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Blues star Xavier Rush signs Ulster deal

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http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline...91466-25778206/

XAVIER RUSH will leave the Blues at the end of the season to join Irish province Ulster.

The Kiwi No 8 has signed a lucrative two-year deal believed to be worth £200,000-a-year to join the former Heineken Cup winners.

The eight-times capped former All Black, who led the Auckland Blues to the Super 12 ***le, has emerged as one of the most wanted back-row players around.

Guinness Premiership pair Saracens and Worcester Warriors, as well as new Aussie Super 15 franchise Melbourne Rebels, were all in the hunt for Rush's signature.

He is also understood to have explored the possibility of a move to Japanese rugby.

Rush's decision to leave the Welsh capital for Belfast after five years with the Blues will be a bitter blow to coach Dai Young.

The 32-year-old has been a key cog in the Blues side, which lifted the Anglo-Welsh Cup and reached the Heineken Cup semi-final last season.

But the Blues simply couldn't match the final big pay day that Ulster offered Rush in the last major contract of his professional career.

The Blues, however, look set to keep hold of full-back Ben Blair, their other former All Black, who was also out of contract at the end of this season.

Blair is expected to pledge his future to the Blues and sign a new deal.

Young admitted a few weeks ago he was facing a battle to keep two key players who have played major roles in the Blues re-establishing themselves on the European stage.

"We want to keep certain players and Rushie and Ben have been instrumental in getting us to where we are," he said.

"Being the big players they are, they have attracted a lot of attention and people are chucking real big-money deals at them. We are struggling to meet their expectations at the minute.

"They are focused on what they are doing with the Blues, but obviously we have a big task in trying to match the offers they have had to keep hold of them.

"We want to compete at the highest level but there does come a point where you just cannot afford people.

"That is the same in any business, but Rushie and Ben would be almost impossible to replace.

"We want to keep our best players. There have only been two players â€" Mike Phillips and Nicky Robinson â€" who have left since I have been here that I really wanted to keep.

"Every other player has gone through mutual agreement."[/b]
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Meh, good player, poor signing if you get what I mean. Ulster have Ferris and Anderson at 6, Pollock and Faloon at 7, and Henry and Diack at 8. Waste of a NIQ spot and means another of those players won't be playing. Why not sign a scrumhalf or a fullback?
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MunsterMan @ Feb 7 2010, 11:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
Meh, good player, poor signing if you get what I mean. Ulster have Ferris and Anderson at 6, Pollock and Faloon at 7, and Henry and Diack at 8. Waste of a NIQ spot and means another of those players won't be playing. Why not sign a scrumhalf or a fullback?[/b]
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What's to say they won't/haven't?

I agree that Rush isn't needed but adding him, along with Johann Muller, gives Ulster an incredibly strong pack. They now have the ability to rotate players and not flog the likes of Ferris and Henry into the ground.

In my opinion Ulster still need a new scrumhalf and probably a fullback to be competitive at the top end of the Magners League and Heineken Cup.
 
What a waste like Rush is a good player but no better than what they have and fact is they should've invested money more wisely like maybe a Nathan Hines type player that can cover maybe all 5 spots back spots in scrum.

Its a scrum half where the big money should be spent.
 
George Hook made a fantastic point yesterday (for once). Kevin McLaughlin won his first cap yesterday as a reward for his outstanding form for Leinster, but if Rocky had stayed for his optional second season how many Magners League caps would he have, never mind Ireland caps. Same goes for Sexton, If Contepomi had not come off injured in the semi would he have any caps at all now? Ulster have 5 promising young backrow forwards, with Diack a very good player nearly IQ, why play Rush in his place?
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MunsterMan @ Feb 7 2010, 03:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
George Hook made a fantastic point yesterday (for once). Kevin McLaughlin won his first cap yesterday as a reward for his outstanding form for Leinster, but if Rocky had stayed for his optional second season how many Magners League caps would he have, never mind Ireland caps. Same goes for Sexton, If Contepomi had not come off injured in the semi would he have any caps at all now? Ulster have 5 promising young backrow forwards, with Diack a very good player nearly IQ, why play Rush in his place?[/b]
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The argument has some merit to it but he's being selective in what he says. McLaughlin hadn't broken through at Leinster because he was injured most of the time. Everybody knew he had talent (right back to his school days when he was a schools international 2 years running) but he couldn't stay fit. Would McLaughlin be ahead of Elsom if the Aussie was still with Leinster? Absolutely not. Would Leinster have won the Heineken Cup without the Aussie captain? Probably not.

