Top 14: Racing-Métro to confirm Juan
Martin Hernández signing by the end of the month
11 May 2010
|
'El Magico': Pumas fly-half Juan
Martin Hernández
Photo: Michael Paler |
Defeated
play-off quarter-finalists Racing-Métro 92 are
nearing completion of their player recruitment, with
Argentine playmaker Juan-Martin Hernández set to be
confirmed as their latest arrival by the end of the month.
The
former Stade Francais star has long-been touted for a return
to Paris - after his one-season stay with South
Africa's Natal Sharks - and will be unveiled shortly as
Racing's stellar capture for 2010/11.
'El
Magico' will join an ever-strengthening squad that has
already surprised many by finishing sixth and making the
play-offs in its first season back in Top 14. That means
Pierre Berbizier's side will be playing Heineken Cup rugby
next season, in sharp contrast to Hernandez's previous Paris
employers Stade Francais.
Top 14 Table
/
Top 14 try-scorers
/
Top 14 Results
/
Top 14
Fixtures
The
Jacky Lorenzetti owned club pulled off a triple transfer
coup last summer by signing Sébastien Chabal, Lionel Nallet
and Francois Steyn, and the cash-rich Parisians show no sign
of easing up just yet.
France
winger Benjamin Fall has already come on board from
Bayonne for next season, along with Munster's French prop
Julien Brugnaut, Bourgoin's Fijian winger Albert
Vuli-Vuli, Perpignan scrum-half Nicolas Durand,
and Stade Francais' Italian international Mirco
Bergamasco.
They
have further raided bankrupt Montauban, with three players
fleeing the cash-strapped relegation outfit in favour of
Paris' nouveaux riche. Kiwi prop Benjamin Sa and
French duo Karim Ghezal and Antoine Battut
have all signed, with hooker Grégory Arganese likely
to become a fourth Montauban player to join as Racing look
for a replacement hooker for the retiring Oliver Diomandé.
Clermont Auvergne's Benoit Cabello remains a possible
alternative.
Top 14 Transfers 2010/11
Biarritz, meanwhile, have had to admit defeat in their
chase of Australian rugby league star Johnathan Thurston.
The
Basques tried to tempt Thurston to follow in Karmichael
Hunt's footsteps by switching codes, but not even a
lucrative contract offer could seal the deal, with the
27-year-old opting instead for a new three-year contract
with his current NRL side North Queensland Cowboys.
England team manager Martin Johnson has named nine
uncapped players in his summer tour squad, but has included
four France-based stars. Toulon fly-half Jonny Wilkinson,
Brive hooker Steve Thompson and Stade Francais duo
James Haskell and Tom Palmer have all been named
in the 44-man squad to tour Australia and New Zealand.
Clermont
Auvergne fly-half Brock James says he is relishing the
opportunity to play opposite Wilkinson in the weekend's
play-off semi-final against Toulon.
James,
who has been under severe pressure of late due to his
wayward goal-kicking, also admitted that he is now the
club's No 2 kicker behind scrum-half Morgan Parra.
"I'll be
able to focus on my game, the launching the team's attacks
and defence," he told rugbyrama.com. "It is a logical
decision and if it's for the best of the team then I must
accept it," he added.
In
Toulon, meanwhile, the scramble is on for match tickets
after supporters snapped up their 10,000 allocation in
hours. Black market prices are four or five times face
value.
In the
other semi-final defending champions Perpignan have
named two fly-halves in their 26-man squad with Gavin Hume
and Julien Laharrague both included after recovering from
injuries. Wingers Adrien Plante and Julien Candelon were not
so fortunate however, paving the way for future backs coach
Christophe Manas to make a possible appearance, while Maxime
Mermoz and David Marty are set to start in the centres.
Their
opponents Stade Toulousain also have fly-half
concerns, but have opted to include David Skrela in their
squad despite had coach Guy Noves wanting to rest the
influential No 10 for the Heineken Cup final. But injuries
to Frédéric Michalak and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde have forced
his hand.
Cédric
Heymans, Virgil Lacombe, Shaun Sowerby and Clément
Poitrenaud are all recalled to the squad after sitting out
the quarter-final victory over Castres, while prop Census
Johnston could also feature for the first time since
injuring his knee on April 24.
|
