As the Cherry and Whites squad reported for pre-season training last week, it gave the coaches and supporters first look at the new signings who have joined the squad for 2015-2016. Compared to the mass recruitment of last season, it has been a relatively quiet recruitment period for Gloucester. However there are some stand-out names that the Kingsholm faithful hope will help catapult the team up the table. In particular Tom Marshall, Willi Heinz and Jeremy Thrush are all swapping Super Rugby in New Zealand for a new challenge in England and they will bring a winning mentality that the coaching staff are trying to instil in the squad.
First, Hurricanes second row Jeremy Thrush will become Gloucester’s second marquee player, whose wages fall outside the salary cap, in addition to fellow Kiwi John Afoa. Thrush has made 11 appearances for the All Blacks to date and will join the club after the World Cup. Second row has been a bit of an issue position for Gloucester for a number of years, and this eye-catching signing has clearly been made in order to further strengthen the scrum which has been rebuilding since the disastrous second season under Nigel Davies back in 2013-2014. He looks to be a direct replacement for Tom Palmer, who was a consistent and solid performer last season but has now moved on to Benetton Treviso. Thrush could form a formidable partnership in the middle of the scrum with Mariano Galarza, based on the glimpses we saw last season of the Argentinian.
Also arriving from the southern hemisphere is Crusaders’ scrum-half Willi Heinz, who will replace Wasps-bound Dan Robson and compete with Greig Laidlaw and Callum Braley for the number nine shirt. He arrives while still recovering from a broken leg but with the delayed start of the Premiership and Laidlaw’s involvement in the World Cup it is possible he could begin the season as first choice. Gloucester fans will hope Heinz will be able to make more of an impact than their previous Kiwi scrum-half Jimmy Cowan, who failed to live up to his reputation in two difficult years at the club. Cowan followed a number of other recent southern hemisphere signings who have disappointed at Kingsholm, including Huia Edmonds, Nathan Mauger and Jeremy Paul. Obviously then Gloucester supporters will hope that these new imports buck this trend and are able to significantly improve the squad.
The third and perhaps most highly anticipated signing is that of Tom Marshall, the Chiefs utility back, who it is believed will join following at ITM Cup campaign with the Tasman Makos. Marshall can play at full-back, outside centre or wing, which provides the coaches a pleasant but difficult decision of exactly where to slot him in to the Cherry and Whites’ talented backline. His preferred position appears to be full back, but with Henry Trinder likely to be out until Christmas I would not be surprised to see Marshall begin his Gloucester career at 13. The 25 year-old is a former teammate of Heinz from his time at the Crusaders, which will hopefully help both of them settle in to life in the West Country.
This is the sort of recruitment that we hoped would happen under Director of Rugby David Humphreys, who is now able to shape the squad in the way he wishes, following the previous year’s signings that were mostly made by Nigel Davies. This low quantity, high quality recruitment is promising and follows the model of more successful sides like Leicester and Saracens, who haven’t had to resort the large clear-outs and transition periods that Gloucester have seen multiple times in the past decade.
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