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England's Jonathan Joseph in talks with Northampton Saints
By Online Editors
Jonathan Joseph looks set to exit the Rec, with the England centre's Bath contract to run out at the end of the season.
Joseph joined the club from London Irish in 2013. He'd picked up four England caps by then, but kicked on notably making an impression in the 2015 Six Nations by scoring three tries in the opening two matches. He also helped England to the Grand Slam in 2016. He's picked up 40 England caps in total so far and was also selected in the 2017 British & Irish Lions squad.
But this season has been one to forget for Joseph. He had surgery on an ankle injury in April, which ruled him out for an extended period, including England's November internationals. He has since returned playing six matches for Bath this season, notching two tries.
But it appears he's looking for a change, with the centre in advanced talks with Bath's Gallagher Premiership rivals Northampton according to RugbyPass sources.
Northampton have been in search of a high calibre centre since the retirement of Wallaby Rob Horne.
Joseph is rated as the Premiership's eighth best outside centre in the RugbyPass Index, with an RPI of 67.
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Joseph is just 27 years old and is likely targeting another World Cup cycle, ruling out a move abroad. Ben T'eo won't be in his way internationally either with RugbyPass revealing last month that the Top 14 trio of Racing 92, Toulouse and Toulon are lining up the Worcester man.
The Saints have also been linked All Black pair Ryan Crotty and Matt Proctor.
26-year-old Proctor won his first All Blacks cap against Japan last year after five seasons with the Hurricanes.
He scored a test try on debut and Boyd has been vocal about his opinion of the midfielder, rating him as “the best centre in New Zealand” in an interview last year.
30-year-old Crotty is heading towards the tail-end of his career and is an outside chance to last another World Cup cycle.
The 43-test veteran has become a linchpin in the All Black midfield since his debut in 2013, becoming a regular starter after the 2015 retirement of longtime centre Conrad Smith.
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Latest Comments
I think you have gone in the wrong direction here Nick. I think you need to delve down into the rules etc around Moana Pacifica’s selection policies and then you need to understand that a lot of KIWI BORN rugby players have PI heritage. It appears ok for the 4 home nations to pillage NZ born players constantly without retribution but you want to question whether NZ BORN players should be eligible for NZ? Seems a real agenda in there.
Go back and look at the actual Aims and agenda for MP becoming a entity and you see lots of things enshrined in policy that you arnt mentioning here. EG there is an allowance for a percentage of MP to be NZ eligible. This was done so MP could actually become competitive. Lets be real. If it wasnt this way then MP would not be competitive.
There also seems to be some sort of claim ( mainly from the NH ) that NZ is “cashing in” on MP, which , quite frankly is a major error. Are you aware of how much MP costs NZR Financially?
39 NZ born rugby players played at the last world cup for Samoa or Tonga. PLUS plenty for Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.
Taumoefolau is a BORN AND BRED NZer. However I very strongly doubt he will be an AB, but who do you believe he should be allowed to play for? Levi Aumua is ALSO a born and bred Kiwi.
Aumua was eligible to represent Samoa and Fiji for the Pacific Nations Cup in July that year but ended up playing for neither. He IS eligible for his nation of Birth too Nick
He is a Kiwi. Are you saying an NZ born, raised Kiwi cant play for NZ now?
Sorry Nick Kiwi born and bred actually qualify for NZ.
Go to commentsYeah, Richie certainly stepped up for the ABs in 2022 and 2023 and proved he could translate his skills into the test arena. You have to understand many fans checked out at that point though, only to tune back in for a directionless WC final.
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