Ranking the 5 worst Gallagher Premiership transfers of all time

Say goodbye to Schalk Brits and hello to some less fondly remembered arrivals. It's time for the 5 worst transfers in Gallagher Premiership history.

I tried to keep the rules for determining the worst transfer simple. In short, I wanted to measure the impact a player had on a club versus the impact he would have been expected to have when he signed originally.

I paid special attention to anyone whose story or impact off the pitch was particularly notable.

Honorable mentions: Mark Wilson (Sale Sharks), Gavin Henson (Saracens), JP Pietersen (Leicester Tigers), Richie Gray (Sale Sharks), Chris Ashton (Harlequins)

What a corker to start off with. The Wallabies legend and World Cup winner joined the club on a three-year contract back in 2007. However, what started off as an exciting signing turned into an expensive mistake for the Cherry & Whites, who have got next to nothing out of the hooker who will have cost them a lot of money. He played only one Premiership game for Glaws in his one season at Kingsholm, departing by mutual consent in July, 2008.

Falcons announced in May 2004 that the Brumbies loose forward had signed on a two-year deal, believed to be worth £150,000 per season. However, the recently-capped Wallaby got cold feet and pulled out of the move claiming he’d only ever signed a letter of intent. Rob Andrew was adamant at the time that agreement to join the Falcons was binding.

Signed for the club 11th Jan 2011 but was registered under his Aussie passport and therefore cost the club 2 points and £5000 for fielding too many overseas players. He was then convicted of drink driving, banned from the road for 18 months, and released by the club in May 2011. He failed to score a single try in his four appearances for the Chiefs. His career has done nothing but rise ever since so that’s nice.

The Fijian wide-man joined the newly promoted Exiles in 2017, fresh off scoring 22 tries in 32 games during a productive two year spell with Lyon. With the club spending big money, fans were hopeful that his deadly finishing would give them a chance of avoiding the drop. Instead, he looked unthreatening and slow, scoring just one try.

Trained with the Exiles for a few weeks before deciding it wasn’t for him and retired. The one-time Premiership record points-scorer then resurfaced at Newcastle in December 2015 where his experience and prolific boot saved them from relegation with London Irish going down. He even made it onto the Rugby Players’ Association Player of the Year shortlist.