Stade Francais, Racing 92 announce plans to merge
Scotland’s Brown cited
PARIS, March 13, (RTRS): Stade Francais and Racing 92, two leading French rugby union clubs both based in the Paris region, announced plans on Monday to merge.
The clubs, which have both struggled this season in France’s premier Top 14 league, said in statements on their websites that the combination would create a new, stronger club that could enjoy a bigger fanbase in the French capital.
Star players in the Racing 92 squad include New Zealand World Cup winners Dan Carter and Joe Rokocoko, while Stade Francais’ top players feature the likes of French international Pascal Pape and Italian Sergio Parisse.
Wealthy businessmen have invested large sums of money in recent years into French rugby clubs, allowing them to sign top players from around the world.
Racing is owned by French property billionaire Jacky Lorenzetti, while businessman Thomas Savare is the current club president of Stade Francais.
Racing beat Toulon last year to win the French Top 14 title in front of a record crowd of more than 90,000 fans in Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium.
Scotland hooker Fraser Brown has been cited for the dangerous tackle in the England’s Daniel Bibby (front), is tackled by Kenya’s William Ambaka Ndayara (right), as Collins Injera (back), watches during World Rugby Sevens Series action in Vancouver, British Columbia on
March 11. second minute of Saturday’s Six Nations clash against England that earned him a yellow card and put his side immediately on the back foot.
The disciplinary hearing, before an independent committee of three, is scheduled for London on Tuesday and might see Brown added to a growing list of absentees for Scotland’s last match against Italy at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Brown was sin-binned for the tackle that ended winger Elliot Daly’s afternoon early. While he was off the field, England went 10-up with a razor-fast try by Jonathan Joseph and an Owen Farrell penalty before romping to a record 61-21 triumph.
Centre Mark Bennett was on Monday ruled out of the match against Italy after being injured during his brief appearance at Twickenham. The 24-year came on for his 20th cap to replace Stuart Hogg but was taken off four minutes later with knee and arm injuries.
“He will be subject to further care and assessment, however it is expected that he will take no further part in the current Championship,” Scottish Rugby said in a statement.
Billy Vunipola believes England have the mental strength to carry the weight of expectations as they set their sights on a second successive Six Nations grand slam with a win against Ireland on Saturday.
England thrashed Scotland 61-21 last weekend to secure back-to-back titles and victory over Ireland at Dublin would see them win all five games in the championship for the second year in a row and set a tier-one record of 19 consecutive victories.
“I would probably say the Ireland game is more mental than physical because we have never been in this position before, whereby we can push even further on,” number eight Vunipola told British media.
“It is the day after St Patrick’s Day, it is going to be very, very emotional, so we are going to have to turn up with the right mindset to try to negate everything that they are going to bring.