{"id":474489,"date":"2026-03-14T02:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T02:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/474489\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T02:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T02:37:10","slug":"courtney-lawes-now-better-placed-to-quash-the-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/474489\/","title":{"rendered":"Courtney Lawes now better placed to quash the rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former England<\/a> and Lions<\/a> star Courtney Lawes<\/a> could finally make some progress regarding his future now that Brive<\/a> have appointed Gr\u00e9gory Patat as head coach on a three-year deal.<\/p>\n

Veteran flanker Lawes, who will be 38 next February, has spent the last two seasons playing in France<\/a> but has been left in limbo while Brive, who are sixth in the Pro D2<\/a> table, sorted themselves out.<\/p>\n

It has been reported that the Northampton<\/a> Saints legend was approached by Leicester<\/a> Tigers for a move to Welford Road, but his preference was to stay with Les Coujous for at least another campaign.<\/p>\n

Jamison Gibson-Park appears to be closing in on a new deal with the IRFU, despite French clubs taking a close look at his CV.<\/p>\n

The whispers from Ireland<\/a> are that Gibson-Park, who has been a mainstay of Andy Farrell\u2019s set-up and won his 50th cap in the win over Wales<\/a> in Dublin last weekend, is close to an agreement.<\/p>\n

And that appears to have been backed up by respected Irish pundit Bernard Jackson, who said on RTE television before the Wales game that he believed Gibson-Park had already committed his future.<\/p>\n

Harlequins<\/a> are preparing to finally announce who their new head coach for next season will be after a whole series of delays and knockbacks from a number of potential candidates.<\/p>\n

The club, who entertain fellow strugglers Gloucester<\/a> at the Twickenham Stoop, next Saturday, told a fans forum this week that they were hoping to make an appointment in the near future.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, while fans were attending the event, thieves broke into three cars in the club car park and stole various items.<\/p>\n

\"OUlster ban\u201d width=\u201d1920\u2033 height=\u201d1080\u2033 \/> (Tom O\u2019Toole. Photo by Piaras \u00d3 M\u00eddheach\/Sportsfile via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Ulster look set to make a move in the transfer market for a big-name foreign tight-head to cover Tom O\u2019Toole<\/a> following his switch to loose-head for Ireland.<\/p>\n

The United Rugby Championship<\/a> outfit were initially in the market for a loose-head. But it appears the IRFU want to see O\u2019Toole, who has played 135 games for Ulster, stay in that position.<\/p>\n

He will replace Wallaby star Angus Bell<\/a>, who is going back Down Under to play for the Waratahs, and because of that, their Dublin-based paymasters are ready to let them dip into the market for a No.3.<\/p>\n

Saracens<\/a> held off a late bid from Ealing Trailfinders to sign Northampton Saints scrum-half Tom James<\/a> after losing Gareth Simpson<\/a> to the West London side next season.<\/p>\n

The former Gallagher PREM and European champions are also set to see Ivan van Zyl<\/a>, who is being released from the final of his agreement to return to South Africa, so they needed replacements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly excited to be joining Saracens for the next chapter of my career. The club has such a fantastic history, and famously has such a strong culture and reputation for success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"VincentLONDON, ENGLAND \u2013 NOVEMBER 16: Vincent Koch<\/a> of South Africa<\/a> looks on during the Autumn Nations Series<\/a> 2024 match between England and South Africa at Allianz Stadium on November 16, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Sharks<\/a> have confirmed that a quartet of players, including Vincent Koch<\/a>, who two weeks ago we revealed had turned down a move to the Sale<\/a> Sharks, have put pen to paper on new deals to stay with the United Rugby Championship<\/a> outfit.<\/p>\n

Koch, who will be 38 by the time his new deal ends, was sounded out by Sale for a move, but the tighthead is remaining in Durban despite a better deal being on the table in the North-West.<\/p>\n

Lock Coetzee Le Roux<\/a> is staying at the club until 2027, back row Matt Romao<\/a> is staying until 2029 after signing a three-year extension, while back-to-back World Cup-winning hooker Bongo Mbonambi has signed on for two more years.<\/p>\n

Exeter Chiefs<\/a> boss Rob Baxter admits that the club are yet to offer former Gloucester scrum-half Charlie Chapman<\/a> a contract to keep him at Sandy Park beyond June when his one-year deal runs out.<\/p>\n

Chapman, 27, has made 22 appearances for the Chiefs<\/a> this season, but they announced earlier this week that Sam Wolstenholme<\/a> will be moving to Devon from Bristol<\/a> Bears this summer, leaving him in the cold.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharlie\u2019s off contract, yes, end of the season, and we haven\u2019t offered him a contract extension at this stage, no,\u201d Chiefs boss Rob Baxter told Fissler Confidential earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The US Eagles have suffered a blow with the news that American Football convert, tight-head Pono Davis<\/a> has quit the sport and has returned home to Hawaii.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old, who spent the whole of his MLR career with the Houston SaberCats, won 13 caps for his country since making his debut against Canada<\/a> two years ago, and wants to go into farming and start a family.<\/p>\n

Davis, who was playing American Football for the Seattle Sea Dragons before their 2020 campaign was cancelled due to COVID, was left at a loose end and joined the American Raptors to learn rugby.<\/p>\n

\"AngusAngus O\u2019Brien<\/a> of Dragons during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Dragons at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy\/Sportsfile via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Angus O\u2019Brien has agreed a new deal with the Dragons to remain with the United Rugby Championship outfit after his current contract runs out at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The Dragons\u2019 co-captain, 31, who was born in Caerleon, was named the club\u2019s Player of the Season in 2023 and has made 120 appearances for his home club.<\/p>\n

A product of the Dragons Academy system, O\u2019Brien, who plays fly-half and full-back, is in his second spell with the Men of Gwent after a stint with the Scarlets, and is understood to have signed a two-year agreement.<\/p>\n

Pro D2 strugglers B\u00e9ziers have completed the signing of young Leicester Tigers loose-head Tubuna Maka<\/a>, as they continue their rebuilding for next season in a bid to revive their flagging fortunes.<\/p>\n

The Fijian-born, former England under-20 international, has bounced around the system and been in and out of the PREM with loans at Cambridge, Birmingham, Moseley, and Nottingham.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9ziers have been busy signing players, including All Blacks<\/a> World Cup winner Malakai Fekitoa<\/a>, Dragons back row Mackenzie Martin<\/a> and others such as Jordon Janse Van Rensburg and David Delarue<\/a>, with more signings likely to be on the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former England and Lions star Courtney Lawes could finally make some progress regarding his future now that Brive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-474489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}