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Jimmy Gopperth set to play at 40 after finding new club - report
By Liam Heagney
Jimmy Gopperth is reportedly set to play professional club rugby at the age of 40. It was early May when the New Zealander – the oldest player at the age of 39 to ever appear in the Gallagher Premiership – confirmed his end-of-season departure from Leicester after a one-season pit-stop.
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Now, just weeks before his next birthday, it has emerged that he is poised to join Provence, the French Pro D2 side that recently finished their 2022/23 campaign in the mid-table position of eighth.
Gopperth, who started the May 14 Premiership semi-final for Leicester versus Sale in place of the injured Handre Pollard, insisted that he was keen to play on rather than retire.
“I still feel fit and healthy, I still have a lot to give,” he reckoned at the time, adding, “I will play next season. I’m looking at options. I’m always excited to play. Every team needs experience.”
Provence, whose coaching staff is headed by ex-Argentina prop Mauricio Reggiardo, recently confirmed that former France scrum-half Julien Dupuy will be their backs and attack coach next season and it is now claimed that Gopperth will be one of the players he will be coaching.
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The kick that haunts him ?@jimmygopps talks to @heagneyl ???https://t.co/5u0qxKNIOE— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 25, 2021
A rugbyrama.fr report read: “Jimmy Gopperth, a mythical figure of the Premiership, should land in Aix this summer. At almost 40 years old, the New Zealand fly-half is still considered a reference. On June 29, he will celebrate his 40th birthday.
“When he blows out his candles, the New Zealander, a key figure in English rugby for a dozen years, will be on the eve of the end of his contract with Leicester. He joined the Tigers during the season after the fall of Wasps and played 13 league games for them.
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“Leicester announced in May that it would not keep the fourth-best scorer in the history of the Premiership with 1,721 points, but he doesn’t intend to hang up the boots. According to our information, the No10 New Zealand will – except for last-minute setbacks – engage with Aix-en-Provence in the coming days. The two sides recently reached an agreement.”
It was last Sunday at Twickenham, when speaking post-game about his Barbarians skipper Alun Wyn Jones, that Eddie Jones referenced Gopperth when suggesting that players playing at the highest level in their late 30s would be a trend that rugby would see more of in the future.
“We are seeing players play more and more. The advent of sports science and better strength and conditioning means that players can play longer, that is the reality,” he reckoned. “Gopperth has played until 39 in the Premiership, (Johnny) Sexton is going to play in the World Cup at 37.
“If you would have said that 10 years ago people would have said, ‘You’re nuts’. And now we have got players playing in their late 30s, so we are going to see for the really good players long careers, and for the average players it is probably going to be the same.”
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