Three Gloucester signings who were meant to be the business…but weren’t

We’ve gone from the inception of the Premiership in 1997/98 because, as you all know, that’s when club rugby ‘started’.

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.

Fearns’ incredible form in France had raised hopes of an England call-up and the bruising flanker was on the lookout for a move home. 

Gloucester looked set to be his destination in 2017 until the Liverpudlian got wind that Eddie Jones didn’t rate him, and   did a U-turn, delivering the sort of hammer blow that once floored Gavin Henson.

The back-rower instead re-signed for Lyon instead and continues to be one of the best ball-carrying forwards around.

This one is still quite baffling.

Gloucester fans thought they’d made a game-changing signing when Scotland’s record point-scorer moved to Kingsholm in 2007. Boy were they wrong.

Paterson’s spell with the Cherry & whites was largely disappointing and the fullback left to return to Edinburgh at the end of his first season in the Premiership.

He made just 14 appearances.