Bringing Elsom into the Leinster setup benefitted others like Cian Healy, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip, indeed McLaughlin himself and improved their games. Likewise learning from Felipe Contepomi helped Jonny Sexton and Ian Keatley. John Langford helped Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan. Jim Williams helped Denis Leamy.

Things aren't black and white. Good "imports" will lend experience and leadership to a team. Short term they may block the passage of some Irish qualified players but the long term benefit is better Irish players. Do you think Xavier Rush will impart some knowledge on Chris Henry, Robbie Diack, Willie Faloon, David Pollock, Stephen Ferris and Thomas Anderson? I do. With Ferris, Best and possibly Henry on international duty, Rush will provide leadership to the pack in their absence. There's also the matter of a possible 4 extra games per season against Italian opposition to take into account. Ulster's young backrows won't lose out with the former All Black on their squad.
 
Good Signing. I've always liked Rush, and I think for the immediate he will do Ulster some good. The successful clubs right now have loads of leadership on the pitch. Xavier will bring that to Ulster.
 
Rush may pass on some knowledge, but it isn't a substitue for gametime. Sean Cronin is a good example of what gametime can do for a good player.
 
Wow.
200k for 2 years?
That's a little exessive for a player that's due to retire soon, but - and i stress that but - he will be there for every game, he will give 100%, he will cross that gain line, he'll bring experience to the game, he'll teach the newbies so much and he'll be an unofficial captain all round.
The man is going to be a great signing.
But 200k?
Yikes.
 
Cardiff's loss. Not much gain for Ulster either. Don't see the point. Cardiff are slowly being drained of their great players: Robinson first. Now Rush. WHO NEXT? ROBERTS? JENKINS? WHEN WILL IT END!?
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MunsterMan @ Feb 7 2010, 04:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
Rush may pass on some knowledge, but it isn't a substitue for gametime. Sean Cronin is a good example of what gametime can do for a good player.[/b]
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Cronin is a great example of what extra game time can do, as are Fionn Carr, Jerry Flannery, Bernard Jackman, John Fogarty and Ian Keatley. That's Connacht's role, not Ulster's. Say for example that Johnny Sexton left Leinster to go to Connacht for game time a couple of years ago (due to Felipe Contepomi "blocking" him). Do you think he'd be in a position to start for Ireland now or would he be improving slowly in a below average team out west? I think it'd be the latter. Game time alone isn't good enough unless you're put in position to succeed.

Ulster are in the business of trying to win trophies. Rush gives them a better chance than some of the kids currently in Ulster's squad. I'd rather his arrival (and that of Johann Muller) helps Ulster win more often and boosts the confidence of players like Darren Cave, Ian Humphreys, Dan Tuohy, Ryan Caldwell, Tom Court, Declan Fitzpatrick, Stephen Ferris and Chris Henry more than giving David Pollock, TJ Anderson and Willie Faloon extra minutes on the pitch will.

I want to see a successful Ireland team and successful provinces as much as you do. I just feel that the right kind of signing, which Rush could be and Muller definitely is, helps Ireland improve more than giving kids who aren't good enough yet a chance to play. Successful provinces feed into a successful national team.
 
Cardiff have a fair few back rowers coming through who are welsh and do not require over 150K - becuase I am sure thats what Cardiff offered Xavier. Im thinking Warburton and Pretorious, very physical players and will do a similar job.

Xavier Rush is an impact player who really can run through brick walls and lead from the front. What Cardiff lost in leadership/experience they saved alot with money. It is frustrating though that we lose X-man and have Norton-Knight for two more years.
 
Good signing on Ulsters behalf, big loss on Cardiff's. However, it will allow Warburton into the starting XV, which is a good thing.
 
I'm sure anyone wouldn't mind getting 50k extra, despite if they gamble or not.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MunsterMan @ Feb 7 2010, 11:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
Meh, good player, poor signing if you get what I mean. Ulster have Ferris and Anderson at 6, Pollock and Faloon at 7, and Henry and Diack at 8. Waste of a NIQ spot and means another of those players won't be playing. Why not sign a scrumhalf or a fullback?[/b]
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Definitely agree with this, Ulster have enough players in the back row. This will stop Irish players getting games and if they’re not getting selected they won’t get a call up to the national team, in the long term this will hurt Ireland, this clearly is evident in the current lack of props within the country!!!! I think the provinces should look into restrictions on the amount of foreign based players in their squads.
 

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