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Iain Balshaw: Two-year
deal with Top 14's Biarritz
Photo: Michael Paler |
England's
World Cup winning full-back Iain Balshaw has signed a two-year deal with Top
14 outfit Biarritz -
as predicted here last Monday.
The 30-year-old
Gloucester star, capped 35 times by England, was earlier this season linked with a
move to ProD2 leaders Racing Metro ’92, but
that the deal fell through despite personal terms being agreed because the
Paris club refused to pay a transfer fee.
Biarritz, it would seem, had no such qualms and have now landed the former British Lions
player for two years, with the option of a third. The signing caps a great
weekend for Biarritz after their
19-12
home win against Toulon on Saturday lifted them up to fifth, and
the final guaranteed Heineken Cup qualifying slot.
They also confirmed they
had signed Clermont Auvergne winger Fabien Alexandre as they continue to
strengthen their squad for a European and domestic assault next season.
Balshaw's capture is the
latest in a growing list of British stars heading across the Channel, and he
will join fellow English internationals Magnus Lund (already there)
and Leicester's Erinle Ayoola (committed to a summer move).
Earlier last week
Bristol duo
Shaun Perry and captain Joe El Abd confirmed their
summer exits to France, with England scrum-half Perry (30) set to
join Brive and flanker El Abd (29) heading down south to ply his trade with Toulon.
Both
departures had been widely expected following Bristol's relegation from the
Guinness Premiership, but were a further
blow to the RFU as it seeks to stem what is now becoming a major
player-drain across the Channel.
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Their
signings follow hot on the heels of
Newcastle duo Jamie Noon and Tom May confirming
this week that they too would be playing in Top 14 next season.
May will
link up with El Abd at Toulon under the guidance of incoming director of
rugby Philippe Saint-André,
while Noon - like Perry - is heading for Brive.
It is
significant that Brive and Toulon are heading the pillage of British stars,
with the former having an English CEO (Simon Gillham) and the latter a head
coach (Saint-André)
heading their way after years spent with Gloucester and Sale Sharks.
Toulon,
who are also expected to confirm the signing of Newcastle an
England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson in the coming days, have
already confirmed a raft of British based signings for next season.
In
addition to May an El Abd, they have recruited Cardiff's Jamie Robinson,
Leinster's Felipe Contepomi and Saracens' Kris Chesney, as
well as Sale's French star Sébastien
Bruno. They have further signed the Clermont pair of Pierre Mignoni an
Laurent Emmanuelli.
Brive -
who already have the likes of Steve Thompson, Andy Goode, Damien Browne,
Alex Popham, Ben Johnstone, Liam Davies and Barry Davies on their books -
have strengthened their squad with the capture of England centres Riki
Flutey an Noon. They have also been linked with Scottish
international wing Sean Lamont.
But it's not just Brive and Toulon that are
keen on getting their mits on British talent. Stade Francais have hooked
James Haskell and Tom Palmer, while Clermont
Auvergne have signed veteran Scottish international Jason White, in
addition to Sale's French international Lionel Faure.
Former England internationals
Ollie Smith and Perry Freshwater remain at Montpellier and
Perpignan respectively, while the Catalans also have two Scots currently on their
books – Nathan Hines and Chris Cusiter, although the latter is returning to
Glasgow at the end of the season.
The only English player returning from
France to England at present is Brive’s Ben Cohen, but even he admitted that
his decision was prompted by personal rather than professional reasons.
This wave of English players fleeing
the Guinness Premiership in preference for Top 14 recently prompted the RFU
warn players they could harm their international prospects by playing in
France.
However, it was widely viewed that the
RFU’s stance – it wrote to all of the players currently in its Elite Player
Squad (EPS) – was no more than window dressing in an attempt to save face
after agreeing a multi-million pound deal with Guinness Premiership clubs.
The essence of that agreement was that
the clubs would release members of the EPS for England training squads,
match preparation and various monitoring programmes, as well as limiting the
number of games they would play in a season. The deal is binding for
Premiership clubs, but not so for clubs based in France.
That is seriously worrying the head
honchos at the RFU, who fear they may have effectively thrown good money –
and bundles of it – down the drain if the player exodus to France continues.
Haskell’s departure is the one that
worries them most because he is only 24, whereas most of the other signings
have been players either in their late 20s or early 30s. But Haskell has
been at pains recently to confirm that Stade Francais will facilitate all of
his England commitments, while Brive's Gillham said his club would
always do likewise with its England internationals.
And it’s not just the British talent
that is leaking away from the Guinness Premiership, with high-profile French
internationals such as Sebastien Chabal and Benjamin Kayser
also confirmed as heading back across the Channel this summer, while
Julian Dupuy’s future at Leicester remains uncertain.
