Bath Rugby are looking to sign Will Genia from Queensland Reds, having already snared Sam Burgess from National Rugby League club South Sydney Rabbitohs.
It was reported in June that Bath had been linked with Genia, but now the reporting is that the club has made “an audacious bid” to sign the Wallabies scrum-half and is “now in talks… to lure him to England after next year’s World Cup”.
Bath owner Bruce Craig said in June that he had “already signed some players for post-World Cup going into what we consider our 150th year, which is the 2015-16 season”, but he did not name names.
“We’ve built over the past two years and we’re building this year,” Craig said.
“We’ve got Sam Burgess coming in, we’ve got Henry Thomas coming in, we’ve got other new players … we’re putting everything in place to actually be in a position to win trophies.”
Genia had previously also been linked with French Top 14 clubs Toulon and Lyon, with Midi Olympique reporting the latter, who won the 2013-2014 ProD2 title to secure promotion to the top table, were understood to be further advanced in negotiations with the half-back.
Genia only last season was considered to be the premier scrum-half in the world, but he has battled injury this year.
He has undergone surgery to correct an ankle problem that ruled him out of contention for the Wallabies’ three-Test series against France, and he had not recovered sufficiently to be considered for selection when Ewen McKenzie announced his 32-man squad for The Rugby Championship.