academy - or am I missing something?
And Sara'sman I didn't drill into the information too much. It seemed pretty accurate and although I might have changed the Sarries information I certainly would not have changed the other clubs
When I was trying to get this information from the internet, it made me realise that not very much exists and a lot of it is very out of date. Club websites seem to be one of the worst; they publish the article about the player arriving or leaving and then don't update the player lists to match. Given that i'm a professional in this area, I know that this should be very straightforward. I would think that most journalists probably keep their own information databases - so complaints from us that they don't seem to know their facts now have me not quite so angry
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:07:31:16:36:08 by Darraghgirl.
This detail highlights the value of "utility" players and the difficulty of assigning them a position. For example we are very fortunate to have Goode (15) as a 3rd/2nd choice fly half, Wyles (15 originally) as a more than capable wing or centre etc. And where do we place someone like Wray? A mobile, slightly underweight 8 or a ball carrying 6 or even a slightly slow 7! Similarly Brown and so on. I'm sure all DORs take this into consideration when composing their squads and you/Balls out will have made many such calls in making your analysis.