Wilkinson: Staying in England? Photo: Michael Paler

Sale Sharks’ French prop Lionel Faure has signed a two-year contract with ASM Clermont Auvergne.

Faure, 31, becomes the latest French player to return to his homeland to compete in next season’s Top 14 after a spell in England’s Guinness Premiership. Club colleague Sebastien Chabal has confirmed he will be crossing Le Channel in the summer (possibly for Racing Metro 92), together with Benjamin Kayser (Leicester Tigers to Stade Francais) and Sebastien Bruno (Sale Sharks to Toulon).

Sale’s French director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre is also leaving England to join Toulon.

Faure joined Sale from Pau in 2005 and won the Guinness Premiership title at Twickenham with the Manchester team in 2006.

“Lionel wishes to return to France for personal reasons, which we fully understand,” said Sale’s CEO James Jennings.

“During his time at Sale Sharks Lionel has made a tremendous contribution an he will be missed by players and fans alike. We wish him well on his return to French rugby and thank him for his contribution over the past four years.”

Faure told the Clermont website: “ I lived through some great moments at Sale, the club which allowed me to become the player I am today.”

Whether Racing Metro target Jonny Wilkinson joins the exodus remains to be seen, with Newcastle Falcons director of rugby Steve Bates hopeful his star player will stay.

“At the moment we are very optimistic about that. He is under contract for next season and, as far as I’m concerned, that’s what we’re expecting happen,” said Bates.

Wilkinson, leading points scorer in international rugby, is said to be weighing up an offer in excess of £1m to join the ambition Paris side, currently run-away leaders of Pro D2.

Meanwhile, the Barbarians’ selection of Sonny Bill Williams to play against Australia has stirred a hornet’s nest of vitriol Down Under.

The former NRL star controversially walked out on his contract with the Bulldogs to join Toulon at the beginning of the season, but his planned return to Sydney in the summer appears to have upset the locals – or the more vocal of them anyway.

The groundbreaking match will be the first on Australian soil by the Barbarians, and it seems that Williams’ selection has been just the ticket to ensure maximum exposure for the clash.

“I’m sure many people will look forward to seeing how his career in rugby has developed when he arrives with a Barbarians team that will be world-class,” said John O’Neill, the boss of Australian Rugby Union (ARU).

However, former rugby league stars Tom Raudonikis and Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach have both spoken out against Williams’ selection.

“It’s an absolute disgrace,” said Raudonikis. “He shouldn’t even be allowed back in the country. They should send him straight back to New Zealand,” he said in Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

He further called in fans to boycott the match and went on: “I just don’t rate Williams as a person. I would hate to be alongside this bloke in the trenches.”

Roach was similarly unimpressed: “Only his family will go to the match – he has duded everyone else.”

It wasn’t all negative though, with Wallaby Lote Tuqiri saying: “It’s great that he has the chance to come back and play in Australia. I applaud him and applaud the organisers for getting him. He will certainly draw some attention to the occasion.”

That he most certainly will, although Williams himself tried to play down the controversy.

“It’s not something I’m going to be worried about. I’m a rugby player now and my focus is going to be on playing rugby,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“This is a big game for me so I’m not going to let myself be distracted by other issues. The Wallabies are one of the best rugby teams in the world and I want to put in a good performance against them.”

O’Neill, meanwhile, freed himself from under the deluge of media interest to proclaim – straight-faced I am assured – that Williams’ inclusion was “not a publicity stunt”.

The Barbarians full team remains unclear, although Williams’ Toulon colleague Jerry Collins is being tipped for inclusion too.