{"id":955880,"date":"2026-05-13T00:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/955880\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T00:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:06:17","slug":"rugby-transfers-italian-prospect-moves-to-prem-harlequins-coach-to-urc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/955880\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby transfers: Italian prospect moves to Prem, Harlequins coach to URC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barbarians<\/a><\/p>\n

Our latest rugby transfers update focuses on England and Ireland with a talented Italian switching to the PREM, a PREM coach moving to the URC and an ex-Springbok taking up another Irish grassroots challenge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saints dip into Italian market<\/p>\n

Phil Dowson has added to the Northampton firepower out wide by snapping up Malik Faissal, a 20-year-old winger from Zebre Parma. The youngster has only seven first-team appearances to his name so far. However, he needed just 24 minutes on debut versus Montauban in the Challenge Cup to score his first try and he can\u2019t wait to now test himself at PREM Rugby level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited about the chance to be a part of Northampton Saints<\/a>. It\u2019s a club full of talented young players and a fantastic coaching staff that has a clear ambition,\u201d he said. \u201cMoving to England<\/a> and getting to play in a competitive league like the PREM<\/a> is going to be a real challenge, but it\u2019s a great opportunity for me to grow as a rugby player and as a person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already had some good conversations with the coaches about my development and where they can help me learn. That coaching was one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Saints, to play amongst a squad that is at the top of its game and learn from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Saints was also a good choice for me to develop on a human level. I want to learn off the field, improve my English, create new friendships. I won\u2019t be completely without friends in Northampton, though. I played with Edoardo (Todaro) in last season\u2019s U20 Six Nations and I know Danilo (Fischetti) too. Both of them have already made me feel so welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winger took his tally of U20 appearances to 10 in this year\u2019s second Six Nations, with his three tries at that level all coming against England. Those exploits caught the attention of Saints boss Dowson. \u201cMalik first came to our attention when he was playing for Italy Under-20s. He\u2019s got speed and the ability to win the ball in the air, which in today\u2019s game is a vital skill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been impressed with his intent, too, how hard he works to get into the right places on the field. Sam (Vesty) loved his breakdown elements and how he hits in defence as well. In our first chat, it was obvious that he\u2019s a very intelligent and bright player and someone who is ambitious \u2013 Malik asked us some good questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spoke about what his ambitions were, what he wants to get out of his career and what his thoughts were about coming to England. Malik\u2019s really academically driven outside of his rugby, too. He has ambitions of becoming a vet, and his English is very good. He\u2019s an impressive young man and we\u2019re looking forward to getting him into our set-up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup Final match officials named as English duo handed Bilbao honour<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Former England star claims it would be \u2018greedy\u2019 to switch allegiances ahead of 2027 World Cup<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

PREM coach goes home to Ireland<\/p>\n

Stuart Lancaster\u2019s 10-week search for a backs coach to replace the soon-to-depart Australian Rob Seib has resulted in Connacht<\/a> raiding Harlequins and bringing an end to Gerard Mullen\u2019s six-year stint with the Londoners. The Kildare native spent six years at Loughborough University before switching to Harlequins and guiding their women\u2019s team to an Allianz Premier 15s title in his debut season as head coach in 2021.<\/p>\n

He then moved to become the lead attack and backs coach in the academy and transition space before joining the senior coaching team in 2023.<\/p>\n

Lancaster said: \u201cWe are delighted to welcome Gerard to join our team for next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m certain he will bring a huge amount of quality and enthusiasm to the role. In what was a really competitive interview process, he proved his ability to show great alignment with the vision we have for the team moving forward. He has a great balance of knowledge of the Irish system and also broad experiences outside of Ireland, which I am sure will benefit all the players in our squad next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mullen added: \u201cConnacht is a club I\u2019ve always admired. You can clearly see from the outside that there is a real sense of togetherness between the team, the staff, and the community here in the west \u2013 that makes it special, and I can\u2019t wait to have the opportunity to experience this first-hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club is in a great position right now. Exciting squad, staff, new facilities, and I can\u2019t wait to roll my sleeves up and give everything I have to help Connacht keep moving forward. I\u2019m coming in hungry, ready to work extremely hard, and do everything I can to contribute positively to the environment and the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The naked Lions tour wrestling where Mack Hansen was \u2018worn like a glove\u2019 and what it\u2019s like when Andy Farrell \u2018gets a bit sloppy from time to time\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u2018headbutting competition\u2019 with ex-All Black that the \u2018too bullish and pig-headed\u2019 David Nucifora now regrets and his damning \u2018emotional\u2019 verdict on the Ireland team he joined<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ex-Springbok switches Irish grassroots clubs<\/p>\n

Former Springboks<\/a> scrum-half Dan van Zyl has decided to move up the ladder on the Irish grassroots scene, taking charge of All-Ireland League Division 2BN club Navan following six seasons at the helm of Leinster junior outfit Wicklow.<\/p>\n

The Rugby Ireland academy director, who played Super Rugby for the Stormers and first-class cricket with Northern Transvaal and Boland, earned his one Springbok Test cap on their 2000 northern hemisphere tour and an offer to play in the All-Ireland League for County Carlow resulted in him making a life in his adopted country.<\/p>\n

After he finished playing, he coached a myriad of teams, including Ireland U18 clubs, Ireland students and Leinster women, and was also a Leinster coach development officer. Navan will be his latest port of call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really excited to be joining Navan and to be coaching in the All-Ireland League again. I have gained a lot of experience and achieved success both coaching and playing in the AIL. Navan is a club I have always wanted to be involved with, as it has great mini, youth and U20 sections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, the women\u2019s game in Navan is going from strength to strength. The club has a great tradition, facilities and people. I hope to build on everything the club has achieved to date and to bring further success to Navan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another representative level rugby scrum-half with a cricketing background, Neil Doak, has been unveiled as head coach at Banbridge, the Ulster club who will also be part of the revamped 2BN league. The 1999 European Cup winner was most recently the Ireland U20 coach in 2025.<\/p>\n

Banbridge director of rugby Marc Eadie said: \u201cWe are absolutely delighted to bring in Neil. His experience at the top level of the game speaks for itself, but what really stood out throughout the process was his passion for developing players and building a strong club environment. We believe he is the perfect person to lead our squad forward into the next chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Urine swap doping scandal results in six Georgia players and a medic copping nearly 36 years\u2019 worth of bans from rugby<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our latest rugby transfers update focuses on England and Ireland with a talented Italian switching to the PREM,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4102],"tags":[19909,12074,225,12,10327,6875,4151,2196,79,2357,16,15,4510,14773],"class_list":["post-955880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-connacht","tag-harlequins","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-northampton-saints","tag-premiership","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-transfers","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-rugby-championship","tag-zebre"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116564354017659672","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955880","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=955880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}