Senior figures at both Bristol Bears and Gloucester Rugby have put to bed rumours centre Mark Atkinson is set to switch clubs.
The Rugby Paper reported the 31-year-old Cherry and Whites inside centre was being targeted by Pat Lam’s table topping side with the likes of former Tongan captain Siale Piutau now 35-year-old.
Atkinson, who joined Gloucester in 2014/15 from Championship side Bedford Blues, has been one of the club’s top performers during a difficult campaign in 2020/21 which sees the Cherry and Whites currently sitting in 11th place in the table.
With well over 100 appearances for the club, and having represented an England XV at Twickenham against the Barbarians in 2018/19 - who incidentally were coached by Lam - the 6ft 4in powerhouse also has a silky set of skills which would fit well with Bristol’s brand of attacking rugby.
However Gloucester chief operating officer Alex Brown, who also leads the club’s recruitment along with head coach George Skivington, has directly denied the rumours.
He said: “We had this rumour about Mark Atkinson going to Bristol of all places and I can categorically say that is not happening.
“Mark is very much part of our future plans as is Billy Twelvetrees and Ed Slater. I even heard rumours that Louis Rees-Zammit is moving on, they do come out but I can guarantee the squad we have listed in the 20201/22 season is the way we are going.”
Senior sources at Bristol Bears also confirmed the club had no intention of making a move for the centre.
