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England could yet win battle for dual-qualified Regan Grace

St Helens' Regan Grace is tackled by Catalans Dragons' Gil Dudson during the Betfred Super League Grand Final match between Catalans Dragons and St Helens at Old Trafford on October 9, 2021 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Dave Howarth - CameraSport via Getty Images)

Super League flyer Regan Grace could yet be set on a path to England Rugby as Gallagher Premiership clubs circle the rugby league phenom.

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Grace made a stunning return from injury for Saint Helens on the weekend, scoring a dazzling 40-metre try against the Toulouse RL side at the Stade Ernest Wallon.

Reports now suggest that his future is likely to be decided in the next few weeks. Rumours are that Grace – who grew up playing rugby union in Wales – has been put back in the rugby union shop window by his agents.

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      The 25-year-old has apparently garnered the attention of a number of Gallagher Premiership clubs, eager to unearth the next Jason Robinson or Chris Ashton crossover success.

      The same reports suggest that the Welsh regions and the WRU have gone cold on the flyer, who was somehow slipped through the net of their academy system six years ago. Grace represented Aberavon Quins RFC and a number of Ospreys age-grade teams before throwing his lot in with the 13-man code.

      It was a decision that has proved fruitful, with the 5’11, 79kg winger going on to become a star of Super League for Saints Helens, scoring 84 tries in 133 games. He’s also extremely rapid, having clocked 36.7 km/hr or 10.19 metres per second during a game against Hull KR.

      Saints head coach Kristian Woolf said over the weekend they are desperate to hold on to the star, although he admitted Grace certainly had a ‘choice’ to make.

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      “In terms of him re-signing, nothing’s changed from earlier in the week and we’ve certainly left him alone as the week’s [gone on],” said Wolf. “It’s his first game back, he can worry about playing and get that out of the way. Certainly over the next couple of days, we’ll get back on to trying to get something finalised there.

      “We certainly want to keep him, we’re working really hard to. That doesn’t mean that he’s made a decision to stay or anything like that. He’s got a few decisions to make, but we’re going to do our absolute best to keep him and he showed his worth tonight.”

      It is unlikely St Helens would be able to compete should a Gallagher Premiership side make a serious play for Grace.

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      The question for Gallagher Premiership sides, who are tightening budgets as the salary cap shrinks, is if they can justify the outlay on a player who is effectively unproven in the 15-man game. All evidence would suggest a return to the union would be a successful one, but it could take one or even two years before it bears fruit.

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      Grace has represented Wales in league already and has spoken of a desire to do the same in union, but the fact that he is qualified for England in union could make him more attractive to Premiership sides that will have to meet new quotas for English-qualified players.

      The question for Grace might be if he does choose a Gallagher Premiership side, will he turn his attention to a potential England Test cap or look to make his mark with Wales, who effectively snubbed him at a regional level.

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      Comments

      1 Comment
      c
      ch 1146 days ago

      According to this article he is 5ft 11in. I understand that he is under 5ft 9in.

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      JW 1 hour ago
      Leicester Fainga'anuku denied All Blacks eligibility for TRC

      I don’t get that. I got the opposite, this was something Lester really really wanted to do. NZR is not going to stop him doing that by putting ridiculous money in front of him (noted you were only asking for fair money).


      I wouldn’t say this was a Mo’unga or Frizell situation where there talent only was unlocked after they signed abroad, when Schmidt and Ryan came in respectively. LF was on a good trajectory, and he just decided he has the perfect window of opportunity to go abroad while he’s not first choice, learn and live in France to come back better and have a good shot at the perfect age. I think he recongised that.


      Agreed that our rotation has been off the the last decade, players have not been moved on when they should, but I wouldn’t include Rieko in that discussion, though I would accept he is more of a marketing than performance signing.


      Also agree it is a strange condunrum that results from the misalligned seasons, where Lester is straight into NPC in the same season almost. When really the ‘start’ of his contract is next year. Is he even going to be on the payroll at the moment? Could it be used as a double dip to encourage players back, a ‘bonus international season’ of match fees.


      But they also don’t want them to become anymore common. So perhaps everything is fine? Like I was alluding to with Toko, they would need multiple markers of their own in Top 14 for them to be able to gauge off. As I’ve said in previous articles I’d be comfortable to expand sabbaticals to 2 in every position (yes a huge change), so that the was a core group of 30 of the top players all aligned with the ABs and overseas at any one time. This would ensure there are good markers to correlate levels of performance amongst everyone. This is a very similar setup/size to South Africa. It is like the AB modem in a wider organism, the vets are shipped off much earlier, and the core of next cycle is brought through. No missing out on the JGPs or Aki’s, no the Antonio’s or young Patrick Tuifua’s to france, keeping the Chandler Cunningham-South’s or Roots brothers, evan this Dubious guy from the French team was playing rugby here in NZ and could have stayed with a more ground up focus on bringing players through, not paying them much etc lol

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