Month: September 2024

French attacker Alassane Pléa is set to travel to Germany tomorrow to complete a move to Bundesliga side Gladbach, according to our colleagues at Nice-Matin.

The 25-year-old is scheduled to move for a €23m including bonuses deal, which would see Lyon receive €4m as part of their 20% sell-on clause.

Pléa is set to sign a 4-year deal with Gladbach.

OGC Nice have decided to respect the player’s wishes in joining the Bundesliga side, despite superior offers from West Ham and Newcastle.

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Flanker Michael Hooper will miss Australia’s final Autumn Nations Series clash against Wales after displaying concussion symptoms following the game with Ireland.

The back-row becomes the seventh Australian player to be forced home after that encounter in Dublin.

Andrew Kellaway, Hunter Paisami, Dave Porecki, Taniela Tupou, Rob Valetini and Nic White had already been ruled out prior to Hooper suffering a head injury.

Down to the bare bones

It leaves the Wallabies with just 25 players for this weekend’s game at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, while there are no spare backs available.

Australia have endured a wretched season and go into the final match of the year with just one victory on their northern hemisphere tour so far.

The gruelling five-match series started well enough with a narrow win over Scotland, but they have since suffered tough losses to France, Italy and Ireland.

They were very much in all those contests but came out on the wrong end of the scoreline.

Dave Rennie’s men are desperate to end a difficult campaign with a win, especially as they seek to ease the pressure on the head coach.

Rennie went into the tour with just a 38 per cent win record as the Wallabies’ boss and that has only decreased since then.

The match with Wales offers a chance of a certain amount of redemption, however, with Wayne Pivac’s charges struggling even more than their Aussie counterparts.

The Welsh succumbed to Georgia last weekend in one of the sport’s biggest shocks and have dropped to ninth in the world rankings.

Jordan Petaia is one of those who will be involved in Australia’s squad for Saturday’s clash in Cardiff.

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Own injury troubles

Petaia has himself endured an injury-troubled time of it, but the 22-year-old has, for arguably the first time in his career, managed to string a succession of games together in 2022.

“Probably a bit of a roller-coaster,” the versatile back said.

“A bit like Jed, it’s probably the longest stretch of footy I’ve had this year in terms of health-wise, so it’s positive to look at it from that perspective.

“There’s been it’s been a lot of learnings, a lot of time spent probably rehabbing as well, but it’s just good to have a bit more footy this year.

“If you are on all the time, it can be draining so making sure you are taking the time to switch off is good for the final legs of the tour.”

Marseille have announced the departure of Brazilian defender Matheus “Dória” Macedo for Mexican club Santos Laguna.

The 23-year-old leaves the Stade Vélodrome after originally joining the club in 2014- following a promising period playing for Brazilian side Botafogo – whereupon shortly after signing for the then-Marseille coach Marcelo Bielsa, was swiftly assigned to the reserve side, playing in the French fourth tier throughout 2014/15.

Macedo made just 33 appearances in all competitions for Marseille, in a period that included loan spells to São Paulo and Granada.

The defender has signed a 4-year contract with his new club in Mexico.

H.W.

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La Rochelle are desperate to retain the services of head coach Ronan O’Gara with the former Ireland representative linked to an international job following the Rugby World Cup.

The 45-year-old, who worked at Racing 92 and the Crusaders before moving to the Stade Marcel-Deflandre, is contracted to the Top 14 club until 2024.

Several roles are set to be vacated after the global tournament and O’Gara has reportedly been put on the England shortlist to replace Eddie Jones.

He guided La Rochelle to the Champions Cup title last season, while they reside in second place in the league table after 11 games of the current campaign.

Bad news

Asked whether he hopes O’Gara stays, wing Jules Favre said: “Yes, for sure, because he has given us a lot. He has made the club grow so for sure it would be bad news for us.

“He is a great coach. He started with Racing in France, with the defence, and he went to New Zealand after that to improve himself as a forwards coach. Now he is in his prime.”

Favre would bear no ill will towards O’Gara should he depart for pastures new, even if it would deprive La Rochelle of an influential figure.

“For him it is good news because he does his best to have an international team. It’s like me as a player: I really want to play for the French team and perform and he wants to train the best players,” he said.

There is an aspect O’Gara will have to temper if and when he becomes an international coach and that is his approach towards match officials.

The former Ireland fly-half is currently serving his fourth ban in a year following actions which were “harming the best interests of rugby”.

