Present at Christmas? Springbok star Francois Steyn © Steve Haag Back Page Sport.Com

Scottish international Andrew Henderson has agreed to join Top 14 club Montauban next season on a three-year deal.

The 29-year-old centre, who boasts more than 50 Scotland caps, said it was the perfect time to move to France after nearly a decade with Glasgow.

“My Glasgow contract is up at the end of the season and I have always wanted the challenge of playing somewhere else some time in my career, so last summer I thought if things didn’t go my way this season I’d think about trying that now,” said Henderson.

The emergence of young Scots such as Graeme Morrison, Max Evans, Nick de Luca and Ben Cairns has limited Henderson’s impact this season at both club and international level, and the veteran centre said he wanted to play in France while still in good shape. He also hoped that a change of environment could help him win an international recall.

“If I’m going to leave I don’t want to go when I’m at the very end. I want to go when I still have some good rugby in me and can make a good impression there, and my hope is that a change of club and coaching, and a different lifestyle, might give me what I need to get back to my best and back into the Scotland team,” he explained.

Fellow Scottish international such as Nathan Hines (Perpignan) and Simon Taylor (Stade Francais) are already enjoying profitable club careers in France, although scrum-half Chris Cusiter is returning from Perpignan to Glasgow in the summer.

Lucrative attempts to lure the Evans brothers to Top 14 recently failed when the siblings turned down “silly money” to stay in Scotland, but the French eye for Scottish talent clearly remains undimmed.

Another overseas signing apparently nearing fruition is Racing Metro’s prolonged tailing of South African Francois Steyn.

According to Midi Olympique the 22-year-old fly-half has agreed to join Pro D2’s runaway leaders in December, following the completion of the Springboks’ autumn tour.

Racing are currently 14 points clear at the top of Pro D2 and are virtually guaranteed automatic promotion to Top 14 in the summer.

Castres' Australian centre Steve Kefu is bidding adieu to Top 14, however, following confirmation today that he is one of three new signings made by London Wasps - who have previously lost Riki Flutey, Tom Palmer and James Haskell in the other direction.

Kefu, 29, has spent the last three seasons with Castres after joining from Queensland Reds, in Australia. The six-times capped Wallaby joins fellow new recruits Dan Ward-Smith (from Bristol) and Tom Varndell (from Leicester Tigers).

Elsewhere, Montpellier’s Johan Wasserman, 31, has agreed a two-year contract extension, while Biarritz’s French flanker Pelo Som has signed for Pro D2 side La Rochelle.

On the injury front another bout of the cursed knee ligament ruptures has terminated the season for Racing centre Greg Goosen and Pau scrum-half Sebastien Descons.

Better news, however, for Bayonne’s Craig Gower, with the former rugby league star back in training and on course for Saturday’s match against Brive after sustaining a shoulder injury in the weekend’s French Barbarians versus the President’s XV in Toulouse – won by the President’s XV in a nine-try exhibition of running rugby.

On the international front the French coaching team of Emile N’Tamack, Didier Retiere, Jean-Philippe Hager and Julien Piscionne has confirmed it will travel to the USA for on a fact-finding mission at the end of April. They are due to visit the NBA franchise Portland Trail Blazers in Oregon; the Nike sports centre and the University of Berkeley (California) to look at “all areas of physical preparation and management”.

The selection process for the summer tours to New Zealand and Romania has also been unveiled, with a committee set to meet on May 18 to draw up an initial list of 60-70 players, before whittling that down to 30 at a second meeting on May 31.

The latter meeting falls after the Top 14 semi-finals, and the national selectors have confirmed the tour squad for New Zealand will leave in two stages – with the first group departing on June 2^nd (after the semi-finals) and the second on June 7^th (after the final).

Les Bleus are due to play two Tests against the All Blacks (in Dunedin on June 13 and Wellington on June 20) before flying on for a one-off Test against Australia (in Sydney on June 27).

The French A team will tour Romania in June, with two ‘internationals’ planned.