Fissler Confidential: Stormers in talks with Bok, wandering Wallaby's new home?

The Lions have agreed a deal to sign towering lock JP du Preez as they look to replace Darrien Landsberg, who is bound to join Exeter Chiefs in the Gallagher Prem next season.

Du Preez, who stands at 6 ft 10 in and started his career with the Lions, is leaving the Red Hurricanes in Japan Rugby League One, and his career, which has included spells with the Cheetahs, Sale Sharks and Glasgow Warriors, will come full circle.

And according to Rapport, the Lions are also set to sign former Springbok back-rower Sikhumbuzo Notshe, who is one of 19 players leaving Montauban after they finished bottom of the Top 14 last season.

Former Wallaby winger Jordan Petaia is on the move again after it was announced that he is leaving Top 14 strugglers Perpignan for Japan, where he will play next season at Japan Rugby League One Division One outfit Urayasu D-Rocks.

Petaia, 26, who left Queensland Reds in December 2024 to join the NFL’s International Player Pathway programme, spent a few months with the Los Angeles Chargers before being released and joining Perpignan.

He made 13 appearances, including their Top 14 access match win over Provence, scoring one try, and Urayasu have announced his signing, along with Hurricanes and All Blacks XV back-row Devan Flanders.

France coach Fabián Galthie was spotted last week as an interested spectator at the State of Origin decider between Queensland and NSW at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, where the Blues (NSW) ran out 30-12 winners.

Galthie was in Queensland, where his side were defeated 21-20 at the same stadium in the Nations Championship, and La Rochelle scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec was among the crowd cheering on the Blues.

Ironically, rugby league legend Shaun Edwards was part of Galthie’s coaching staff until it was recently announced he was leaving and will be free to take another job from September.

The Stormers are locked in talks with Springbok inside centre Damian de Allende about a potential return when his deal with Japan Rugby League One outfit Saitama Wild Knights runs out in 12 months.

Stormers boss John Dobson, according to Rapport, wants De Allende, who is closing in on a century of Springbok caps, to replace Dan du Plessis, who is leaving Cape Town for the Top 14, where he has joined Bordeaux.

De Allende, 34, started his career with the Stormers before moving to Munster and then the Wild Knights, where he has scored 19 tries in 60 appearances since moving to the Saitama Prefecture region four years ago.

Former Exeter Chiefs back-row Jannes Kirsten is returning to Europe and has raised more than a few eyebrows after signing for Mont-de-Marsan from the Bulls, which has been his home since leaving Sandy Park two years ago.

The Pro D2 side, which finished 15th out of 16 last season before losing an access match to Nice, announced that they were releasing 29 players at the end of last season in a massive clear-out.

They have so far announced 17 signings as they look to win promotion from Championnat Fédéral Nationale at the first time of asking, and Kirsten, who last month came off the bench in the URC Final defeat to Leinster, is the biggest name so far.

Former Argentina fly-half Benjamín Urdapilleta is extending his playing career until after his 41st birthday next March, signing another one-year deal to continue playing with Perpignan next season.

Urdapilleta, 40, has been playing in France for the last 14 years after a two-year stint in the Prem with Harlequins and started 12 of his 13 appearances for the Top 14 strugglers last season, clocking up 101 points.

He put pen to paper on a new deal after the Blood and Golds called off their pursuit of Gloucester’s Ross Byrne and lured Paolo Garbisi away from Toulon, leaving the Cherry and Whites with an expensive problem.

George Booth, the son of former London Irish and Ospreys boss Toby, has put pen to paper on a new contract with League One outfit Reading after impressing for their under-18s last season.

Booth snr spent last season in a season-long consultancy role with Harlequins before it was announced that he was leaving the club at the end of the campaign to take up a coaching role with Rugby World Cup 2027 qualifiers Hong Kong China.

Other rugby connections in football at the moment include Fin Back, the son of England World Cup winner Neil, who plays for Wycombe Wanderers, and Woody Burgess, the son of Gloucester general manager Rob, who is on the books at Aston Villa.

Former England inside centre Ollie Devoto has announced that he is quitting playing despite only being 32 after spending the last two seasons playing for the Chicago Hounds in Major League Rugby.

Devoto, who won four England caps during stints with Bath and Exeter Chiefs, where he also picked up two Premiership titles and a Champions Cup winners’ medal six years ago, has retired from rugby.

The Yeovil-born ace told BBC Somerset he was strongly recommending the States to players: “I can’t speak highly enough of it. If anyone gets the opportunity to head over, grab it with both hands.”