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TOP 14Clermont

Clermont confirm 7 signings including a Wallaby and a Puma

Irae Simone of the Wallabies talks with Ned Hanigan of the Wallabies during the 2020 Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks at ANZ Stadium (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
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ASM Clermont have confirmed the capture of seven players ahead of the 2022/23 Top 14 season, including a Wallaby, a French international and a Puma.

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The names of the new personnel were confirmed as the club revealed their ambitions for the future, which included winning the Heineken Champions Cup by 2025.

A ‘lack of depth of his workforce’ was identified as a major reason for the lack of success for head coach Jonno Gibbes. According to the club, it lead to a lack of competition in training and their top players being over-used during the season, which they have labelled as one of transition.

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Battling The Poisonous Welsh Press & An Epic International Comeback | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 37

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Battling The Poisonous Welsh Press & An Epic International Comeback | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 37

The new names affirmed for next season include Toulon’s Anthony Belleau, former France 10 Jules Plisson and Wallaby centre Irae Simone.

Loïc Godener, Julien Heriteau, Alex Newsome and Bautista Delguy have also signed on.

Earlier in the season, 13 current players extended their contracts, a list which includes Giorgi Beria, Yohan Beheregaray, Thibaud Lanen, Killian Tixeront, Marvin O’Connor, Apisai Naqalevu, Daniel Bibi Biziwu, Sébastien Vahaamahina, Lucas Dessaigne, Gabin Michet, Théo Giral, Thomas Rozière and Cheikh Tiberghien.

In the coaching department, they have signed Jared Payne as defence coach and Julien Ledevedec and a re-deployed Benson Stanley as a skills coach.

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Against that, the club have lost the services of Morgan Parra, who has signed for Stade Francais.

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Comments on RugbyPass

B
B 31 minutes ago
'Tried and true': Ex-All Black winger Rico Gear assesses the options out wide for Dave Rennie

No “loyalty” to incumbents, selections based on current SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC FORM and heavily centered on rigorous work ethic, uncompromising conditioning, and baseline skill execution..

Josh Moorby, (Maori AB’s) now All Black #12??…Right Wing, Fullback….



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GodOfFriedChicken 42 minutes ago
Jamie Joseph pinpoints where Highlanders repeatedly fell short in 2026

I’m not saying to have them rely exclusively on high school talent but teams should be able to retain their top local talent rather than lose them to more regularly successful unions on a regular basis. Look at what’s happened to the Manawatu region, who lost the entire Whitelock family and Codie Taylor to Canterbury before any of them could even play a game there. Imports are part of the game but if it’s a top talent that was either raised in your region or already plays in your region at a position that’s not of surplus, you should have more ability to have their rights. Also on the note of Tupou-Ta’eiloa, he moved to Moana because he wants to play for Tonga i.e. the actual purpose of the team.

The salary cap in SRP is very poorly enforced, especially when you compare it to leagues like the NRL or most of American sport. There’s no salary floor, so a team like the Highlanders is regularly spending much less than their other NZ teams and the whole AB top-up system means that you can essentially pay a bunch of good players much less for their SR salary than they’re worth because the players get enough of an AB top-up that their SR salary doesn’t matter. Given that the ABs have eligibility rules that require them to play SR anyway, it shouldn’t be a massive stretch to slightly increase the salary cap but include AB salaries in there. It’s not being “penalised for doing things right”, it’s keeping teams from hoarding talent and making sure the competition stays fair. Happens in the NRL every time but if their systems are as good as advertised (like Penrith, who’ve had to let go of a star every year to a lesser team since their title runs), then they should be able to rebuild. There’s a reason why the NRL’s had nearly every team (except the Warriors, Dolphins and Titans) win a premiership while SR has become top heavy with a lot of one sided results - one competition lets you hoard talent and essentially lets you pay them with hidden money legally, the other makes sure players are paid what they’re worth for the team.



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K
KM 49 minutes ago
The five performers of the week from Super Rugby Pacific round fifteen

That was a great game , but the Chiefs have yet to learn , To quote Tommy Rudonakis , Never give a Mug a even Break , they should never have kicked those penalties, That was the wrong way , keep playing , put your foot down on the throat to say .

T Vai is a serial mug , smug rubbing the opposition players heads is a sure way to get them fired up to rub your nose in the mud in return , Literally .



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T
The Economist 1 hour ago
Jamie Joseph pinpoints where Highlanders repeatedly fell short in 2026

Wanting teams to retain their high school talent would be an own goal for the Highlanders, which relies almost exclusively on imports. Straight away they’d have to give up Holland, Lienert-Brown, Tangitau, JRK, Lennox, Dunshea, Lowe, Shearer, to name just a few. It’s also hard to have much sympathy when they let gems like Tupou-Ta’eiloa slip through their hands.

