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English club target Liam Williams for Premiership return
By Neil Fissler
Saracens have inquired about re-signing Wales and Lions star Liam Williams as they seek an injury replacement for injured veteran star Alex Goode, who could be out of action for the next three months.
Saracens, fourth in the Premiership table, released a statement earlier this week stating that Goode would be out of action for between 10 and 12 weeks after undergoing an operation on a quad injury.
Goode, 36, picked up in the warm-up before a Premiership game against Leicester Tigers and Mark McCall has been looking to see who might be available to provide short-term injury cover.
Swansea-born Williams, 33, has won 92 caps for his country and another six for the Lions on the 2017 trip to New Zealand and the 2021 tour to South Africa. He is highly regarded in North London.
He played 31 games for Saracens between 2017 and 2019, either side of spells with the Scarlets winning Premiership and European titles before returning to South Wales when his three-year contract ended.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Saracens over the past three seasons. The environment has undoubtedly developed me as a player. I am grateful for the support I’ve had from the players, management and supporters,” he said Williams is due to return to Kubota Spears next month to prepare for the start of the new Japan Rugby League One, which they kick off against Toyota Verblitz on December 22nd.
He moved to Japan after playing in his third World Cup and was linked with a return to Wales in September when the Dragons were rumoured to have been interested in signing him, but the move failed to materialise.
Sarries - who finished fourth last season - are keen to get a deal done for their return to Gallagher Premiership action against bottom-of-the-table Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park next Friday evening.
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Latest Comments
Yes I was surprised at how close the pen count was - the spread between best and worst being just 2. The number of yellow cards though will surely be something the Boks will look to address
Go to commentsBriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol!
It's incredible to see the boys playing like this. Back to the form that saw them finish on top of the regular season and beat Toulon to win the challenge cup. Ibitoye and Ravouvou doing a cracking Piutau/Radradra impression.
It's abundantly clear that Borthwick and Wigglesworth need to transform the England attack and incorporate some of the Bears way. Unfortunately until the Bears are competing in Europe, the old criticisms will still be used.. we failed to fire any punches against La Rochelle and Leinster which goes to show there is still work to do but both those sides are packed full of elite players so it's not the fairest comparison to expect Bristol to compete with them. I feel Bristol are on the way up though and the best is yet to come. Tom Jordan next year is going to be obscene.
Test rugby is obviously a different beast and does Borthwick have enough time with the players to develop the level of skill the Bears plays have? Even if he wanted to? We should definitely be able to see some progress, Scotland have certainly managed it. England aren't going to start throwing the ball around like that but England's attack looks prehistoric by comparison, I hope they take some inspiration from the clarity and freedom of expression shown by the Bears (and Scotland - who keep beating us, by the way!). Bristol have the best attack in the premiership, it'd be mad for England to ignore it because it doesn't fit with the Borthwick and Wigglesworth idea of how test rugby should be played. You gotta use what is available to you. Sadly I think England will try reluctantly to incorporate some of these ideas and end up even more confused and lacking identity than ever. At the moment England have two teams, they have 14 players and Marcus Smith. Marcus sticks out as a sore thumb in a team coached to play in a manner ideologically opposed to the way he plays rugby, does the Bears factor confuse matters further? I just have no confidence in Borthers and Wiggles.
Crazy to see the Prem with more ball in play than SR!
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