{"id":691444,"date":"2026-01-12T16:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/691444\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T16:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:49:10","slug":"mike-brown-back-to-harlequins-adam-hastings-to-france-and-newcastle-add-northampton-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/691444\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Brown back to Harlequins, Adam Hastings to France and Newcastle add Northampton star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The January sales are in full swing. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are the transfer headlines from the weekend:<\/p>\n

Newcastle Red Bulls build the back row<\/p>\n

Northampton Saints back row Sam Graham<\/a> is set to add physicality to the Newcastle Red Bulls\u2019 squad after agreeing to join the club in the summer on a two-year deal.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old made a late entrant into the top-flight game, having played for Doncaster Knights and Hartpury in the Championship before joining Northampton Saints in 2022. He notably made 20 starts during the Saints Gallagher PREM winning season of 2024.<\/p>\n

Graham said: \u201cI\u2019ve played up at Kingston Park<\/a> a number of times throughout in my career and have always had a lot of respect for the guys there, and the way the supporters get behind their team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe place looks like it\u2019s buzzing on a match day with everything surrounding Red Bull\u2019s takeover, and I experienced it myself when Saints went up there earlier in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been getting sell-out crowds in the league on a consistent basis, and they\u2019re really going places with the way they\u2019re starting to build.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player it\u2019s massively exciting to be a part of that once my time at Northampton comes to an end, and I\u2019m looking forward to throwing everything into it when I get up to Newcastle in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newcastle Red Bulls\u2019 sporting general manager Neil McIlroy said: \u201cSam has worked extremely hard to forge a career in English rugby\u2019s top flight, to his immense credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a very consistent performer who makes big impacts on games, and he will get us on the front foot with his ball carrying, set-piece work and link play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting period for the club as we put in place the building blocks for what we are confident will be a very successful future, and Sam promises to be a big part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scotland star heads to France<\/p>\n

Adam Hastings has agreed terms with French side Montpellier, where he will join fellow Scotsmen Stuart Hogg<\/a> and Ali Price\u00a0in the blue kit.<\/p>\n

Initially making his Glasgow Warriors debut in 2017, the fly-half has made 81 appearances to date across two spells with the club. He is one of only six players to amass over 500 points as a Glasgow Warrior, reaching the feat in victory over the Vodacom Bulls earlier this season.<\/p>\n

Prior to his time at Glasgow, the 29-year-old had a brief spell at Bath, before returning to the west country four years later to spend many a campaign with Gloucester.<\/p>\n

There are no eligibility restrictions on Scottish players playing overseas, so the 29-year-old will remain available for Scotland should they need him.<\/p>\n

England greats weigh in on Antoine Dupont\u2019s \u2018off day\u2019 as Saracens \u2018rattle\u2019 Toulouse and France stars<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Quins legend offers services<\/p>\n

Mike Brown<\/a> has reportedly offered his services to his old club, Harlequins, but this time in a coaching capacity.<\/p>\n

After completing his master\u2019s degree in sports directorship, he is now working with Esher RFC in the fourth tier of English rugby and has offered to help out his former club at no cost.<\/p>\n

A source close to the Daily Mail said: \u2018There are too many yes men at the club. They should go out and get Mike in some sort of management capacity. He knows the club inside out and is more qualified than any ex-players. He\u2019s someone who doesn\u2019t take any bulls***.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stormers miss out on towering lock<\/p>\n

According to the South African website, Rapport, Benetton second row forward Eli Snyman has signed a two-year contract with Irish side Ulster.<\/p>\n

This is damning news to the Stormers, who were reportedly lining him up to replace the outgoing Ruben van Heerden, who is set to join Montpellier at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Investec Champions Cup Team of the Week: \u2018Maestro\u2019 stars in demolition job while \u2018top drawer\u2019 shift against Springboks\u2019 power rewarded<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The January sales are in full swing. Here are the transfer headlines from the weekend: Newcastle Red Bulls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,12074,225,2466,12,6875,5707,7913,4510],"class_list":{"0":"post-691444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-harlequins","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-newcastle","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-premiership","16":"tag-top-14","17":"tag-ulster","18":"tag-united-rugby-championship"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115883158078759936","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}