There is an enforced salary cap in SRP, but teams with better coaching and culture perform better and generate more ABs, which nets them bigger national top-ups. Taking the latter into account would inevitably result in a cap so high that it’d almost never bind, otherwise clubs would be penalised for doing things right and ABs would be required to change clubs every year.



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Graeme Hayward 1 hour ago
Finger of blame quickly pointed after Leinster's Champions Cup beatdown

Of course they can have a postmortem. To be fair, when your attack fails, the first port if call shouldn't be the defense coach.

My assessment was that they were outmuscled when defending and attacking.



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Lionel 1 hour ago
'Fundamental shift in the game': World Rugby outline new six-year strategy

I don't get it?

What's the fundamental shift?



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T
The Economist 1 hour ago
Jamie Joseph pinpoints where Highlanders repeatedly fell short in 2026

“the teams growing, getting stronger every year…” Not on the basis of evidence it’s not. The Highlanders have been on an inexorable downward trend since Mauger left, broken only by the single year Dermody was in charge, while Joseph has made things demonstrably worse, apparently without consequence. The Teflon Man.

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M
MM 1 hour ago
'Tried and true': Ex-All Black winger Rico Gear assesses the options out wide for Dave Rennie

You obviously don’t follow NZ rugby Tom if you think Reiko goes well at 13! He’s been a continual disaster in that position.

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GodOfFriedChicken 2 hours ago
Jamie Joseph pinpoints where Highlanders repeatedly fell short in 2026

Just imagine though if Super Rugby had a properly enforced salary cap or draft system to make sure talent is actually spread evenly across at least our NZ sides (though ideally across the competition as a whole). Teams like the Landers only need 2-3 injuries to starters to have a massive downturn in play (and far exceeded that) while teams like the Crusaders can lose an All Blacks prop and hooker and still have an All Black prop and hooker as a replacement. Be great if they could’ve kept talent from Otago like George Bell (born there and schooled there), Bower and Lio-Willie (both part of Otago).

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Rennie to shuffle No 10 pack as Richie Mo'unga's comeback is pushed back

To keep them in NZ. You just heard it from the horses mouth, theres no way NZ can replicate SAs pipeline to replace players that leave, it needs to use the AB jersey to keep as many of them hear as possible.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Rennie to shuffle No 10 pack as Richie Mo'unga's comeback is pushed back

To us the decline started with BB at 10, everyone copying the Lions strats against us. It’s going to be hard to see/recognize the other consequences along the way.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Rennie to shuffle No 10 pack as Richie Mo'unga's comeback is pushed back

Do you mean place kicking? He kicks tactically far less in JRLO. Will be interesting to see how good he is.

Agree on Mannie though, he is very much like Dmac (and Sascha like a WPOTY Beauden).



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BC1812 2 hours ago
Loughborough confirm departure of senior international playmaker

I don’t think it will be Sale with Holly already there,

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B
BC1812 2 hours ago
2026 Guinness Women's Six Nations | RugbyPass' Team of the Tournament

i think two or three French players and a couple of Irish sounds about right. Some joumos forget who won in a canter.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Rennie to shuffle No 10 pack as Richie Mo'unga's comeback is pushed back

So SA doesn’t have depth either? I doubt that.

53 Go to comments
J
JW 2 hours ago
Rennie to shuffle No 10 pack as Richie Mo'unga's comeback is pushed back

What have they won so far?

53 Go to comments
B
Bazzallina 2 hours ago
Bordeaux extend Leinster's Champions Cup final heartache with resounding win

Depends on how much money and the odds I reckon, maybe we will find out in 28 with the world club cup and if all the clubs are going to come fully loaded bar injuries I think the top 14 is going to adjust slightly to accommodate so I reckon that’s exciting tbh but I hear ya

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Rennie to shuffle No 10 pack as Richie Mo'unga's comeback is pushed back

I think it’s more about the general eligibility topic Henrik.

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BC1812 2 hours ago
The big question: Are England's Red Roses the greatest sports team of all time?

They are without doubt the most dominant and best women’s team side in the world. The Australian women’s cricket team is the only other one that comes close but they lose some of their matches. I cannot think of an equivalent men’s team in any sport but I have no real knowledge of American sports if i have missed a

comparable team.



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JW 2 hours ago
Rennie to shuffle No 10 pack as Richie Mo'unga's comeback is pushed back



In other words, NZR says

You don’t need to make examples like these. The logic is simple, we want people to sign up to be a part of New Zealand rugby, not just play for the All Blacks. To do this representing the All Blacks is used as a bargaining chip. It’s as simple as that, that’s all you need to know as to why rules like this are enforced.



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53 Go to comments
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