'He’s got a good build': Newcastle bring in another Argentinian
Newcastle have confirmed their latest signing ahead of the 2023/24 season, snapping up tighthead Eduardo Bello on a two-year deal from recent Gallagher Premiership winners Saracens. A statement read: “Argentina prop Eduardo Bello has become Newcastle Falcons’ 11th senior signing ahead of the new season, with the Saracens tighthead joining on a two-year deal.
“Bello, 27, has been capped nine times by Argentina, including November’s victory over England at Twickenham and their historic first away win over New Zealand eight months ago. Renowned for his scrummaging prowess, Bello stands at 190cm (6ft 3ins) and 120kgs (18st 12lbs).
“Spending the 2022/23 season with Gallagher Premiership champions Saracens, he was part of the Sarries squad which defeated the Falcons 29-23 in North London in February. Bello becomes the fifth Argentina international in Newcastle’s squad for next season, joining countrymen Mateo Carreras, Matias Moroni, Matias Orlando and Pedro Rubiolo.
“The Falcons’ latest addition forms part of a summer influx that includes Murray McCallum (Edinburgh), Cameron Hutchison (Edinburgh), Hugh O’Sullivan (London Irish), Tim Cardall (Melbourne Rebels), Louis Brown (Coventry), Ollie Leatherbarrow (Exeter Chiefs), Kiran McDonald (ex-Munster), Bryan Byrne (Bristol Bears), Josh Bainbridge (Coventry) and John Kelly (Doncaster Knights) under incoming head coach Alex Codling (Oyonnax), with another five players also joining the club’s senior academy.”
About Bello, forwards coach Micky Ward said: “He is an international-class tight-head who is really good in the set-piece, so it is great news that we have been able to bring him in.
"As well as watching him play I have spoken to the Argentina scrum coach about him when he was over here recently, to some other good friends who have worked closely with him and then obviously our four Argentinean lads who know him from their national team stuff. All the reports came back really positive, and he does the type of stuff that we want from our tighthead.
"He has got a good build, he has been in a strong environment at Saracens and he has had four seasons as a regular starter with Zebre in Italy, so he is familiar with European conditions and how the game is played over here. I just think it’s a really good signing for the club, and I’m excited to be working with lads of that calibre.”
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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