Top 14:
Bourgoin celebrate survival with five new signings; SCA Albi
strengthen too
11 June 2009
Bourgoin have celebrated their Top 14 survival – which
had been under threat due to financial concerns – by
thanking their backers and announcing five new signings.
The
European Challenge Cup runners-up
have confirmed the capture of Clermont Auvergne’s Samoan
international Jon Senio as a replacement for the
departed Morgan Parra – who moved in the other direction.
The 27-year-old scrum-half has signed on for two years with
Bourgoin.
Club
president
René Fleming is also expected to announce the
capture of four further players over the coming days, with
Bourg-en-Bresse prop Sylvain Charlet, Argentine
fly-half Alberto Di Bernardo, Namibian centre
Peter Van Zyl and Fijian winger Albert Vuli Vuli
all set to sign.
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Top 14 Transfers - The story so far...
Another player on the move is Toulon winger
Marc Andreu, who has signed a two-year deal with
Castres. Andreu is the 11th player to leave
Toulon this summer following the arrival of new director or
rugby Philippe Saint-Andre.
“I am very happy to have found a club because
I had no new contract with Toulon,” Andreu told Mid
Olympique. “I was especially impressed by the coaches at
Castres, their discourse and their way of working,” he
added.
Montpellier president Thierry Perez has confirmed that
Fabien Galthié will not be joining the club’s
coaching set up – not yet anyway.
Perez,
speaking at a meeting with the club’s supporters, said he
planned to retain the coaching team which saw Montpellier
through to the end of the 2008/9 season following the
mid-season departure of Didier Nourault.
That
means Didier Mas, Jean-Philippe Lacoste, Warren Britz and
Pascal Mancuso will remain in place for the beginning of
next season, although Perez said Galthié may act as an
occasional freelance consultant. “I worked with Fabien
Galthié at the NRL and we will keep in contact,” he
confirmed. “I think the players will be able to show that
they are able to unite around the staff in place.”
The
theory remains, however, that should the current coaching
team fail to produce the goods then Galthié could well be
called in at some stage next season.
Montpellier finished last season in 10th
place, losing 11 of their 26 games – and five of their last
six - as a fractured squad failed to gel.
Twenty-two-year-old winger Antony Poujol has signed a
two-year contract with newly promoted SCA Albi.
Poujol played five games in ProD2 with Béziers last season.
He will be joined at Albi by a trio of signings from
relegated Dax, with winger Lucas Borges – also on a
two-year deal – hooker Cyriac Ponnau and fly-half
Michel Denetre all agreeing to switch. Albi have further
recruited RC Narbonne’s Thomas Fournils.
Dax,
meanwhile, have signed Australian prop Adam James ‘AJ’
Whalley from Western Force for next season. The
27-year-old will join the ProD2 side on a two-year contract.
Phil
Davies has become the latest English player to cross the
Channel (again) after agreeing a two-year deal with ProD2’s
Pau. The 28-year-old flanker has been with Harlequins
for the past two years, but knows about life in France after
spending three seasons with Top 14’s Bayonne (between
2004/5-2006/7).
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