Gareth Anscombe visits Kingsholm as Gloucester hunt new fly-half
Gareth Anscombe has been shown around Kingsholm as Gloucester step up their bid to sign a new fly-half, with Scotland international Adam Hastings joining Glasgow next season.
Hastings confirmed his departure earlier this month after contract talks with the Cherry and Whites stalled at the last minute, allowing the Warriors to make their move.
RugbyPass understands that Gloucester were keen to re-sign out-of-favour Ireland international Billy Burns, who made nearly 100 appearances for the Gallagher Premiership club. He is leaving Ulster this summer but has opted for Munster instead.
The 32-year-old Auckland-born Anscombe, an ex-New Zealand U20s international who has won 37 Wales caps, was due to play for Japanese outfit Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath after the recent Rugby World Cup in France.
However, his registration was cancelled just two weeks after signing when a scan revealed he needed an operation on the groin he damaged during the warm-up before Wales’ World Cup clash with Georgia.
Anscombe faced 10 weeks on the sideline after undergoing the operation. Under Japan League One rules, teams can only register three category three players (foreign-capped players) at any one time.
He could be re-registered by Suntory, who replaced him with Argentina's Nicolas Sanchez, if he regains his fitness before the end of the club season which runs until May.
Anscombe, who left the Ospreys at the end of last season, has been doing his rehab in South Wales and is thinking over Gloucester’s offer after meeting them for talks and a guided tour of their facilities.
He is the second big name linked this week with George Skivington's ninth-place Premiership side as RugbyPass revealed on Tuesday that they were also weighing up a move for ex-England winger Christian Wade, who is currently playing for Racing 92.
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Brumbies are looking good and if they keep their home form up a final is not beyond the realms of possibility. They showed against the Hurricanes exactly how clinical they can be as they absorbed pressure in that contest while also scoring points and applying their own pressure. Reds are well placed as well but need to find consistency. They are building a longer term project with a young side and plenty of quality players. Been surprising to see the strength of Aussie sides this year after the debacle of the world cup. Have NZ sides gotten weaker? Have Aussie sides gotten stronger? A bit of both I would say. Whatever the case its good to see some actual competition between NZ and Aus sides again and thats exactly what the fans wanted and is probably driving better viewership numbers. All of this can only be healthy for Aus and Super Rugby and I hope the Brumbies go all the way.
Go to commentsDead time reductions are important as is ball in play time increases. Premiership leads the way in terms of ball in play and Northern refereeing standards around the breakdown has sped up the game significantly. Super Rugby is trying new things but its not leading the way in terms of making gains in reducing dead time and ball in play time. Northern administrators are also not against speeding up the game, on the contrary they want a faster game and have been trying things and are embracing increasing the speed of rugby. Super Rugby isnt providing a blueprint for anything, its just part the agreed upon blueprint that administrators across the world are moving to.
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