Four of Wales’ top young talents could be on their way to England, as they weigh up contract offers from some of the Premiership’s top clubs next to the merits of staying in Wales, potentially on a WRU-funded dual contract.
Rhys Priestland, Jake Ball, Justin Tipuric and Liam Williams, all of whom contributed to Wales’ autumn series in varying degrees, are said to be in the sights of English clubs.
Priestland, according to the South Wales Evening Post, is the closest to leaving his homeland. He signed a new deal at the Scarlets, under heavy interest at the time from Leicester, at the end of last season but it is thought to only have been short-term, and Bath are believed to be winning the race for his signature, despite having George Ford on their books.
Jake Ball has reportedly received a “massive offer” from Northampton Saints, but is apparently leaning towards the WRU’s offer of a dual contract, that would keep him with the Scarlets.
Liam Williams is being lined up by the Leicester Tigers as a possible replacement for Matthew Tait, who is believed to be close to securing a deal with Bayonne. Williams would join namesake and former Scarlets teammate Owen at the East Midlands outfit.
The Rugby Paper reported on Saturday that Justin Tipuric is attracting attention from a number of clubs, after Dan Lydiate’s deal to sign a dual contract with the Ospreys and the WRU. As one of the stand-out players in this season’s Champions Cup, he would not be short of suitors.
The dual contract system was drawn up by the WRU and the regions to keep the country’s top talent within its borders, and has an annual pot of £3.2 million to share out. The system is set to be severely tested over the coming months.
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
3 replies on “Welsh quartet linked with Premiership move”
Biggar, Morgan, Patchell, Hook and Anscombe are Welsh-qualified 10s I wouldn’t mind seeing at The Rec. Priestland, though, I just don’t get. Gatland loves him so he’d be away when we needed him most (in test windows when Ford is also away), and we wouldn’t ever start him when Ford was available.
“linked” is no more than the usual negotiation for any player soon to be out of contract. They’ve also been offered new Scarlets contracts and are under consideration for dual as well. Bit of a non-story imo only given space because of the underlying assumption that it’s all part of the inevitable player drain.
This is a huge worry for me and a huge test of the effectiveness of the Union’s Dual Contract proposals. Losing Priestland wouldn’t be a huge loss – he has a lot of talent, but can best be described as flaky. But it may well affect the “family” that turn up to the shiny new Parc – y – Scarlets and their morale. Ball and Williams must stay for me. They are players that a team and club environment can truly be based around. Tipuric is an inbetweener for me. Great for the Os but with the current captain of Wales playing in his position, his chances are few and far between in the future under this coaching set up. I want all our best players playing in Wales. But I can understand why they may want to go play at what is currently a higher standard of club in England and France.