Seven biggest signings in Prem Rugby this summer

The new Prem Rugby season is just around the corner, with the first match getting under way this Thursday, 25 September.

When Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit announced he was returning to rugby union after 18 months trying to crack the NFL, the question on everyone’s lips was who would he play for?

Former club Gloucester? Newcastle with all the Red Bull money now behind them? Would he go to France? Maybe the new breakaway R360 league?

In the event it was Bristol Bears who secured his signature and with the most potent attack in the league last season, it is not hard to see why.

Bristol topped the stats for most tries, points, carries, metres made and defenders beaten last season according to Oval Insights. Their free-flowing, swashbuckling style of running rugby perfectly suits a winger who boasted speeds of up to 22-24mph a couple of years ago.

After 20 months away from a rugby pitch, Bristol have said the 24-year-old needs to ease his way back and readjust from American football conditioning.

Owen Farrell’s return to Saracens seems timely and positive for both player and club.

For many it will not feel like the former club captain has hardly been away at all.

Prior to his one season in France with Racing 92, Farrell had spent his entire career with Sarries, winning six Premiership titles and three European Champions Cups in a trophy-laden 16 years in north London.

England’s record points-scorer, the fly-half – who can also play centre – moved to Paris last summer shortly after taking a break from international duty to prioritise his “mental wellbeing”.

But Farrell, who turns 34 this week, returns to StoneX Stadium after an injury-hit season in which he made just 17 appearances. His return also makes him eligible for England again.

Mark McCall’s side finished sixth last season and missed out on the play-offs for the first time since 2008-09 (with the exception of when they were relegated for salary cap breaches) as they went through a transition following a string of high-profile exits.

The biggest arrival in the Prem this summer will not kick a penalty, score a try or make a tackle, but their impact could be even greater.

Red Bull’s takeover of ailing Newcastle Falcons is a game-changer for the north-east club and for English rugby.

Bringing their experience of sport from F1, football and other sports, the energy drinks giant has immediately made its mark with a change of name and a new kit.

The mood at Kingston Park has changed in an instant with over 9,000 attending their Prem Rugby Cup season-opening game against Harlequins.

Director of rugby Steve Diamond worked quickly to bring in experienced campaigners from across the globe to beef up his squad in quality and depth for this season, but the Red Bull story will be one to watch during the coming months.

Henry Arundell has long been tipped for big things. “A proper rock star” with “X-factor” and an “incredible future” are some of the things said about him previously.

Arundell was just a teenager when he burst onto the England scene, scoring a “sensational” solo try for the Under-20s before a 90-metre try in England training described as Bryan Habana-esque by ex-head coach Eddie Jones- all before his first cap.

He has gone on to score seven tries for his country in 10 matches, including a record-equalling five against Chile during the 2023 World Cup.

But Arundell – who can play at wing or full-back – has spent the past two seasons ineligible for his country after moving across the channel to Racing 92 following the collapse of his former club London Irish.

After a few seasons of post-Covid belt-tightening, Exeter have splashed the cash this summer to bring in two frontline Wallabies – lock/flanker Tom Hooper and centre Len Ikitau.

With Joe Hawkins returning to Wales after a lacklustre two-season spell at Sandy Park, Chiefs will hope Ikitau can be a playmaker to dovetail with England’s Henry Slade in midfield and bring back their old winning ways.

Arguably Exeter’s highest-profile backs signing since Stuart Hogg, Ikitau has started seven of Australia’s first eight Tests this year – including all three against the British and Irish lions.

While he plays at 12 for the Wallabies, he is equally comfortable at outside centre after helping Brumbies reach the Super Rugby semi-finals from 13 for the last years.

If the Chiefs can keep Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Josh Hodge and Slade fit, Ikitau’s addition could be the spark that ignites a side that have spluttered over the past few years.

Argentina’s back-up scrum-half Simon Benitez Cruz and Japan back-row forward Amanaki Mafi look like canny acquisitions by the renamed Red Bulls.

But there is no doubt that signing Christian Wade has got the most eyeballs.

The former England wing, 34, left Gloucester at the end of last season to take up an offer with rugby league giants Wigan Warriors.

But now Steve Diamond has used a bit of ‘his northern charm’ to entice Wade to move to Newcastle when his contract with the Warriors expires.

Only eight behind Chris Ashton’s all-time record of 101 Premiership tries, the 34-year-old winger will have that in his sights when he arrives in the North East.

James O’Connor has been many things to many teams over many years.

He started out as an Australian prodigy, a Wallaby at 18, who was seen as a “once-in-a-generation talent”.

Then there was the ‘bad boy’ who arrived in the English Premiership in 2013 with London Irish and then effectively exiled to play in Europe following a string of off-field incidents.

There was also the O’Connor who, after stints at Sale and Toulon, returned home to Australia to fight his way back into the national team after five years in the international wilderness.

But the O’Connor Leicester Tigers have now is different again. The whizz-kid is grown up and the villain long forgiven.

What Tigers appeared to be getting when they signed O’Connor from Crusaders in June was a 35-year-old former Australia international – a reliable, seasoned veteran who had seemingly earned his final international cap three years earlier.

Within a month, he was brought into the Australian squad for the British and Irish Lions tour and by August, O’Connor was back in green and gold playing against South Africa and has featured in all four of their Rugby Championship Tests so far.

When O’Connor signed for Tigers, he said he felt it was a “full circle moment”.

“I never felt I played my best footy, due to injury, life choices and just where I was at as a man,” he said. “This move is to rectify this.”