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Snubbed England No.8 Zach Mercer signs for Toulon - report

Zach Mercer on England duty versus the Barbarians (Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images for Barbarians)

Gloucester No.8 Zach Mercer is set for a return to France after agreeing a deal to move to Toulon – it is being reported.

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RugbyPass recently reported that Toulon were front-runners to land the former England back row – the only question being whether not he would leave at the end of the upcoming season or make the move immediately.

Gloucestershire Live now report that Mercer has been bought out of the final two season of his four-year contract and will now play for Bernard Lemaitre’s side in the 2025/26 season.

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    The 27-year-old forward’s transfer marks Mercer’s return to a league where he was named Player of the Year in 2021/22 after helping Montpellier to a league title.

    Despite his success Mercer had returned to England in 2023 after signing a four-year contract with Gloucester in a bid to revive his international career and be closer to his wife’s family. However, despite initial interest from England’s then-head coach Eddie Jones, Mercer found himself sidelined once again after the Aussie’s departure.

    Gloucester’s management had reportedly been eager to resolve ongoing speculation about Mercer’s future, which had caused some disruption within the team.

    The deal is expected to be formally announced by both clubs in the coming weeks.

    Mercer has two senior England caps and 17 England U20 appearances including 10 as captain.

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    After leaving Bath in 2021 he played a crucial role in helping Montpellier win their first Top 14 title in 2022 with a standout performance where he scored a try and contributed to three others.

    The 6’3, 111kg forward was nominated for World Rugby Junior Player of the Year in 2017 and received his first call-up to the senior England team in the same year. He made his debut against Japan during the 2018 Autumn Internationals.

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    Comments

    1 Comment
    W
    WH 327 days ago

    Thanks Steve. Another generational talent lost to the insane eligibility rules.

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    J
    JW 29 minutes ago
    Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

    Nice, that’s good to hear, I was worried for the tackler and it increasing concussions overall.


    My question is still the same, and the important one though. Where the rate of concussions in Fed 2 high? Of course if there where only three concussions, and they were reduced now to one, then there is no need for the new laws etc.


    There are two angles to this discussion, mine above about player welfare, and of course the that which you raise, legal responsibility. More, the legal responsibility we are concerned with is what’s happening now.


    WR don’t really know much about CTE I wouldn’t think, whether it happens from innocuous things like heading a ball, or from small knocks or big knocks that don’t heal. Right now they are ensuring the backside is clean by implementing laws to rule out any possibility they didn’t do enough. So once they understand the problem more they may realise some things are overboard.


    The other legal responsibility is the one you are talking about in France, the past. Did the LNR and WR know about the severity and frequency of CTE in rugby? That is the question in that debate. If they didn’t know then theres nothing they could have done, so there is no worry. Further, what we may have now is a situation where 90% of those court actions might not happen in future thanks to the new framework we already have around HIA and head contact processes. Your English example is only going to be an issue if future players still continue to receive CTE (as that is obviously bad), as it is now, the players have taken on their own responsibility by ignore advice. No doubt some countries, like France and New Zealand, will lower their tackle height, but as long as the union has done an adequate job in advising of the severity of the problem at least the legal shadow over the community game will have gone.

    228 Go to comments
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