Ex-Scotland back row Luke Hamilton secures deal back in France, links up with Taylor Paris
Well-travelled Scotland back row Luke Hamilton and Canadian international winger Taylor Paris have been unveiled as new signings by Oyonnax, the promotion-chasing French Pro D2 outfit.
Hamilton was one of 20 players listed in early June by Bristol who would be leaving the Bears before the resumption of the suspended 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership season.
He has now pitched up in France, a country he has previously experienced while on the books of Agen, the club he joined after making the breakthrough at Cardiff Blues.
A 28-year-old forward, Hamilton returned to the UK after two seasons, joining Leicester and going on to make a November 2017 Test debut for Scotland versus New Zealand.
After winning two more caps the following June, he joined PRO14 club Edinburgh for the 2018/19 season but returned to England last summer to make nine Premiership and Challenge Cup appearances for the Bears.
?? ?Recrutement
Le 3ème ligne @lukehamilton6 et le trois-quart aile Taylor Paris rejoignent @OyonnaxRugby pour 1?? saison jusqu'au 30 juin 2??0??2??1?? + 1?? saison optionnelle
Les détails ?? https://t.co/gDCCG1COl1#TEAMOYO #FIERSDOYO pic.twitter.com/SHRGYtuL24
— Oyonnax Rugby (@OyonnaxRugby) July 7, 2020
His one-year deal at Oyonnax, which has the option of a second, now mirrors the contract agreed with Paris, the Canadian who debuted at Test level as an 18-year-old in 2010. It was two years later when he commenced his European club adventure, initially joining Glasgow for a season before switching to Agen where he played with Hamilton. He then joined Castres, winning the 2018 Top 14 title with them.
Having played for Canada at the 2019 World Cup, he is now throwing his lot in with Oyonnax, the club that have been yo-yoing between the Top 14 and Pro D2 in recent times. They were in the hunt for the promotion playoffs, lying in fourth place before the Pro D2 season was cancelled in March due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
Speaking to RugbyPass last summer, Hamilton revealed his thoughts on the concussions he had suffered in his career. “We’re kind of the guinea pigs because no-one really knows what the concussions are doing to you,” he said. “You don’t know how many concussions it’s going to take for your brain to get damaged.
“I don’t think people realise how scary they are. You don’t want to be looking back 20 years and thinking, ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t have played that game, I’m still having headaches’. When you’re playing, you don’t think about concussion, but when you get one, especially a long one, you sure think about it then. You can have a lot of things replaced, but the brain’s one thing you can’t.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments