Exodus 2018
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Should be a quiet market one year before the RWC.
Lock Dominic Bird (Chiefs) will join french club Racing 92 for the 2018-2019 season.
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Arrgghh, the type of thread I dislike the most on the Fern.
I bet the AB coaches didn't know this, otherwise he wouldn't have been called up for AB duties to play France XV on Tuesday.
Haven't seen any confirmation from Racing yet ... Not doubting you @jauzy019, but I'm still hoping this is fake news haha. -
@stargazer said in Exodus 2018:
Arrgghh, the type of thread I dislike the most on the Fern.
I bet the AB coaches didn't know this, otherwise he wouldn't have been called up for AB duties to play France XV on Tuesday.
Haven't seen any confirmation from Racing yet ... Not doubting you @jauzy019, but I'm still hoping this is fake news haha.It's in Midi Olympique tomorrow
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@jauzy019 Ah, Midol ...
nope, still waiting for the Racing website or social media to announce it. 
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Not many move in the season leading into the WC, so a player willing to jump ship can command more. And given that Dom is in a shootout with Paddy T for the fourth AB locking spot for the RWC then you can see his rationale. Add in that Fifita might be picked as a fourth lock in Hansen's RWC squad and the decision becomes even easier.
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@wurzel said in Exodus 2018:
Not many move in the season leading into the WC, so a player willing to jump ship can command more. And given that Dom is in a shootout with Paddy T for the fourth AB locking spot for the RWC then you can see his rationale. Add in that Fifita might be picked as a fourth lock in Hansen's RWC squad and the decision becomes even easier.
You mean fifth? Or have you omitted Retallick due to his absence? Both are behind him and Whitelock, Barrett and Romano.
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Apologies. Fifth.
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@jauzy019 said in Exodus 2018:
Should be a quiet market one year before the RWC.
Lock Dominic Bird (Chiefs) will join french club Racing 92 for the 2018-2019 season.
Has this been confirmed yet?
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@crazy-horse said in Exodus 2018:
@jauzy019 said in Exodus 2018:
Should be a quiet market one year before the RWC.
Lock Dominic Bird (Chiefs) will join french club Racing 92 for the 2018-2019 season.
Has this been confirmed yet?
Nothing on their website or social media accounts, yet.
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It's in the rumour stages
In French "Selon le Midol, il aurait décidé de rejoindre la France à l’issue de la saison en cours pour un contrat de deux ans", indicates supposition and not fact - ie Midol claims he has decided to join Racing, but we can't confirm this.
A lot of what Jauzy says is true, but not all. I remember the David Havili to French club rumour last season - David has subsequently signed a prolonged contract with the NZRFU for example.
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@billy-tell If I were the NZRFU I'd be making serious efforts to convince him to stay.
IMO if Sam W were to be badly crocked Bird would be close to the best alternative. Romero and Pat T are power locks, and Scott Barrett is still raw, and probably a tad small to step into Sam's shoes.
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@pakman said in Exodus 2018:
@billy-tell If I were the NZRFU I'd be making serious efforts to convince him to stay.
IMO if Sam W were to be badly crocked Bird would be close to the best alternative. Romero and Pat T are power locks, and Scott Barrett is still raw, and probably a tad small to step into Sam's shoes.
That said, I suppose BBBR would then be very much a picked as a 5.
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@crazy-horse
Never known @jauzy019 to be wrong.He is the fern harbinger of doom, albeit a very likeable one
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Exodus 2017:
Confirmed: Stephen Donald has signed with Toshiba Brave Lupus in Japan. Unsure whether it's just for the 2017-2018 season or for longer.
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Excellent. They’re kind of my team (I’ve recently also been supporting Kubota a bit too). During the season, I’ll try to head along to a game and give a report - although I should mention that the last game had free flow Champagne and a bento box from a Michelin started restaurant and as a result I can't even tell you what team Kubota was playing
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At best he's been the seventh [1] highest rated 6 or 8 in NZ, so the AB's can't complain too much if he decides he'll have a better career overseas.
[1] Currently he's behind Read, Kaino, Squire, Fifita, Ioane, and Whitelock.
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@rocky-rockbottom Agreed. He joins a list of players in a similar boat - Bundee Aki, Steven Luatua, Hadleigh Parkes.....
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Seems an odd article really. ABS had Whitelock and Akira over yet they supposedly called up Shields and unsurprisingly he knocked them back with one eye on an England jersey
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Just to be clear, if true, he'd be leaving after the 2018 SR season.
@tim said in Exodus 2017:
At best he's been the seventh [1] highest rated 6 or 8 in NZ, so the AB's can't complain too much if he decides he'll have a better career overseas.
[1] Currently he's behind Read, Kaino, Squire, Fifita, Ioane, and Whitelock.
