Top 14 leaders and Heineken Cup champions Stade Toulousain have confirmed the summer departures of half-backs Byron Kelleher and David Skrela.

Thirty-five-year-old Kelleher joined the French giants after the 2007 RWC, although he had originally agreed terms with SU Agen. The latter deal fell through when Agen were subsequently relegated and Kelleher enjoyed immediate success with Toulouse.

He helped the club win their 17th French league title in his debut season - when they were also Heineken Cup runners-up - and was also voted Top 14's Player of the Season.

He famously did a bare-chested 'Haka' on Toulouse's celebratory bus tour of the city following their league success, and became a firm favourite of the club's fans due to his bullish performances in the No 9 shirt. In 2009/10 he was integral to Toulouse lifting their record fourth Heineken Cup with their triumph over French rivals Biarritz, but it seems the sands of time have now weighed against him as the former international will not have his contract renewed in the summer.

The player himself made it clear he wanted to stay - "I've found my roots in Toulouse, which has become my adopted city," he said - but head coach Guy Noves has now deemed Kelleher surplus to his future plans.

Kelleher has now been tipped to join Bayonne, although no deal has yet been announced.

He will be followed through the Toulouse exit door this summer by fly-half David Skrela, 31, after the French international failed to agree terms on a new deal. Skrela, who grew up Toulouse, has confirmed that he will be joining current French champions Clermont Auvergne on a two-year deal, with the option of a third.

Both Toulouse and Skrela claimed they wanted to reach an agreement but the former Stade Francais star said discussions "dragged".

Toulouse are believed to have lined up another Stade Francais player as his replacement, with French international Lionel Beauxis now expected to move south in the summer.

Noves, meanwhile, was delighted to announce several new long-term deals following the successful completion of contract extensions for club skipper Thierry Dusautoir (4 years), Argentine lock Patricio Albacete (4 years), France flanker Yannick Nyanga (4 years) and Samoan prop Census Johnston (3 years).  

Top 14 League Table 2010/11

Elsewhere on the transfer front it seems that Wales and Ospreys star Lee Byrne, 30, is set to follow countryman James Hook across the Channel this summer.

Hook confirmed last week that he had signed a three-year deal with Catalan giants Perpignan, and it now seems Byrne will also be plying his trade in France next season as the continuing riches on offer in Top 14 prove too good to turn down.

The 38-times capped Wales full-back is believed to have agreed a lucrative deal with Clermont Auvergne and is set to be released a year early from his Ospreys contract as the club seeks to cash in on the French interest.

"I think we'd look at it given the fact that we don't get him for a large part of next year anyway, with the World Cup and the like," said Ospreys head coach Scott Johnson.

The Welsh club is clearly in the midst of a transitional phase, with Byrne set to follow Hook and Gavin Henson (Saracens) out of the door, and they could lose yet another big name in the summer with wing wizard Shane Williams also in the market for a move to France.

Leading scorers in Top 14 2010/11

Williams, 33, has previously been linked with Toulon, although the big-spending French side eventually signed England winger Paul Sackey last summer after the Ospreys refused to release Williams.

Toulon, for their part, continue to be active behind the scenes as they seek to further strengthen their already impressive squad, with the latest rumours in France suggesting they're keen to try and lure Mathieu Bastareaud away from Stade Francais.

That deal looks unlikely given Bastareaud's long-term contract with Stade, but Toulon boss Mourad Boudjellal is not afraid to splash the cash, as shown by the capture in recent years of Jonny Wilkinson, Carl Hayman and Juan-Sébastien Lobbe. Toulon continue to be linked with a number of Australia's current Test team, with an en expected influx of southern hemisphere players set to move to France following this year's RWC.

Toulon are definitely in the market for a scrum-half following confirmation that Pierre Mignoni will retire at the end of the current campaign to take up a coaching position with the Cote d'Azur club. They approached Montpellier's Julien Tomas, but were rebuffed after the player agreed a new deal with Fabien Galthié's side.

French internationals Francois Trinh-Duc and Fulgence Ouedraogo have also signed new deals with Montpellier, along with Mamuka Gorgodze, and last week Bayonne's Remy Martin announced that he would also be joining them in the summer.

Top 14 Transfers 2010/11

Stade Francais, meanwhile, could come in for Toulon's Felipe Contepomi as head coach Michael Cheika seeks a replacement for Beauxis. Contepomi is essentially used as Wilkinson's back-up by Toulon, but a move to rejoin forces with former club coach Cheika - they were together at Leinster - would see him play regular 1st XV rugby.

Stade's English flanker James Haskell is also considering his future following the recent RFU missive about playing abroad. Haskell is currently in his second season at Stade Francais and told reporters recently that he remains happy in the French capital and open to the idea of signing a contract extension.