Carter contract 'safe' - but what about others caught in Stade-Racing chaos?
Dan Carter is expected to play for Paris’s new Top 14 super-club if the planned merger of Racing 92 and Stade Francais goes ahead, according to French rugby-dedicated newspaper Midi Olympique.
The ex-All Black, who the paper also reported may have been prepared to leave at the end of what has been a difficult season for the ciel et blanc, has one more year to run of the contract that made him the game’s first €1m-plus-a-season player after the 2015 World Cup.
But while Carter’s zero-heavy contract appears merger-safe – for a given value of ‘safe’ – what about other players on the two sides’ books?
According to another sports newspaper in France, L’Equipe, 64 players are under contracts extending beyond the end of the season at the two clubs. It has also said a rumour has been doing the rounds of Racing’s club corridors that a list of players who are soon to find themselves out of contract has been sent to the 12 other Top 14 clubs.
It appears that overseas players should be the most nervous as Racing 92 president Jacky Lorenzetti is said to be keen to convince sceptical FFR president Bernard Laporte to accept the plan by making the new club ‘100% selectable’, which means ensuring that all players are French qualified, according to new standards imposed earlier this year.
The merger plans will have made for interesting reading for Johan Goosen, who – it had been reported – was ready to return to Paris to resurrect his rugby career having retired in controversial circumstances in December. He, the paper says, will not be part of the new set-up. But whether that means his release will be a short and painless affair or ends up in court, as has been threatened, remains to be seen.
Another player apparently unhappy with Parisian life, Leone Nakarawa, may also be close to the exit door at Racing. The paper also claims that Stade’s overseas stars Willem Alberts, Morne Steyn, Gerhard Mostert, Paul Williams and Will Genia will also not be part of the new Paris outfit, adding that Genia could be heading for Japan, after earlier reports had said he would return to Australia.
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Midi Olympique reports that international scrum-half Maxime Machenaud’s name would not have appeared on that rumoured list that may or may not be touted around other French clubs, even though he has been in contact with Toulon about a possible move to the Mediterranean coast, as he is contracted to Racing until 2020.
But fly-half Remi Tales, who has only made 24 appearances in Racing colours in two years since following coaches Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers to Paris from Castres, is reported to have asked to be released from the final year of his deal. The newspaper says that his demand is likely to be granted, along with a similar early release request from rarely seen number 8 Thibault Dubarry.
Scrum-half Teddy Iribaren, who was due to join the club from Brive next season, is expected to be part of the new super-club set-up, according to the paper. But it said that the situation was ‘more complex’ for fellow prospective new arrivals Census Johnston and Vasil Kakovin – who may find their joint move from Toulouse scuppered, with forwards coach Labit said to favour current Stade props Paul Alo-Emile and Heinke van der Merwe.
Toulon centre Jimmy Yobo, who had signed a pre-contract to join Stade, will be released from his commitment.
Stade’s French international fly-half Jules Plisson, who had been in talks about a switch to Racing when his current deal ends and would offer youthful competition and a protege for Carter, is ‘very close’ to signing for La Rochelle, the paper reports – contradicting an earlier assertion from L’Equipe that he would remain at the new Paris club.
Flanker Antoine Burban is being courted by a number of clubs, while centre Jonathan Danty is a target for Toulon. Djibril Camara has said he does not want to be considered for the new outfit, while other players, including Sekou Macalou and Hugo Bonneval – who has already signed for Toulon – have made their feelings clear on social media.
A meeting on Friday of parties affected by the planned merger – including players, club presidents Jacky Lorenzetti and Thomas Savare, and representatives of the respective sides’ amateur divisions – at Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) headquarters in Paris ended with no decisions, but with an agreement to attend another meeting at 6pm (France time) on Monday.
Meanwhile, the LNR decided that the weekend’s matches involving Stade and Racing – away at Castres Olympique at 6.30pm and Montpellier at 8.45pm on Saturday respectively – would be postponed. Dates for the rearranged fixtures would also be announced on Monday.
To add to the fallout from Monday’s shock merger announcement in Paris, Montpellier later issued a press release opposing the decision and calling on the FFR to intervene, while Castres said that they would prefer to face Stade on the pitch rather than win a game by default. ‘This is no time to add confusion to confusion,’ president Pierre-Yves Revol told local newspaper Journal d’Ici.
Comments on RugbyPass
Should've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to comments