Exiles old boy relishing life amid ‘mad’ French
HAVING dodged the demise of his old club London Welsh, Josh Drauniniu is revelling in the madness of French rugby whilst helping to kick-start a revolution at ambitious third tier outfit Stade Rouennais.
Led by former Bath and England scrum-half Richard Hill and fired by an enclave of Englishmen, the Rouen-based side have topped their Federale One pool and will this afternoon commence their play-off campaign in pursuit of the Jean Prat trophy.
Fijian-born former England Sevens star Drauniniu hopped aboard Rouen’s bandwagon last summer and has no regrets, with the former Exeter, Harlequins and Worcester flier relieved to have rekindled his love of rugby following a disappointing last two years in England. Drauniniu, 31, told The
Rugby Paper: “Richard Hill asked if I wanted to join Rouen when I left Worcester in 2015, but I’d already signed for Welsh. It was obviously going wrong there, though, so when he asked again last summer, I went.
“My last couple of years proved quite a downer playing-wise and I was thinking of quitting rugby, but I love it here now, although French fans are a bit mad.
“When we played an away game at Saint Jean de Luz their crowd gave us and the referee plenty of abuse, while at another away game at Bagneres de Bigorre the referee even got punched, so it can get pretty wild over here at times.
“They’re far more involved, more vocal than English fans, and while on one side that’s good, on another you’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, what are they doing?!’
“They’re very passionate but the lifestyle is amazing and everyone should experience playing in France for at least a season or two. The rugby’s as physical as the Championship, more so at times, but we’re also scoring a lot of tries.”
With a new club president at the helm in Jean-Louis Louvel, the team will be renamed Stade Rouennais Normandie next season with the aim of becoming the focal point for professional rugby in the untapped north-west region.
Drauniniu explained: “The ambition is to be the team for Normandy and our job now is to ensure we get into the elite pool of Federale One for next season through the playoffs so that we can have a crack at reaching Pro D2 next year.
“We’re confident we can do that and it’s our job to get the club where it wants to be. We’ve got experienced English boys here like Luke Cozens, Richard Bolt, Joe Elliott and Ben Mercer and I’m excited to be part of this project.
“I’m here for another year and it’s given me a new lease of life.”