News: Heineken hero Dupuy told to stay at Leicester; Buoyant Bourgoin relish victory

Heineken Cup hero Julien Dupuy has been told he will not be allowed to leave the Leicester Tigers in the summer, despite head coach Richard Cockerill admitting that is the player’s preference.

Dupuy, who scored the decisive late try as Leicester beat Bath Rugby 20-15 in Saturday’s quarter-final, had previously been reported in the French press confirming his imminent return to Top 14.

He didn’t say which club he was going to join, but did admit that it was one of the four currently contesting for the Top 14 play-off places – Stade Toulousain, Perpignan, Clermont Auvergne or Stade Francais.

But Cockerill is clearly unwilling to see one of his star players depart, especially as Dupuy still has a year to run on his contract.

“There have been a few approaches but it is a non-starter because we are a big club. Why would you let a player of his quality leave? You don’t. He is playing really well for us and we will do everything to keep him here,” said Cockerill.

“Julien is happy with the rugby here. You don’t get guys playing like that if they are sulking. It is just that he has family and private issues. His girlfriend is back in France and, if all things were equal, he would like to go back there,” Cockerill told the Leicester Mercury.

“But we have had some very amicable conversations and we will make it as easy as possible for him to come and go – but he will be here next year,” stressed the Leicester head coach.

He believes Dupuy is currently one of the best scrum-halves in world rugby and said he had no intentions of letting such a talent leave the club.

“Dupuy has got that instinct in the way he plays around the breakdown,” said Cockerill. “You can’t coach that. Matt O’Connor [Leicester’s backs coach] has worked with George Gregan and several very good scrum-halves in world rugby and he rates Dupuy as the best bar none in the way he plays around the breakdown – running, dummying and playing defences. Better than Gregan is a pretty strong compliment.”

Dupuy’s performance against Bath was a rare ray of sunshine for French rugby at the weekend amid the fallout from Stade Toulousain crashing out of the Heineken Cup (to Cardiff) and Brive tumbling in the European Challenge Cup (to Worcester Warriors).

“Dupuy’s bit of magic at the end was as good as it gets,” said Cockerill. “Julien put some pace on the game against some tired defenders. He is one of the best players in the world at what he does. Even when he made the break he still had some work to do.”

The 25-year-old spent six years with Biarritz before joining Leicester this season.

Top 14 strugglers Bourgoin were the only other French victors over the Easter weekend, pulling off a remarkable 32-30 away win at ECC top seeds London Irish.

The victory, which came on the back of successive league wins against Montpellier and Dax, has now set up Bourgoin for a previously unthinkable shot at qualifying for next season’s Heineken Cup. They will have home advantage when they entertain Worcester Warriors in the semi-final, with a winner-takes-all final against either Northampton Saints or Saracens should they progress through.

It is a prospect that seemed highly unlikely while Bourgoin were staring relegation in the face just three weeks ago, but the wins against Montpellier and Dax have transformed their survival prospects – and the mood within the camp.

The weekend win was especially sweet for departing scrum-half Morgan Parra, who is set to leave his hometown club for Clermont Auvergne in the summer.

The French international dedicated the victory to Bourgoin’s suffering supporters. “We wanted to achieve this for us, saving our season, but also to give a little smile to our fans,” he said after their surprise win. “This is the best gift we can offer our supporters during this difficult season,” he added.

Beaten quarter-finalists Brive, meanwhile, must pick themselves up following two major defeats as they seek to secure their end-of-season goal of Heineken Cup qualification.

A 42-10 home defeat by Stade Toulousain ended their seven-match unbeaten run in the league (on April 4^th) while last weekend’s 29-18 reverse in Worcester terminated their hopes of winning silverware this season.

By conceding nine tries in the two games a defence that had seemed watertight – just nine tries against in their previous 17 games - showed worrying signs of collapse.

Les Corrèziens are still fifth in Top 14 – three points ahead of Bayonne - but face a huge task on Saturday when they travel to fourth-placed Clermont Auvergne – currently the league’s highest scorers.

Last year’s runners-up have been in bombastic form of late, especially at the Stade Marcel Michelin, where they have amassed 176 points in their last four games. Only Montauban have won in Clermont this season, and Les Jaunards certainly won’t lack confidence after beating Stade Francais in Paris for the first time in 98 years in their last game.

The fallout from Stade Toulousain’s Cardiff defeat was continuing this week with confirmation that English clubs will have seven representatives in next year’s Heineken Cup – compared to France’s six – while coach Guy Noves has granted a week off to three of his international stars: Maxime Medard, Yannick Jauzion and Cedric Heymans. All three will miss the weekend game against Toulon at Marseille’s Velodrome arena, which has now been confirmed as a 57,000 sell out.

One piece of good news for the defending champions, however, is that club captain Jean Bouilhou has agreed a contract extension to 2013 this week.

Elsewhere, Montpellier have confirmed that 21-year-old Argentine prop Juan Figallo will join them in the summer. The highly rated youngster, who currently plays for Salata Jockey Club in Argentina, has signed a two-year contract with the Top 14 side.

Over in Dax the ever-blackening mood continues to darken at the seemingly doomed club. ProD2 beckons after a run of 10 successive league defeats, and now coach Thomas Lièvremont has been handed a 20-day touchline ban for “impropriety against a referee” following the club’s 16-13 reverse against Perpignan on March 28.

Finally, Toulon’s quest to sign Jonny Wilkinson may be nearing completion with news that Newcastle Falcons – the England fly-half’s present club – are lining up Leicester’s Derrick Hougaard as a possible replacement.