He is sitting out 10 La Rochelle matches, which includes their four Champions Cup group games, but Favre insists that it will not affect the team.

“No. During the week it is the same thing because he is allowed to be with us. The ban is just for the game. He gives us all the information to our staff for the game,” he said.

“He is there and he talks to us a little bit. On the game day the players have to take the lead and we have the players to do this.”

Special Champions Cup atmosphere

As the defending European champions, there will be a bit more attention on both La Rochelle and O’Gara when they begin their campaign against Northampton Saints on December 10.

French clubs are sometimes accused of failing to take the Champions Cup seriously but that is not the case at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre, especially with a former Munsterman in charge.

“When we have a Champions Cup week it is a different atmosphere at training, video every time. He talks about his experience, where he lived, and he says it will be f***ing enormous! That’s his words,” Favre added.

“There are a lot of good teams this year, like all years, but especially when we are the champions and we will have to defend it. We have a good group with Ulster and Northampton. It will be hard but we will do our best to do this.

“We realised that the Champions Cup title can unite all the people, the players and the staff. Everybody. It was a huge feeling and in the stadium in Marseille we had all the crowd in the Stade Rochelais jersey, like a yellow wall.

“When they gave us the trophy it was a really good moment.

“We want to show everybody that it was not luck last year. It will be good if we can do three finals in a row.”

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L’Équipe report that Bundesliga side Wolfsburg have agreed a deal with Montpellier to sign 25-year-old left-back Jérôme Roussillon.

The fee is currently undisclosed, but the player is expected to sign a contract until 2022 with the Bundesliga side.

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Exeter Chiefs have announced that director of rugby Rob Baxter has agreed a new long-term contract with the club.

He is joined by Ali Hepher, Ricky Pellow and Rob Hunter in extending their deals with the Devonians.

Baxter, Hepher and Pellow all joined the club’s coaching staff in 2009 and led them to promotion to the Premiership in 2010.

Historic double in 2020

They, alongside Hunter who signed in 2013, then guided the Chiefs to their first top-flight league title in 2017 before the double followed in 2020 as they won both the Premiership and Champions Cup.

Although Exeter have struggled in recent times, the club has once again placed their trust in their coaching staff.

It means that Baxter, who has long been thought of as a potential England coach, will not take up a position with the national team following Eddie Jones’ sacking.

Exeter chief executive Tony Rowe said: “I am delighted that we have been able to secure the futures of four of our core coaches.

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“As a collective, they have been instrumental in the rise of the club in recent seasons, helping bringing a genuine level of on-field success.

“Having spoken with all of them, I know they share the same vision as myself of driving the club on to even greater things in the coming years.”

Baxter added: “Over the years, we have achieved a lot together, but I think I speak for all of us when I say we are all hungry to achieve more.

“Believe it or not, we take it pretty personally when the team don’t perform like we should, and that is the motivating factor for all of us.”

Baxter did comment on the England coaching situation, stating that he was “a little surprised” by Jones’ departure.

Grumblings and rumblings

“I kind of thought with the timing getting towards this second half of the season, through the Six Nations and building towards the World Cup, I was a little surprised the decision got made now,” he told reporters.

“There were grumblings and rumblings, but there are always are when England don’t win.

“But I will admit I was surprised the decision got made now.

“I have just signed a contract extension with Exeter, so my intention is to stay here.

“If you are asking have I applied for the England job? No. If you are asking me am I one of the guys under consideration? No, I am not.

“I have got a close affiliation to the club, my family has got a close affiliation to the club.

“It works me for me family-wise, and I am very proud of what we have achieved here.”

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RMC report that previously Newcastle United target and Lyon attacker Myziane Maolida is in advanced negotiations to sign for OGC Nice.

Although L’Équipe suggested that it would be a loan, it appears that Les Aiglons are pushing for a permanent deal.

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Newly appointed England head coach Steve Borthwick insists that every game matters, adding that he will not prioritise the World Cup over the upcoming Six Nations.

Borthwick was announced as Eddie Jones’ successor on Monday, and his first game in charge will be the Calcutta Cup match against Scotland on 4 February.

Every game matters

Borthwick left Premiership champions Leicester Tigers to sign a five-year deal with the Rugby Football Union, effectively taking him through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

The 43-year-old has little time to settle in, with England’s Six Nations campaign fast approaching and the World Cup kicking off next September.

