A rumour without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.
Well there are certainly plenty of Kingsholm rumours doing the rounds at the moment. By all accounts, the return of Mercier is a done deal and I suppose if the Gloucester pack is strengthened this may prove a positive move as we shall certainly expect to play a good deal of football in the opponent’s 22. Whether attractive, running rugby is the winner if Ludo dons the cherry stripes again, well, time will tell… A trio of scrum halves have been linked to the club too. Ryan Powell from Cardiff has been capped by Wales and remains third choice behind Peel and Cooper. I know little about him. The most intriguing name mentioned for next season’s number nine shirt is the Scottish youngster Chris Cusiter, a current media darling and many pundits’ tip for a Lions berth later this year. In my view Cusiter remains unproven but it may prove a delightful gamble if he does join Gloucester. Haydn Thomas of Exeter has also been mentioned in despatches. By all accounts, Gomarsall is leaving and has not been offered a new contract. The other names mentioned as potential signings are Lesley Vainikolo, the Bradford Bulls winger, Simon Shaw, the Wasps and England lock and John Yapp, the Cardiff and Wales prop. I would welcome all three to the club. We need new blood. It is crucial, meanwhile, to re-sign Alex Brown and Andy Hazell as both key players are out of contract.
I spotted Christo Bezuidenhout in Tesco’s yesterday. He cut a doleful figure, limping and shambling scruffily around the store in such a melancholic manner that I felt like approaching him and enquiring, ‘Where did it all go wrong, eh, Christo, me old mucker?’ I didn’t though. I have rarely seen a fellow dwell so long at the instant soup range. The gnarled former Springbok finally plumped for Tesco’s own brand French Onion soup-in-a-cup and I really hope he enjoyed it. All in all and pound for pound he’s proved the biggest disappointment this season. I named my Kingsholm Chronicle FXL team after the blighter too. Bizarrely enough, Brad Davies was in the Longlevens branch of Tesco's Express the evening before. He didn't appear to linger at the instant soups. A lesson for us all maybe?
The borrowed CD amnesty continues. S called to let me know that he still has my copy of Cypress by jangle-masters Let’s Active, a band any worthy Gloucester-based music fanatic would have seen keenly supporting The Smiths back in the mid 80s at the Leisure Centre. Heady days.
