Top 14: Dupuy to sign for Stade Francais; Cardiff's Robinson relishes Toulon adventure

04 May 2009

Want-away scrum-half Julien Dupuy is set to leave Leicester Tigers for Stade Francais, according to reports in France.

The highly rated former Biarritz player helped the Tigers to a penalty shoot-out victory over Cardiff Blues in Sunday’s dramatic Heineken Cup semi-final, but he is still set to depart for “personal reasons”.

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Leicester head coach Richard Cockerill has been trying to persuade Dupuy to stay and honour his contract – even starting him ahead of British Lion Harry Ellis in Cardiff – but the Frenchman appears determined to return home.

Now Cockerill, who previously labelled Dupuy’s possible departure as “a non-starter”, looks set to lose a player who has been key to Leicester’s success so far this season.

The English club are through to the final of the Heineken Cup – against Leinster – and are also in the semi-finals of the Guinness Premiership play-offs.

Dupuy’s form has been integral to that success but while he admitted that life on the pitch has been great, it is his personal life away from rugby that is apparently driving him to find the exit.

“I want to return to France,” he confirmed last week. “This is not about rugby. It is going well on that front here, but there is more than this in life,” he added.

The 25-year-old has been attracting rave reviews of late and could be in line for a call-up to Marc Lièvremont's national squad for the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia, especially with Castres’ Sebastien Tillous-Borde out injured.

His goal-kicking ability – amply demonstrated again at Cardiff – would make him an attractive alternative to Bourgoin’s Morgan Parra, the current incumbent.

Dupuy has made no secret of his desire to leave, but as yet has remained coy about which club he would join. Perpignan and Stade Francais are widely thought to be the favourites for his signature, although Dupuy questioned why he was constantly being linked with the Paris giants before the weekend.

But according to Monday’s Midi Olympique he will confirm a three-year deal with Stade Francais this week, where he will link up with fellow departing Tiger Benjamin Kayser.

The French hooker has already confirmed he will join Stade and said he would welcome the addition of Dupuy. “Julien is a super player and he is my friend,” Kayser told rugby365.

“I would love it if he comes, of course, but that doesn’t concern me. We are so involved and focused on the super matches that are coming our way that we are not speaking about it,” he added.

One France-bound player happy to talk out, though, was Cardiff’s Jamie Robinson.

The 23-times capped Welsh international is leaving his hometown club for Toulon in the summer, and said he couldn’t wait to get started.

“Philippe Saint-Andre really sold his vision of Toulon to me,” said the 29-year-old. “I wouldn’t have gone to just any French club. Toulon is a real rugby town. They get 10,000 crowds and they haven’t done that well this season. But they are a really ambitious club, as you can see by some of their signings and some of the players they have been linked to.”

That last sentence inevitably referred to England fly-half Johnny Wilkinson, and Robinson said he was relishing the opportunity to play with and against such established stars.

“It’s just a really exciting new challenge for me. The French championship is one of the most exciting in the world, but also one of the toughest and most demanding,” he added.

And settling in shouldn’t be a problem as Robinson speaks fluent French. “Some guys have hated it and returned home after only a few months, but they [Stephen Jones and Gareth Thomas] really embraced the whole change – the different culture, the language and the food – and I have always loved France. I don’t think I would have gone anywhere else. It had to be something completely different and a real change,” said Robinson.

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