However, he has revealed that he will not use the Six Nations to experiment. His predecessor was heavily criticised for focusing too much on the tournament in France, and Borthwick is adamant that every game matters.

“Every game matters. Every single game you play for England matters. The one that’s in my mind is at the start of that Six Nations,” he said.

“We will be using every minute we have to prepare this team as well as we can for the first game of that Six Nations in 47 days’ time. Then when we’ve played that game, we’ll focus on the next one, then the one after that and the one after that. We want to just keep getting better.

“We know the World Cup is not far away, but the focus is on the start of the Six Nations.”

England players hurting.

England managed five wins from 12 Tests in 2022, their worst year since 2008, which led to Jones’ sacking. Borthwick knows the players will be hurting but is confident they will get back on track with the new boss zoning in on the improvement needed in the set-pieces.

“To win Tier One Tests, you’ve got to have a quality set-piece and that’s certainly on the priority list,” he said.

“If you look at the Autumn Series, I don’t think England are ranked in the top three in any one particular facet of the game, so there are plenty of things to work on and get right.

“When I was a player, when the team was coached by Clive Woodward, in every single meeting there were posters on the wall – I was 20 to 21 – and the poster that I always referred to was one that said ‘brilliant basics’. You have to be brilliant at the basics.

“Clearly, there are a large number of England players at Leicester, and I have been in touch with players that I have known for a long, long time, and I know how much they are hurting because they care, they really, really care, they want to do well.”

Coaching his way

Borthwick worked as Jones’ assistant coach in Japan and England before leaving the Red Rose set up in 2020 to head up Leicester. 

With the relationship built between the pair over the years, the new boss confirmed that he had spoken with his predecessor during the fortnight between Jones’ dismissal and Borthwick’s arrival but added that he would bring his own approach to the role.

“I’ll coach this team my way,” said former Bath and Saracens lock Borthwick, who won 57 caps for England.

“I promise you I’ll lead in a real authentic way. I love winning.

“The other thing I really love about coaching and the way I lead is I really like helping people; I really care for the people I coach.

“The players I’ve coached at Leicester in the last two years I really care about. I take a huge amount of joy in their happiness.

“If I can help people experience highs like that, it brings me a lot of joy.”

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Le Parisien report that French free agent and attacking midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa will join a new club this week.

HBA continues to take legal action against PSG, who are refusing to pay his morality clause bonus, under the auspices of the fact that the former Nice man missed the trip to Qatar in December 2017.

Ben Arfa insists that he did not turn up because of a virus, which medical certificates validate. PSG argue that the documents are incomplete and insufficient and suspect that HBA made up this illness so as to not have to visit the country where the owners of the club live.

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The amount in question, €25k, is symbolic, but Ben Arfa wants to make a point.

With that case ongoing, Ben Arfa is intent on finding a new club. He currently has 4 offers on the table: from Rennes & Nice in France and Benfica and Sporting Portugal in Portugal.

Benfica are playing the 2nd leg of their Champions’ League qualified against PAOK FC on Wednesday, having drawn 1-1 in the home encounter, and Ben Arfa wants to wait to see the outcome of that before making a definitive decision.

Ben Arfa’s history with Nice is well-known, and Les Aiglons remain in pole position to land the 31-year-old, despite a strong summer-long charm offensive led by President Olivier Letang and manager Sabri Lamouchi for Rennes.

20-year-old left-back Romain Perraud has today joined side Paris FC after an agreement was found between the Ligue 2 side and his parent club, OGC Nice. Nice has been Perraud’s home since 2014 when the Frenchman joined Les Aiglons’ academy as a 16-year-old.

Perraud saw limited game time at the Allianz Riviera last season, appearing in just three matches, one in Ligue 1 and two in the Europa League. While the left-back may be struggling to break into the first team, he has gained ample experience with the reserve squad in the lower levels of French football. Since making his debut for Nice II in 2015 Perraud has gone on to make 65 appearances, scoring nine goals.

Not only a bright prospect for Nice, but for his country as well, Perraud has been capped by four different youth levels for the French national team. Most recently the 20-year-old became a mainstay in France’s U19 and later U20 groups, making nine appearances for the former and eight for the latter.

Moving on loan to Paris will give Perraud an opportunity to prove himself and potentially return to Le Gym a much better player. The left-back will wear #18 for his new club.

G.M.

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