Olympic champion joins La Rochelle as medical joker

La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara has added Olympic gold medallist Andy Timo to his squad for the remainder of the season.

The 21-year-old joins the two-time Investec Champions Cup winners alongside 22-year-old Fijian, Watisoni Waqanisaravi, who arrives from Georgian club Kazbegi.

Timo, who operates in the back-row, will join the club from Monday 9 March and has prior 15-a-side experience in Pro D2 with RC Massy and in the Top 14 with Stade Français.

Since he made his France Sevens debut in 2023, Timo has been the heartbeat of Benoit Baby’s squad as a high work rate and powerful forward.

A 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship winner, the 21-year-old helped France to their first ever HSBC SVNS Series title in 2024 and was a member of the side that won Olympic gold at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

So far this season La Rochelle have struggled to establish themselves in the French top flight, are currently 10th in the league table and have not won a game in any competition since the start of January.

After the club’s 43-33 home loss against Montpellier last time out, O’Gara described it as a “low-point” during his tenure at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre.

Recently the club have been linked with 10-cap Scotland fly-half  Ben Healy, who will leave Edinburgh Rugby after three years in the Scottish capital.

Timo will be available to his new club the day after the Vancouver stop of the HSBC SVNS Series concludes.

France are currently fourth in the HSBC SVNS Series after four stops. Their best performance of the season came in Singapore, where they lost out to Fiji in the final.