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Jimmy Gopperth to swap Wasps for Leicester Tigers

(Photo by PA)

Wasps’ veteran utility back Jimmy Gopperth is set to swap Coventry Building Society Arena for Mattioli Woods Welford Road and the Leicester Tigers.

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Gopperth had been linked with Tigers in recent weeks and RugbyPass understands that the contract has now been signed – with the 38-year-old penning a two-year deal.

It will be the end of an era in Coventry for New Zealander, who has been a central figure for the Gallager Premiership side since signing from Leinster in 2015. Born in New Plymouth, he has scored 1142 points in 141 appearances for the club, scoring 23 tries to date.

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    Saracens vs Bristol Bears – The Showdown 2

    Gopperth will join Rugby World Cup winner Handre Pollard at the Steve Borthwick coached outfit. Borthwick has recruited heavily in the wake of shock news that England flyhalf George Ford is leaving for Sale Sharks at the end of the current season.

    It will give Leicester an abundance of playmaking options next season.

    Gopperth is the latest in a number of high profile departures from Wasps, with Vaea Fifita exiting his contract early to sign for URC side Scarlets, while Malakai Fekitoa is heavily linked with a move to Munster. The former All Black centre is said to be replacing Damian De Allende, who is leaving Limerick for either Bath or a Japanese club, or a combination of both.

    Blackett seemed to pour water on the rumoured departure earlier this month, suggesting that agents were behind the rumours. “We’re very aware of where these rumours come from, we won’t be commenting on any of it,” Blackett told Coventry Live.

    Gopperth, who turns 39 in June, played Super Rugby at both the Hurricanes and the Blues while also representing the Junior All Blacks before making the switch to the Northern Hemisphere in 2009. He spent four years at Newcastle Falcons, before two seasons in Ireland with Leinster Rugby ahead of the switch to Coventry.

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    N
    NH 8 minutes ago
    'The Wallabies need to convert much better - or Melbourne could be much worse'

    Nice one as always Brett. I think the stats hide a bit of the dominance the lions had, and they would look alot worse in that first half when the game was more in the balance. You mention it here but I think it hasn’t been talked about enough was the lineout. The few times the wallabies managed to exit their half and get an opportunity to attack in the 1st half, the lineout was lost. This was huge in terms of lions keeping momentum and getting another chance to attack, rather than the wallabies getting their chance and to properly ‘exit’ their half. The other one you touch on re “the will jordan bounce of the ball” - is kick chase/receipt. I thought that the wallabies kicked relatively well (although were beaten in this area - Tom L rubbish penalty kicks for touch!), but our kick receipt and chase wasn’t good enough jorgenson try aside. In the 1st half there was a moment where russell kicked for a 50:22 and potter fumbled it into touch after been caught out of position, lynagh makes a similar kick off 1st phase soon after and keenan is good enough to predict the kick, catch it at his bootlaces and put a kick in. That kick happened to go out on the full but it was a demonstration on the difference in positioning etc. This meant that almost every contested kick that was spilled went the way of the lions, thats no accident, that is a better chase, more urgency, more players in the area. Wallabies need to be better in who fields their kicks getting maxy and wright under most of them and Lynagh under less, and the chase needs to be the responsibility of not just one winger but a whole group of players who pressure not just the catch but the tackle, ruck and following phase.

    16 Go to comments
    J
    JW 23 minutes ago
    Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

    Thanks for the further background to player welfare metrics Nick.


    Back on the last article I noted that WR is now dedicating a whole section in their six-point business plan to this topic. It also noted that studies indicated 85-90% of workload falls outside of playing. So in respect to your point on the classification of ‘involvements’ included even subs with a low volume of minutes, it actually goes further, to the wider group of players that train as if they’re going to be required to start on the weekend, even if they’re outside the 23. That makes even the 30-35 game borderline pale into insignificance.


    No doubt it is won of the main reasons why France has a quota on the number of one clubs players in their International camps, and rotate in other clubs players through the week. The number of ‘invisible’ games against a player suggests the FFRs 25 game limit as more appropriate?


    So if we take it at face value that Galthie and the FFR have got it right, only a dozen players from the last 60 international caps should have gone on this tour. More players from the ‘Scotland 23’ than the more recent 23.


    The only real pertinent question is what do players prefer more, health or money? There are lots of ethical decisions, like for instance whether France could make a market like Australia’s where their biggest rugby codes have yearly broadcast deals of 360 and 225 million euros. They do it by having a 7/8 month season.

    68 Go to comments
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