Newcomers
By Darraghgirl
August 25 2014
With just a few days to go before the new season starts, here is a brief guide to this year's new signings.
Big Jim Hamilton is 31. He was born in Swindon and could have player for England or Scotland. Having played U21 rugby for England he opted to become a Scottish international and was the 1,000th Scotsman to be capped when he made his debut against Romania in 2006. He has since won 56 Caps for Scotland and scored one try (against Argentina in 2010). He is a Lock forward and joins Saracens after a year with French club Montpelier.
Hamilton started his professional career with Leicester for whom he made 64 appearances from 2003 to 2008. He then spent 3 years with Edinburgh followed by 3 with Gloucester before spending a year on the Med brushing up his French. He is known as “Big Jim” being 6’8” and over 19 stone. The Pottermore (Harry Potter) website suggests he could be related to Hagrid (because of his strong resemblance) and along with Kelly Brown is thought to be a Squib (a wizard-born muggle – ask your children if you don’t know what that is!) His twitter page contains the quote “A wise man once told me, if you train hard, you will reap the benefits. That wise man was me!”
Argentine prop Juan “Chipi” Figallo also signed from Montpelier. 26 year old Figallo had played for the French side since 2009 having been signed from the Argentine amateur team “Jockey Club de Salta”. He has represented his country at U19, U20, Jaguar and full international level (winning caps and scoring 1 try since his debut in 2010 against France). He was named as “best tighthead” in the 2011 World Cup and “Best Player” in Group B. He is 1.89m tall and weighs 115kg. The highly-regarded Prop suffered a serious neck injury in 2013 while playing for Argentina and because of strict rules in France was not allowed to resume his career there, hence he was released from his contract 2 years early and joined Saracens (the rules in the Premiership around neck injuries being less strict). He has reportedly been undergoing rehabilitation in Florida where the treatment was said to be “highly successful” but he is not yet fit to resume playing. Figallo said of the move to Saracens “It wasn't easy because of my connection to Montpellier, but here they take care of the players and the conditioning and preparation is really good.”
Kieran Longbottom is another prop who joins the club from Super Rugby Australian team Western Force for whom he has played since 2008. The 28 year old was born in Perth however he has not yet represented Australia and is also eligible to play for England. Given that the Wallabies do not select players who play overseas, he may well have decided his international future is here in the UK and the move has definitely irked Australian coach Ewan McKenzie. He has a Certificate IV in fitness from TAFE Central Australia’s largest provider of vocational education.
And finally England seven’s star Mike Ellery joins the squad (or “family” as Saracens prefer to describe it). 24 year old Ellery was born in Penrith and graduated from the Newcastle Falcons Academy to Championship Club Moseley in 2010. He scored 9 tries as a back row forward for the West Midlands Club in 2011-12 before being offered an England sevens contract and he played in 5 tournaments last year. He has scored a total of 17 tries.
Ellery has completed 2 years of his degree at Northumbria University. He has a younger sister, Megan, who represented England at the women’s sevens in UAR & Moscow. He played for England sevens in the Commonwealth Games helping them to win the Plate Final before joining Saracens in his new position as a Winger.
So that’s a quick update on our new squad members. Not long now till we see them all in the flesh!
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:09:08:13:09:39 by Darraghgirl.
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The lowest depth to which people can sink before God is defined by the word 'journalist'.
Soren Kierkegaard
Quote:TheSaracens.com
looking forward to seeing them all
especially 'in the flesh'
