Manu Tuilagi in serious talks with Toronto Wolfpack

[Southerner80]

3 minutes ago, RP London said:

I doubt he would go into the centres.. he has 13 written all over him for me.. got a pretty good offload, runs like a truck, bit of pace and a step.. Not saying he wouldnt go ok in the centres but think he would be better at 13. 

He is one of the those that if you put a list out of "who do you think would make it in RL" he would probably be top 2 or 3 on everyone list (except Allora obviously).

Basically like BMM at Wire / Tonga but even better!

Tbh alot of the big strong Polynesian Centres like the 13 for France in Union would be great at RL. 

Just like the majority of Elite RL wingers would do well in Union. 

I hope he does switch. Would add some more excitement to the TWP and SL. 

Now if they can only get Cipriani too!

[Jim Prendle]

2 minutes ago, Southerner80 said:

I would think a big payday would be very much appreciated by Manu. Hes now about 28 so unlikely to make it to the next RU World Cup, so if TWP offer him 1m a year I don't see him turning it down. 

The Polynesian players have alot of pressure on them to earn as much as they can to help out often a very big extended family back home. 

Aside from the Money I can't really think of why Manu would switch as he didn't play RL as A Kid and TWP would still involve alot of travel, so not a huge saving there for him. 

Will be hard as he's on around 400k a year at Leicester I think plus 22k a England game. 

So I feel TWP will have to offer alot of money to get him to switch. 1m a year for 3 years sort of money. 

Maybe the Saracens issue will put more pressure on the RU clubs to tighten up their finances, leading to them offloading some of their older, bigger earners?

[Southerner80]

5 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

Maybe the Saracens issue will put more pressure on the RU clubs to tighten up their finances, leading to them offloading some of their older, bigger earners?

Its possible yes that they may want to get some of the biggest earners off the books to save space on the Cap and reduce costs and in some cases, losses.

Tbh I think it may happen that the next generation of top RU talent in the UK is earning a bit less than now, unless there is a big new TV deal which does not seem likely. 

Union sides require huge squads as you need 9 Front rows minimum. And probably 5 Locks. That's 14 Specialists already. You need 40 plus players. Very expensive to budget for. Wadges will have to drop a bit for some teams otherwise we will have more like Saracens or going Bankrupt. 

[RP London]

3 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

Maybe the Saracens issue will put more pressure on the RU clubs to tighten up their finances, leading to them offloading some of their older, bigger earners?

I think the Saracens issue is a specific saracens issue so dont see it worrying other clubs too much

[MattSantos]

Be good to see him at centre or 13. Would also love to see Cipriani at 6

[Jim Prendle]

2 minutes ago, RP London said:

I think the Saracens issue is a specific saracens issue so dont see it worrying other clubs too much

Possibly, but it may be that Saracens are currently the only ones to have been caught.

[The Future is League]

1 minute ago, Jim Prendle said:

Possibly, but it may be that Saracens are currently the only ones to have been caught.

So far

[RP London]

Just now, Southerner80 said:

Its possible yes. Tbh I think it may happen that the next generation of top RU talent in the UK is earning a bit less than now, unless there is a big new TV deal which does not seem likely. 

Union sides require huge squads as you need 9 Front rows minimum. And probably 5 Locks. That's 14 Specialists already. You need 40 plus players. Very expensive to budget for. Wadges will have to drop a bit for some teams otherwise we will have more like Saracens or going Bankrupt. 

thats the bigger worry... Saracens issue is about how they "paid" players and how some of the help they gave was accounted for either within, or not, the Cap.. to all intents and purposes its like the Melbourne issue from years ago.. they wanted to keep the players and they bent the cap out of all sorts of shape.. Shouldn't affect the spending power of other clubs, they are angry because they had to lose players to stay within the cap Saracens bent the cap. However, whether Union can still keep on spending the sort of money they are is a different matter.

[RP London]

2 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

Possibly, but it may be that Saracens are currently the only ones to have been caught.

possibly but probably safest to stick to the facts..

Saracens didnt "break the cap" in the way "everyone is overspending" they broke it with underhand tactics and payments that there is no evidence of any other club doing or even considering... maybe it is a case of "yet" but not really worth derailing the thread or getting CKN and John worked up for making suggestions which have no base in even rumour.

[EastLondonMike]

Haven't seen enough of him to really comment on whether he is good or not. I know he's a lump and is pretty quick over short distances, and like many big lumps, if you run straight at him i'm sure he could put on a good hit. But playing centre in RU is a completely different challenge to playing centre in RL.

Still, it's good to see these high profile RU players being linked with switching. Though i'd question he's motivation for doing so.

[DavidM]

18 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

PI's are born to play TGG, not union.

Don’t say that , Noble will be ringing Magnum up

[Jim Prendle]

Just now, RP London said:

possibly but probably safest to stick to the facts..

Saracens didnt "break the cap" in the way "everyone is overspending" they broke it with underhand tactics and payments that there is no evidence of any other club doing or even considering... maybe it is a case of "yet" but not really worth derailing the thread or getting CKN and John worked up for making suggestions which have no base in even rumour.