According to some of the media, he was asked to join the AB squad and Whitelock was only called in after Shields refused.
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@kiwimurph said in Exodus 2017:
@rocky-rockbottom Agreed. He joins a list of players in a similar boat - Bundee Aki, Steven Luatua, Hadleigh Parkes.....
Not in same boat as Luatua, who has been capped.
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@stargazer said in Exodus 2017:
Just to be clear, if true, he'd be leaving after the 2018 SR season.
@tim said in Exodus 2017:
At best he's been the seventh [1] highest rated 6 or 8 in NZ, so the AB's can't complain too much if he decides he'll have a better career overseas.
[1] Currently he's behind Read, Kaino, Squire, Fifita, Ioane, and Whitelock.
According to some of the media, he was asked to join the AB squad and Whitelock was only called in after Shields refused.
Makes it more bizarre really...so Whitelock was that far down the list yet still made captain?
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@taniwharugby Yeah, it's all a bit weird. You have take what the media says with a lot more than a pinch of salt these days. Maybe they didn't get enough clicks this week.
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Oh, hey wait, this all comes from an article in the Daily Telegraph.
The NZ media just added a few "details". -
Damn, that's brave to turn down an AB jersey. I reckon even after 50 caps with England he'd still regret not being an AB. But I guess it's good to know you were in line for one.
@taniwharugby said in Exodus 2017:
@stargazer said in Exodus 2017:
Just to be clear, if true, he'd be leaving after the 2018 SR season.
@tim said in Exodus 2017:
At best he's been the seventh [1] highest rated 6 or 8 in NZ, so the AB's can't complain too much if he decides he'll have a better career overseas.
[1] Currently he's behind Read, Kaino, Squire, Fifita, Ioane, and Whitelock.
According to some of the media, he was asked to join the AB squad and Whitelock was only called in after Shields refused.
Makes it more bizarre really...so Whitelock was that far down the list yet still made captain?
Tour match captain isn't really relevant to where a player sits in the pecking order really. From how Hansen says it he was just the best option for captain at the time.
Damn, Shields may have missed out on being AB captain as well.
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Big Shields fan, even though he's a Taita boy. This is a business decision made with the rest of his life in mind. Good for him.
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Plenty of stuff in the media about Brad Shields heading to England.
Stokes Valley contact of mine tells me his parents have moved back to England and it is all pretty much a done deal.
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@stargazer said in Exodus 2017:
Oh, hey wait, this all comes from an article in the Daily Telegraph.
The NZ media just added a few "details".An unsubstantiated piece from two halfwit journalists. One of whom penned about how Ben May is faster than Usain Bolt. I shit you not.
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@nepia still a small number of players that get to captain The All Blacks.
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@rugger-quizzes Interesting. The articles posted contain so much clickbait material that you wouldn't know what's true or not true. Considering that Brad Shields and his partner have just become parents themselves, it wouldn't be strange if they'd be looking to settle close the Brad's folks either if he is looking to play overseas. He'll never be an AB regular anyway, so good on him if he wants to move, whether it's to be close to his parents, for the $$ or a chance in the England jersey.
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@taniwharugby said in Exodus 2017:
@nepia still a small number of players that get to captain The All Blacks.
One of them is named John Mitchell - it aint that exclusive a club for the midweek teams.
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@nepia how many games you Captain?
Still pretty exclusive in my book!
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By my reading Shields hasn't actually signed a NH contract yet? Savvy call by him, if he plays a game for the ABs as an injury fill in then never gets another shot he's no chance to play test rugby for anyone else. He appears to be far down the pecking order and this is a real possibility. Shame all the same
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Probably the first time Shag has been turned down in awhile, excluding the missus of course.
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My issue is Super Rugby players who are not available for NZ. There will always be some but ...
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The article keeps saying how "furious" the ABs are about it but never provides any evidence or quotes to back that up. Such clickbait bullshit.
Shields is a loss at TRC/Super level but is not really AB standard, far too inconsistent and has a pair of tits where his hands are meant to be. Good luck to him in England.
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Very similar to Thomas Waldrom going. A good player at lower levels but no great loss to AB depth
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@no-quarter I think his best year was 2016, at times he was outstanding, especially on defence in the last few games.
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I can’t argue with his decision, but if that’s what it is (it’s not actually confirmed) then I’d ask him to negotiate his overseas contract now and piss off before super rugby. We don’t need another player taking up a development opportunity and I don’t see why NZ should be paying to develop an England player.
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@taniwharugby said in Exodus 2018:
@no-quarter I think his best year was 2016, at times he was outstanding, especially on defence in the last few games.
If he didnt have tits for hands, he wouldve been ahead of guys like fifita and squire..
