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Jimmy Gopperth set to play at 40 after finding new club - report
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.
'Half my mates who have already retired say, ‘Don’t retire. Do as much as you can because it’s hard on the other side’
Staying fit at 38 ?
Giving up All Blacks dream ?
How rugby changed ?
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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Comments on RugbyPass
What ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
128 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
128 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
128 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
128 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
128 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
128 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
128 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
128 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
128 Go to commentsHo hum.
128 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
128 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
128 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
128 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
128 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
128 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
128 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
128 Go to comments