FRENCH COLUMN
James Harrington with yesterday’s action from Top 14
Clubs’ recruitment and retention plans never stop. No sooner have they closed the book on squad hires for one season, than they’re looking to fill gaps and strengthen weak links for the following season.
This recruitment focus for most Top 14 clubs this year will be at flyhalf. Racing 92, for example, look to have a settled squad – they brought in only two senior players this season. But 22 players are out of contract at the end of this season – and fair game for approaches from other clubs.
President Jacky Lorenzetti admitted a number of players had received approaches, but, in an interview with RMC Sport, said that he thought most of them ‘want to stay’.
The most interesting rumours concern young fly-half Antoine Gibert, who has been with Racing since he was a young child. His father is a coach at the club’s agegrade ecole de rugby.
Word is Ronan O’Gara is trying to tempt Gibert to La Rochelle. Lorenzetti insisted that the 23-year-old wants to remain with Racing, but admitted the club faces a challenge to keep all 22 players out of contract and remain within the Top 14’s tightening salary cap.
O’Gara’s interest in Gibert’s prodigious talent is unsurprising - the coach knows the player well from his days at Racing. Two of his current senior 10s, Ihaia West and Jules Plisson, are both out of contract at the end of the current campaign and the whisper is that neither will be retained as O’Gara looks for more consistent goalkicking. Four missed penalties against Toulouse last week cost La Rochelle more dearly than Will Skelton’s red card.
It was Gibert v West in yesterday’s primetime Top 14 match - as Racing’s Galacticos faced La Rochelle’s KBA squad. The hosts, having learned from Toulouse, were content to let their guests have the bulk of the ball and exhaust themselves pounding away at a defensive wall for the better part of 80 minutes. An 11thminute Virimi Vakatawa score and a second-half penalty try following a moment of brilliance from Gael Fickou was enough to ensure a 23-10 win.
It would appear that Rochelais’ president Vincent Merling is willing to head into the player market to replace both players. It has been reported that Pau’s France international Antoine Hastoy is a second target for the club.
The player did his reputation precisely no harm whatsoever, with a perfect six from six from the kicking tee and a drop goal, to score all of Pau’s points in a handy 21-17 win over a somewhat wasteful Lyon at Stade du Hameau. Former Leicester player Zack Henry, who filled in at 10 for the Palois at Castres last weekend, slotted in at fullback yesterday and was just as impressive.
Hastoy is actually contracted to Pau until 2023, but, although O’Gara’s La Rochelle seem to be in the box seat for his signature, a number of clubs are circling. Montpellier, Clermont and Racing, perhaps looking to a possible future without Gibert or Russell, whose contract ends at the same time as Hastoy’s, are all said to be taking a close interest.
His opposite number yesterday, Lyon’s Leo Berdeu is also out of contract in June. The 23-year-old is highly regarded, has a long future ahead, and kicked four penalties in reply to Hastoy.
Montpellier’s reported interest in Hastoy is particularly intriguing. With Handre Pollard and Paolo Garbisi already in their ranks – backed by the burgeoning talent of Louis Foursans – it seems fly-half stocks are high.
Foursans, still only 19, had a good day at the office standing in for Pollard-Garbisi, landing four conversions at two penalties as Montpellier picked up a 39-17 bonusMatthieu point home win over Brive.
JJ Hanrahan, on a one-year plus one-year option deal at Clermont, scored his second try in as many Top 14 outings, and came close to adding a third, but could do nothing to stop a streetwise Castres mugging their way to a 34-30 win in the closing minutes.
Castres are likely to be in the hunt for a new fly-half: Ben Urdapilleta signed a one-year extension taking him through to 2023, but will be 36 when the current campaign finishes. Ben Botica is likely to step up in the short-term, but head coach PierreHenry Broncan will want to build a longer-term partnership with Santiago Arata, heir to the retiring Rory Kockott’s nine throne.
For the second season in a row, Bordeaux will likely be in the market for a 10, with Francois Trinh-Duc, who arrived from Racing in July, set to hang up his boots at the end of the season.
Trinh-Duc was on the bench as Jalibert pulled the strings of a 37-10 bonus point win over Stade Francais.
Biarrit came down to earth with a bump after that opening day win. They were very much second best at Perpignan in an early-season meeting of the promoted sides, heading home nursing the wounded pride of a 33-20 defeat.
Both Toulouse and Toulon, who meet this evening at Stade Ernest Wallon, are in talks with respective playmakers Zack Holmes and Anthony Belleau, who are both out of contract at the end of 2022.
With Ntamack and Ramos regulars in the out-half position, and academy player Edgar Retiere coming up in support, Holmes may decide his future lies away from Stade Ernest Wallon.
Belleau is more than likely set to stay at Stade Mayol. His value there has long been recognised, but it was especially noticeable by its injuryenforced absence last season.
“O’Gara knows Gibert’s prodigious talent from his days at Racing”