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Snared by the Ospreys:
Jerry Collins is leaving Toulon
Photo: Michael Paler |
Toulon back row star
Jerry Collins has agreed a two-year deal to join the Ospreys next season.
The former All Black
captain, capped 48 times, has departed the French club less than 48 hours
after they secured their Top 14 status with
a 22-12 away
win at Dax on Friday night.
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Top 14 Transfers
The
28-year-old leaves after just one season in France, and has
been welcomed by the Ospreys’ elite performance director
Andrew Hore.
“Jerry Collins is a
proven world-class performer who brings with him both a real hard edge and
‘go-forward’ ability, as well as an uncompromising attitude on and off the
field,” said Hore.
The ex-Hurricanes Super
14 star is the first major signing to join the Magners League side since
Scott Johnson was confirmed as their new director of coaching.
Collins’ manager Tim
Castle said his client was “excited about the new challenge of playing for
the Ospreys and also the opportunity to play in the Heineken Cup” –
something he would not have got at Toulon for at least another season.
Toulon’s Friday night
win is expected to pave the way for
Jonny
Wilkinson’s transfer from Newcastle Falcons, but club president
Mourad Boudjellal was more concerned with the result that possible signings
after the match.
The season-long struggle
for survival has been an emotional roller coaster, but Boudjellal has been
strangely subdued of late. Prior to the crucial game he admitted Toulon were
travelling to Dax “with great humility”, and after the win he was also
careful not to overdo his own celebrations.
“It’s a bit
complicated,” he admitted afterwards. “I thought I would explode with joy
but my joy is mixed with Dax’s pain,” he explained after the result had
effectively condemned their opponents to relegation. “I would have preferred
that we secured our safety against a club which also remains in Top 14,” he
added.
Another player on the move, according to the French press, is
Stade Francais scrum-half Alexandre Albouy, who is set to join
Castres. Albouy’s departure could be a further indicator that the Paris
giants are lining up Leicester’s highly rated French scrum-half Julien
Dupuy,
who has acknowledged contact with several Top 14 sides
as he tries to manufacture a move back home.
Stade Francais re-signed
former Argentina scrum half Agustin Pichot earlier this season, and with
Dupuy perhaps poised to arrive, it could be that Albouy saw his potential
playing-time disappear.
The 30-year-old, who has
one France cap, rejoins the team he left for Stade Francais in 2006/07.
Finally, the
Fédération Francais de Rugby (FFR) has confirmed that ‘Les Bleus’ will
take on the Springboks in Toulouse on November 14, after a prior World Cup
football booking prevented them playing the game at the Stade de France.
