Top 14:
Toulon sign Welsh
international Robinson, while van Niekerk extends stay
05 March 2009
Revitalised Toulon capped a good week with confirmation they
have completed the signing of Cardiff Blues’ international
centre Jamie Robinson.
In the
last seven days the long-time Top 14 strugglers have lifted
themselves out of the relegation zone with their first away
win of the season (at
Bourgoin); re-signed their club captain Joe van
Niekerk on a new three-year deal; and have now captured
Robinson, 28, for next season.
The
23-times capped Welsh international is currently in a
benefit season with Cardiff after more than a decade of
loyal service to his hometown club, and admitted his choice
to leave had been “the most difficult decision I’ve had to
make in my life so far”.
Robinson
told the Cardiff Blues website: “I grew up in Cardiff,
played for both Cardiff Schools Rugby and Cardiff Youth,
graduated from the University of Glamorgan and have never
experienced club rugby outside Cardiff.
“I feel
at this point in my career that I would benefit from a new
challenge and also a complete change of lifestyle, and I
feel moving away from Wales that Toulon can certainly offer
me this.
“The
Cardiff Blues is a great region and one that is really
moving forward, both on and off the field, and choosing to
leave now has been a huge decision for me.”
Cardiff’s director or rugby Dai Young said he was “naturally
saddened” to see Robinson depart.
“I
understand his desire to experience another and very
different rugby culture, and on behalf of us all I wish him
well with his time with his new club in France,” added
Young.
Robinson
opted to leave Cardiff – and join Philippe Saint-Andre at
Toulon – after his first-team opportunities became limited
by the club’s centre partnership of fellow Welsh
internationals Tom Shanklin and Jamie Roberts.
Robinson’s brother Nick, a fly-half, remains at Cardiff for
the time being, although is also rumoured to be a summer
transfer target – possibly for Saint-Andre’s former club the
Sale Sharks.
Meanwhile, Saint-Andre has told French
newspaper La Provence that Sale’s Sebastien Chabal
will make a decision about which French he signs for after
the current Six Nations tournament.
Toulon
are definitely interested in signing the iconic French
international, although it seems increasingly likely that
ambitious Paris club Racing Metro 92 will capture his
signature – providing the runaway Pro D2 leaders secure
promotion to Top 14.
Montauban’s new coaching regime of Marc Raynaud and
Sebastien Calvet have confirmed that Rowan Frost, Matthew
Clarkin and Petre Mitu have all signed new deals to keep
them at the club for at least two more years.
Another
player extending his stay in Top 14 is Clermont Auvergne’s
prolific winger Napolioni Nalaga – currently the
division’s leading try-scorer. Nalaga, who will miss this
weekend’s trip to Biarritz because he is with Fiji’s
national side at the Rugby Sevens World Cup, has put pen to
paper on a one-year extension, which will now keep him at
Les Jaunards until June 2012.
Elsewhere, the thorny question of a salary cap remains on
the agenda for Pierre-Yves Revol, the president of the
Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
Revol is
overseeing a steering committee that is currently reviewing
various aspects of Top 14 – one of which is the possible
introduction of a salary cap.
A
working group headed up by LNR vice-president Patrick Wolff
is now looking at the salary cap systems employed in
England’s Guinness Premiership and also in various American
sports to see if it would be a viable option to implement in
Top 14.
Revol,
the former Castres president, is also keep to shake-up the
end of season play-offs, with the possible introduction of
an extra two games. He is keen for the teams finishing first
and second in the league to be handed home semi-finals, with
the remaining two slots being fought out by the teams
finishing between third and sixth.
The
steering group’s next meeting will be held on April 2.
Other
items on the group’s agenda included setting the dates for
the 2009/10 season – starting on August 15 and ending on May
29 – and also prohibiting the announcement of future player
transfers during next season until January 31st
at the earliest. Clubs that break this new rule would be
open to heavy fines.
These
last two items should be ratified at the steering group’s
next meeting, on April 2.
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