'Long-term contract on table': Gloucester sign Zach Mercer - report

A long-term deal has reportedly been struck that will see England prospect Zach Mercer leave Montpellier at the end of the 2022/23 Top 14 season and join Gloucester, a Premiership return that will make him eligible for 2023 World Cup selection. 

The No8 had reported in June in the run-up to his French club’s successful tilt at the league title that he had met Jones in May in Marseille. He was asked by the coach at the time if he would come home for the 2022/23 Premiership season, a manoeuvre that would have enabled him to tour Australia with England in July just gone. 

Mercer spurned that invite, deciding instead to stick by defending Top 14 champions Montpellier for the upcoming club season that begins away to La Rochelle on September 3. However, Midi Libre, the French newspaper that covers the Montpellier rugby beat, have now reported that ex-Bath player Mercer will sign a three or four-year deal to join Gloucester next June and become available for England World Cup selection.  

The report read: “The rumour had been circulating for several weeks and has now found a concrete echo. Zach Mercer, Top 14 superstar last season, will leave the MHR at the end of his contract next June to join Gloucester in England. According to our information, a long-term contract has been put on the table (three or four years).

“It is a logical choice for the 25-year-old back row, considered one of the best in his position since his arrival in France. If Mercer had stayed in Montpellier next season (2023/24), he would not have been able to apply for a selection with England for the World Cup in France in 2023. Given his performances in the Top 14, if he continues at such a level over the next year, there is no doubt that Eddie Jones will call on his services for the World Cup.”

It was 2018 when Mercer won his only two England caps, featuring against South Africa and Japan during that November’s series of internationals at Twickenham, but he was since overlooked and decided in 2021 to try his luck at club level in France. This change resulted in a massive spike in form and it left Jones seeking out Mercer when the pair attended the recent Champions Cup final between La Rochelle and Leinster. 

Mercer revealed their meeting some weeks later, telling Midi Libre: "We saw each other in Marseille during the European Cup final. He asked me if I could come back this summer. It would be a way to test me for the summer tour in Australia in July, but I politely replied that I was still under contract next season. I will be there (in Montpellier) next year. He respects that.”