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Toulon confirm worst kept transfer secret of the season
By Neil Fissler
Toulon have finally officially confirmed the worst-kept news of last season. They are taking England stars Kyle Sinckler and Lewis Ludlam to the Cote d’Azur this summer.
Bristol Bears tight-head Sinckler, 31, who started his career with Harlequins and has won 69 England caps and another seven for The Lions on two tours, arrives on a three-year deal.
A World Cup finalist in 2019 and a member of Steve Borthwick’s squad that finished third in France last year, he admitted that he was honoured to represent a club as special as Toulon.
“I will give the best of myself to represent the Red & Black jersey with dignity. I also want to test myself in the best championship and against the best props every weekend and to be able to contribute to Toulon's future successes.”
Toulon’s sporting director, Laurent Emmanuelli, added: “Kyle is a player who combines power, skill and explosiveness. He is aware of the consequent challenge that awaits him in Top 14.”
Meanwhile, back-row Ludlam, 28, has also signed a three-year deal fresh from helping Northampton Saints lift the Premiership trophy against Bath at Twickenham.
The 6'3, 111kg Ludlam, who can play anywhere across the back row, was tipped for the Lions tour to Australia. He made 126 appearances for Saints, his only club, and was capped 24 times by England.
Emmanuelli admitted that Ludlam was a player they had been interested in for some time and are finally glad to have completed the signing.
“Lewis is a player we have been following for some time. Always present at the forefront of the fight, a good defender, able to provide solutions in touch and scratch balls, Lewis is one of the players of character as our supporters love them. “He also has significant leadership qualities since he has been the captain of the Saints for three seasons now.”
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Latest Comments
Given rugby union's complicated history with apartheid, I don't think it would be appropriate to select a player who played for Tel Aviv, so its probably for the best that Borthwick's back 3 selections are pretty settled.
Beard looks like a great player, but he's yet another 13, when what we really need is a 12. I'm also concerned that he's a player who thrives in loose games, when he's given lots of space to run, which is what he'll get against Japan. So if Bortwick picks him he'll probably play really well, but that actually won't tell us anything about whether he's international standard or not. Wales in the 6N might be an even easier game than Japan, but its likely to be more structured, so would give Beard a tougher test.
It probably would be good to see Clark and Willis given a shot. England really need a better number 8 option than Dombrandt, and a solid 4th choice second row - I'm not sure if Clark is that yet, but he's young so good grow into the role. Unfortunately he's never played 6 before, but I don't think that's an issue given that Martin, Itoje, and Chessum all have a lot of game time there.
Go to commentsYeah defence is still an issue but a big turnaround in the quality of the attack and having a decent maul puts pressure on teams not to give away penalties close to their try lines. The ABs I thought lacked their killer instinct on the weekend, going for penalities rather than tries like they did. The Wallabies down to 14 men still went for the maul rather than trying to be conservative with a penalty and use some time and it totally turned the game back in their favour.
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