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Confirmed Transfers

Not sure if this counts, but Bath's coaching crew signings

Stevie Scott re-signs as scrum coach, Ruaridh McConnochie and GJVan Veltz added in new positions.
Main crew all signed long-term extensions last year.
Which only leaves the academy coaches (Ryan Davis and Mark Lilley) unknown
 
Louis Brown from Falcons to Worcester Warriors. Louis made 20 appearances and scored five tries during his two seasons on Tyneside, with 12 of those outings coming in the 2024/25 campaign.
 
Paul Deacon has left Sale,

Bit surprised at that, feels like it's come out of nowhere - do think it's the right move though, he's been here for quite a while and I think some fresh ideas on attack are needed
Interested to see where he goes (maybe back to League?) and who comes in
 
Paul Deacon has left Sale,

Bit surprised at that, feels like it's come out of nowhere - do think it's the right move though, he's been here for quite a while and I think some fresh ideas on attack are needed
Interested to see where he goes (maybe back to League?) and who comes in

Marco Bortolami in to replace him. Good get.
 
Fazlet, I presume?

I could 100% see him going to Sarries as a coach.
I don't see him accepting the pay-cut required to be Lozowski's injury dispensation.
As far as I'm aware, if going as a player/coach, ALL of his salary is counted inside the cap.

I guess he could go as a coach (at a much lower salary demand) and still register as a player, as having that as the ego-salve for taking a 80-90% pay cut
 
I don't really see why he wouldn't take the paycut

It's prob still around 250-300k I reckon he will get
His stock is in the dirt atm and he would rather be playing than not I feel

Also the draw of being able to retire in front of a club that actually likes you would be nice.

Look at the send off Ben Youngs and Dan Cole got would imagine for a player thats a big draw
 
I don't really see why he wouldn't take the paycut

It's prob still around 250-300k I reckon he will get
His stock is in the dirt atm and he would rather be playing than not I feel

Also the draw of being able to retire in front of a club that actually likes you would be nice.

Look at the send off Ben Youngs and Dan Cole got would imagine for a player thats a big draw
Yes, I can see him taking £250-300k, especially if he's seeing it a semi-retirement as he moves into coaching, where he's starting from the bottom and probably closer to £50k

But... because, if he's Lozowski's injury dispensation pick, then he can only be paid the amount that Loz would have been paid whilst out.
So IF Loz is on £200k p.a., and due to miss 50% of the season, then they'd only be able to pay Fazlet £100k (and bank on Loz not making an early come-back - or leaving him out once available anyway, until he hits 50%)

ETA: Ooops, of course, if Sarries also have room in the salary cap to pay him, just not as much as he's worth - then they can add those 2 figures together, to make a more respectable number.

People have a very odd view of who Farrell is as a person that doesn't seem to be rooted in anything but their animosity towards him
Yeah, I'd never make assumptions about him as a person; beyond that I'd expect him to be a really intense personality, and even there, I reserve my right to be wrong.
My animosity to him as a player was mostly due to the blind spot that the entirety of the press had towards him as being the messiah for a good decade where he could do no wrong, despite not being particularly skilled as a rugby player - and keeping out a better (IMO) option in Ford, before finally merely being a ball-and-chain on Ford, and having the team built around him.
I'm sure I took my criticisms and animosity too far - as an over-reaction to the over-praise he was receiving, but repeated enough that I'm sure I believed some of my over-reaction. Once polarised, the reactions become polarised, and the whole thing gets unhealthy.

To a lesser degree, I get the same with Finn Russell - it's not that the press think he can do no wrong, but that think he can walk on water if tried it; and just won't stop talking about him.
 
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Are you sure it's linked with how much of the season the player misses and not just the 12 weeks?
No, sorry, that's my interpretation, based on the replacement being required for the entirety of time that the injured player is out for. If someone is likely to be injured for 60% of the season, and can't be a higher "quality" of player than the injured, it wouldn't seem "fair" if you were only allowed to pay them 30% of the original player's salary - you'd only get someone demanding half the annual salary. The regulation itself doesn't specify, just the maximum is £400k - which covers any and all injury replacements, not £400k each.
ETA: Oh, regulations also state that the payment can't be greater than the replacement player's salary - which seems kinda superfluous.
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I wouldn't be suprised to see Salary Cap shennanigans. Coach salary is outside of the cap. So whilst he covers Lozowski, he's on injury joker money then when he's a 'normal player' he's on academy wages.

Best paid coach in the game though!
 
To my understanding, if they wanted to do that sort of shenanigans, they'd still have to pay him what they can now; and have a "gentleman's" agreement to overpay him once he moves fully into coaching.

Given Sarries history, and Farrell's history, I could see that. But they'd need to be careful that it's only ever spoken, not written (the SC commissioner can get access to things like a player's whatsapp account etc).
My understanding is that if those two things are agreed at separate times - with the playing salary agreed and signed before any (official) discussion starts on coaching salary - then it's legal - it's that cross-over that isn't.
 
I suspect Farrell will be quite happy to come back and focus on rebuilding Sarries where he's loved and appreciated and forget all about Eng - he's nearly 34 and we have a new messiah anyway.

Virtually everyone who knows him speaks very highly of him. Clearly a top team man who you'd want in the trenches with you.

Was he as skilled as Ford? No. Did Ford also have flaws? Yes. Was Farrell overhyped at times? Yes. Did he have some stinkers in an Eng shirt? Yes. Was he suited to the captaincy? No, but there was no-one else and he took it on to the detriment of his personal game. And the one we sometimes forget - Did he have some very very good days for Eng, sometimes out of position? Yes.
 

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