That has been highlighted by the capture of South African second-row Marco Wentzel from Leicester Tigers.
Of the 12 teams in the English Premiership, only two Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers broke even last season.
Victory in Saturday's final match, at home to Leeds, will clinch a last-four meeting with Leicester Tigers.
Ford, whose younger brother George plays for Leicester Tigers, is the son of England coach Mike Ford.
Premiership rivals Leicester Tigers were linked with a move for Brookes in January.
Scrum-half Andy Williams is due to make his comeback as Worcester Warriors visit Leicester Tigers this Monday (28 March 1930 BST).
But Williams was part of the victorious Ospreys team that beat Leicester Tigers at Twickenham to win the EDF Energy Cup.
We also received a letter from the chief executive of Leicester Tigers, Peter Wheeler, who praised his apology and contrite demeanour.
The Saints start the Premiership season with a mouth-watering home match against champions and local rivals Leicester Tigers on Sunday, 5 September.
Lloyd, 30, was restricted to eight appearances last season, having moved to Kingsholm in May 2007 after a decade at Leicester Tigers.
Bates' thoughts closely follow on from an attack on refereeing standards by Saracens boss Brendan Venter, after his side's weekend defeat by Leicester Tigers.
Second row Wentzel joined the West Yorkshire club in the summer from Leicester Tigers and was given the captain's armband after impressing in pre-season.
The Leicester Tigers rugby club is using big-data analysis to assess the likelihood of injury to players and try to prevent it through personalized training programs.
Munster, Toulouse, Leinster, Leicester Tigers, Biarritz Olympique and the Blues are the seeded teams and will be kept apart in the draw for the six groups.
Jones is the Scarlets' leading points-scorer but Wales' double Grand Slam winner has been linked with a move to Leicester Tigers, although both clubs have denied the reports.
Nigel Bond, head of facilities at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said land near the Leicester Tigers' stadium had planning permission for a multi-storey car park.
Also looking to catch the eye of England coach Martin Johnson will be Leicester Tigers trio Tom Varndell, Harry Ellis and Jordan Crane, along with Bath's versatile back Nick Abendanon.
After coming on for the last 10 minutes at Welford Road in last Saturday's 38-5 defeat by Leicester Tigers, Benjamin revealed that he had beaten his own deadline to get back into the side.
MacDonald will miss the trip to Wasps in the Premiership due to jetlag and a niggling leg injury, but is expected to be in contention for the LV Cup clash with Leicester Tigers on 8 November at Headingley.
The Arms Park region, number one seeds in the Heineken Cup, topped English giants Leicester Tigers, Bath and Sale Sharks to qualify for Saturday's semi from Group B when the Blues will face Group D winners Northampton Saints at Coventry's Ricoh Arena.
It was a disappointing way for their head coach Bernard Laporte to depart -- he takes up a post in the French government now -- but departing Pumas coach Marcelo Loffreda, who is off to Leicester Tigers, was all smiles at the final whistle.
Moreno moves to Leeds with a wealth of experience behind him, having made 45 appearances for Leicester Tigers across three seasons, as well as spells at San Fernando in Buenos Aires, Worcester Warriors, Brive and Perpignan, where he reached the French Championship final in 2004.
The 48-year-old, who resigned from his day job as a civil engineer to join Leicester, has Tigers stalwarts Neil Back and Richard Cockerill on the coaching staff to help him adjust.
Wasps not only met the awesome physical challenge posed by Leicester, they attacked the Tigers' strengths and won the tactical contest hands down.
Tuqiri, who will start training with his new team-mates this week, is expected to return to play rugby league in Australia with Wests Tigers in 2010 when his Leicester deal ends.
Renowned as a whole-hearted competitor for both club and country, Corry was able to make an emotional lap of honour in front of the Leicester fans at the end of the Tigers' 24-10 victory against Bath in the Guinness Premiership semi-final.
Under Loffreda, who took over at the Tigers in November last year, Leicester have gone out of the Heineken Cup, lost the EDF Energy Cup final and are far from certain of reaching the end-of-season Guinness Premiership play-offs.
"I'm 100% focused on doing the right thing for Leicester, " said Corry, who joined the Tigers from Bristol in 1997.
But Twelvetrees capitalised on missed opportunities from Barnes to bring Leicester back into the match, even nudging the Tigers in front just after half time with Australia failing to roll away at the tackle.
The Ospreys will hope for more consistency when they travel to Leicester on Sunday for their growing grudge match with the Tigers.
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