Directors of rugby around the Gallagher Premiership are moving quickly to put the final touches on their squads now all 13 clubs are back in pre-season training.
Here is a look at all the latest transfer rumours and confirmed moves from around the league.
READ MORE: Shock as Gloucester Rugby star Ed Slater forced to retire after Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis
Bath Rugby sign former Worcester Warriors captain
Bath Rugby have announced the signing of experienced leader GJ van Velze who will join the club for the 2022/23 season.
The South African is player who can play multiple positions across the back five of the scrum, including second row, however throughout his rugby career has more generally been employed as a number eight.
Somerset Live understands van Velze is not considered a replacement for club captain Charlie Ewels who has been sidelined with an ACL injury sustained on England duty last month, but rather provides depth and experience at number eight with Taulupe Faletau leaving Bath for Cardiff Rugby this summer.
Van Velze will compete with Jaco Coetzee, new signing Wes White who joins the club from Championship side Jersey Reds, 21-year-old academy product Nahum Merigan and the versatile Josh Bayliss for the number eight jersey.
Further signing options are being pursued to cover Ewels' absence.
England U20s star linked with Northampton move
Northampton Saints are reported to be frontrunners to sign Worcester Warriors' rising star at fly-half Fin Smith ahead of the 2023/24 season.
Twenty-year-old Smith's reputation continues to rise having made 25 appearances for Worcester last season following an injury to Welsh international Owen Williams early in the 2021/22 season.
Smith was England U20's starting fly-half during the Six Nations Summer Series and also qualifies for Scotland through his former international rugby prop grandfather Tom Elliott.
Worcester head of rugby Steve Diamond will be keen to keep Smith at Sixways and could yet be successful in doing so but The Rugby Paper reports Saints have the fly-half firmly in their sights.
Exeter Chiefs linked with former Harlequins and Wasps lock
Former Harlequins second row Charlie Matthews has been amongst the Exeter Chiefs players testing themselves on the Devon sands in pre-season this summer as the experienced forward looks to earn a contract at the club.
Matthews, 31, is being looked at by Rob Baxter according to The Rugby Paper, with the Exeter director of rugby considering bringing in cover in the engine room following the departure of four first team squad locks this summer, with England star Jonny Hill joining Sale Sharks, Scotland international Sam Skinner moving to Edinburgh Rugby and moves for Willy Witty to Perpignan and Sean Lonsdale to the Dragons.
MLR star training with Wasps
Austin Gilgronis lock Cameron Dodson has been spied training with Wasps Rugby in pre-season ahead of the new season.
Dodson, who most recently played for Austin Gilgronis in Major League Rugby is 6ft 7in tall and weights in at 17 and a half stone.
He played for his local clubs Stafford RUFC and Stoke on Trent RUFC before moving to the states to study business management at Grand Canyon University and was a team captain during his junior and senior seasons at GCU, playing mostly as a number eight.
Wasps are yet to officially confirm his signing.
Former Gloucester Rugby, Bath Rugby and Wasps star signs for Sale Sharks
Gloucester Rugby's released scrum-half Joe Simpson has been snapped up by Gallagher Premiership rivals Sale Sharks on a short-term contract ahead of the 2022/23 season.
Simpson who has one England cap and was part of his country’s squad for the 2011 World Cup while playing for Wasps, has put pen to paper on a six-month deal at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Simpson made almost 250 appearances for Wasps after graduating from their academy in 2008, before joining Gloucester in 2019.
He had loan spells at both Saracens and Bath Rugby last season, but after being released from his contract at Kingsholm, he has joined up with Alex Sanderson’s squad for pre-season ahead of a busy Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup campaign.
Leicester Tigers back departs with immediate effect
Winger Jordan Olowofela has become the fourteenth player to leave Leicester Tigers so far in 2022.
The 24-year-old has, with immediate effect, joined Nottingham Rugby, a club Tigers signed a a formal Performance Partnership during last season. Olowofela, who was photographed training at a Nottingham open training session on Saturday, made 41 senior appearances for Tigers but his game time in recent years has come on loan at Australian Super Rugby side the Western Force and at Welsh club, Dragons Rugby.
Released Bristol Bears prop’s new club confirmed
Bristol born and raise prop Ashley Challenger will switch the Bears for French Fed 1 clubs Rugby Chartres Métropole it has been confirmed this week.
Challenger was released by the Bears last month after one season but has picked up a contract at the club based near Paris with a view to working his way back to the Gallagher Premiership.
Former Northampton Saints star signs for New Zealand club
Released Northampton Saints back Ahsee Tuala has returned to New Zealand and signed for his former club the PIC Steelers who play in the Bunnings Warehouse National Provincial Championship.
Samoan international Tuala played over 50 times for the Steelers, primarily as a fullback, from 2009-2014 before heading to Europe where he made a name for himself with the Northampton Saints.
Released Tigers back signs for Spanish club
Former Leicester Tigers, Saracens and Newcastle Falcons back Juan Pablo Socino will embark upon a second spell of his career playing in Spain.
The 34-year-old Argentinian centre was released by Tigers at the end of their 2021/22 Gallagher Premiership winning season, but hasn't taken long to land a new employer. He will team up with UE Santboiana for the season ahead, having previously played for CR El Salvador while contracted to Edinburgh in 2019.
He joins a side that is fresh from winning the División de Honor de Rugby, as UE Santboiana defeated AMPO Ordizia in the final to end a 16-year gap and claim an eighth title.
