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Bristol Bears and England loosehead Ellis Genge is attracting interest Top 14 side Pau, despite the signing of Beno Oban from Bath and Bordeaux, having “rested” from England’s recent pre-season camp at Pennyhill Park.
Genge, 31, is scheduled to be under contract with the Bears through the end of the 2027-28 campaign, but speculation about his long-term future has increased after he was left out of camp.
The Lions Zvezda has also attracted interest from several clubs in Japan, with them and French teams confident they can reach a deal a year before his contract expires.
England lock Ollie Chessum’s CV is being circulated among French clubs as his advisers try to increase the pressure on Leicester The Tigers will offer him a lucrative new contract, with his deal expiring at the end of the season.
Chessum is highly rated by Tigers boss Geoff Parling and the club will be keen to avoid a repeat this summer of losing England forward George Martin, who joined Saracens when his contract at Welford Road expired.
Sources across the Channel say clubs know he won’t leave the Tigers before next year’s World Cup, so they don’t want to make him an offer.
Ex Ireland whore Bernard Jackman has renewed his partnership with Pat Lam to become Bristol Bears’ new head of recruitment, and his first order of business is to find a replacement for Noah Heward.
Former Dragons boss Jackman took over the Bears’ recruitment after well-regarded Gethin Watts announced he was leaving the West Country after seven years at the start of August.
They want someone to replace Heward, who suffered a serious knee injury in the PREM Rugby Cup defeat to Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park over the weekend.
Bath are closing in on a new deal for England openside flanker Guy Pepper, who entered the final year of his deal with the former Gallagher PREM champions in July.
Bath are keen to get the job done early and are in talks with Pepper, who has won 15 international caps and moved to the West Country from Newcastle Falcons two years ago, some time.
Well-placed sources suggest significant progress is being made and Pepper, who was educated at Barnard Castle School and Durham University, should put pen to paper on a new deal in the very near future.
Northampton Saints boss Phil Dowson has outlined what former England winger Ollie Sleightholme needs to do to get his career back on track after suffering ankle and hamstring problems.
Sleightholme, 26, is in the final year of his Saints contract, has built a reputation as one of the best players in the game, scoring 11 tries in 14 games last season and is looking to get back to where he was a few years ago.
“He’s been very disturbed by the injury, and we have to try to ensure consistency during the training week and then around his performances,” Dowson told Fissler Confidential.
Harlequins Boss Jason Gilmour has warned it will be another season before the club can compete with their PREM rivals in the transfer market.
Quins have only been able to sign six players this summer, including George Furbank from Northampton Saints and Bristol Bears lock James Dunn, while 13 have left as Gilmore says they needed to tidy up.
“We’ve had to sort out what that cap looks like, so we can free up money, so we can put it into good players. But we’re one cycle away from actually getting that salary cap to where we want it to be,” he told Fissler Confidential.
Georgian star Beka Saginadze terminated her contract Lyon at the end of the season, and Top 14 rivals are in line to sign him, according to Projetxarugby.
Open side Saginadze, 27, has moved to France in 2018 to Aurillac after starting his career in his homeland with Lelo Saracens Tbilisi, and spent the last five seasons in Lyon.
The Georgia the captain is on the radar Montpellier and La Rochelle and is close to compatriot full-back Davit Niniashvili, who is also in Ronan O’Gara’s squad.
Northampton Saints are looking to sign loose cover until the end of the season but want to go shopping in the rugby cellar for a cheap recruit.
The Saints began an urgent search this week but have a limited budget to bring in the right player before the season kicks off next weekend.
Fissler Confidential understands that their budget for a real player is around £45k.
