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Ex Jersey players find homes in Premiership after 'incredibly strange' 2 weeks
By Josh Raisey
Former Jersey Reds scrum-half James Elliott and prop Sam Grahamslaw have been snapped up by Gallagher Premiership outfits Newcastle Falcons and Bristol Bears just weeks after their former outfit went bust.
The 25-year-old No9 hails from County Durham and came through the Falcons' academy before playing for Yorkshire Carnegie and Jersey, while the 24-year-old loosehead had spells at Leicester Tigers and Edinburgh Rugby before playing for last season's Championship winners.
The pair both started for the Reds in their 34-10 Premiership Rugby Cup win over Bath last month.
Ahead of his move to the Falcons, Elliott described what the past few weeks have been like.
"It’s been a crazy week or so with everything that’s happened at Jersey," he said. "But I’m grateful to be back with Newcastle Falcons and I’m keen to get amongst it.
"I still don’t think I’ve fully got my head round what’s happened, to be honest.
"To have more than three years at a club and for it all to stop with zero notice – it was just incredibly strange. That’s the only word I can really use, but everyone here has been really welcoming. It could have been a lot harder, and I know for a lot of the Jersey players it will have been.
"Jersey was great for me but I’d been there for three seasons, and it’s probably good for me to see another environment and keep pushing myself. I’m really happy that it’s back at a club I love, and that I’ve got the chance to work with the players and coaches we have here at the Falcons."
Elliott's new Newcastle head coach Alex Codling said: "James is a local lad who came through our academy, and sometimes in rugby the journey isn’t always a straight line.
"He’s had a really tough situation with Jersey folding, but it’s a positive thing for us to be able to give an opportunity to a talented young player who loves this club."
Grahamslaw's new Bristol coach Pat Lam said: "With the current injury to Yann Thomas, we’re pleased to bring in a player of Sam’s ability and potential to give us extra cover at loosehead ahead of the new season.
"Jersey had a fantastic season in 2022/23, winning the Championship title under the leadership of Harvey Biljon, and their forward pack was a key part of that.
"We saw the development of by James Dun during his time on the island, so we’re excited to see how Sam progresses with the Bears."
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Dont know if the Irish players said it or not, but lets all be honest with ourselves, and hopefully both the Irish and French have healed by now, the Media did jump the gun, be realistic, according to 90% of the media it was a France and Ireland final, and the media had 1 of them winning the world cup, not even mentioning the All blacks? Just remember world cups are different, Australia was not the most in form cricket tean in the last cricket world cup, but they have a nack of winning when it matters. I wont go into whether what Etzabeth is saying is true, all I am saying is that its very easy for a team to get ahead of themselves due to the media. Nothing wrong with it, the media got the springboks over confident against England and we nearly lost that one.
Go to commentsHey Finn, Well done to the Junior Wallabies…a win is a win but it was a wet and scrappy game. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on two things from watching the game at the Not So Sunny Coast Stadium. Firstly, what is your opinion on the rule change of being able to call The Mark from a kick off and what is the reason for the change? Secondly, your thoughts on the lack of action for the high tackle on the SA fullback. I understand the TMO ruled that he had fallen into the tackle and the tackler didn’t have time to adjust but it was clearly shoulder on head and the Aussie 11 had not made any attempt to adjust his tackle height leading into the tackle. In my opinion he was never going to get his tackle technique correct to complete a safe tackle. If that tackle was made at a more senior and more scrutinised level would we have seen the same result?
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