OK, I understand that, but they didn't break the cap, they smashed it. There was also, as others have suggested, examples of this sort of behaviour in sports other than RU, so they can't ever claim ignorance as a defence.

Also, I think the current, and future state, of the RU cap will be a huge influence on Tuilagi's potential move, so I consider it relevant.

[ghost crayfish]

25 minutes ago, RP London said:

I doubt he would go into the centres.. he has 13 written all over him for me.. got a pretty good offload, runs like a truck, bit of pace and a step.. Not saying he wouldnt go ok in the centres but think he would be better at 13. 

He is one of the those that if you put a list out of "who do you think would make it in RL" he would probably be top 2 or 3 on everyone list (except Allora obviously).

Fair enough, though it'd be a big ask expecting him to pick up the defensive workload in the middle. Still, England could do with a new 13 as well!

[RP London]

8 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

OK, I understand that, but they didn't break the cap, they smashed it. There was also, as others have suggested, examples of this sort of behaviour in sports other than RU, so they can't ever claim ignorance as a defence.

Also, I think the current, and future state, of the RU cap will be a huge influence on Tuilagi's potential move, so I consider it relevant.

i am not defending Saracens.. they didnt break the cap in the way that "they overspent" they attempted to completely circumvent it using payments that were "investments" to the players.. a complete break of everything the cap stood for. 

There are plenty of occasions in sport of "everyone is doing this, they just got caught".. This is not the case.. Saracens broke it in a completely different way and I dont see if having that many repercussions on RU as such as other teams dont appear to have similar investment schemes. They may tighten inspections etc but it would appear that players have spoken about how good the help was from Saracens in their businesses (to journalists etc totally innocently) and it made the RFU look a bit more closely at exactly what they were doing. 

Other sports have cheats yes.. not really news... Saracens were cheats, there is no getting away from that, but I dont think this type of cheating is rife within the sport.

They are also not claiming ignorance AFAIK and by the BBC reports on the radio this morning they wont be appealing (got till midnight) so they are accepting they are bang to rights.

[EastLondonMike]

Just now, ghost crayfish said:

Fair enough, though it'd be a big ask expecting him to pick up the defensive workload in the middle. Still, England could do with a new 13 as well!

Agree about the workload. Going from making a handful of tackles per game in union to playing in the middle in RL is quite some step.
If he couldn't make a go of it as a centre i'd imagine wing would be the best option for his obvious attacking talents.

Luther Burrell is a good example of how adapting to the centre role in RL is a tough one, despite playing in a similar position in RU and growing up playing RL.

[GeordieSaint]

5 minutes ago, ghost crayfish said:

Fair enough, though it'd be a big ask expecting him to pick up the defensive workload in the middle. Still, England could do with a new 13 as well!

He'd have tough competition trying to be the England 13 go forward... Morgan Smithies will be the England 13 for the next 10-12yrs.

[ghost crayfish]

Yeah not easy. I really think if he's gonna switch and succeed next year, it needs to happen now. A full off season training makes such a difference. I reckon after experiencing the game and having a pre season to train, we might see a different Burrell next year. I hope so anyway. He's got the build and enough skill to have an impact.

[ghost crayfish]

3 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

He'd have tough competition trying to be the England 13 go forward... Morgan Smithies will be the England 13 for the next 10-12yrs.

Nothing wrong with a bit of depth. 

[GeordieSaint]

11 minutes ago, ghost crayfish said:

Nothing wrong with a bit of depth. 

Absolutely agree.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

One thing I will say is Toronto said they want to sign some big names and they certainly seem to be doing that.

I don't follow rugby union at all yet this guy is one of the few Union players I have heard of so he must be well known. 

[Davo5]

Given time and luck with injury he'd make a very good RL centre,but TWP don't need centre's and don't te really have the time/cap space to wait for a player to make the transition to a sport he's never played before.

[Bert1]

Good athlete will go well if injuries don't hold him back. Similar to taumalolo.

[gittinsfan]

1 hour ago, EastLondonMike said:

Haven't seen enough of him to really comment on whether he is good or not. I know he's a lump and is pretty quick over short distances, and like many big lumps, if you run straight at him i'm sure he could put on a good hit. But playing centre in RU is a completely different challenge to playing centre in RL.

Still, it's good to see these high profile RU players being linked with switching. Though i'd question he's motivation for doing so.

His motivation would be the same as any other professional sportsman.All this c%%p about moving for a new challenge doesn't wash with me.

[EastLondonMike]

4 minutes ago, gittinsfan said:

His motivation would be the same as any other professional sportsman.All this c%%p about moving for a new challenge doesn't wash with me.

To a degree.. Some do fancy a change (albeit with a decent pay packet).. With Tuilagi, theres never really been much talk of him showing any interest in playing RL, to my knowledge.. But now the big bucks are getting thrown around by Toronto..

I might be doing him a complete dis-service here, so who knows.. 
I don't particularly care if money is his sole motivation, if he makes a go of it. I would just question the desire to of anyone to really put in the required work if money is the main motivation.

[Dave T]

3 hours ago, Allora said:

Never heard of him.

This guy

I'm a fan of these moves to sign Union players. We have seen some RL legends come from RU, and I think our sport is poorer now these players do not move to RL regularly.