Racing 92 confirm signing of veteran Wallabies star Kurtley Beale
French glamour club Racing 92 have confirmed the signing of veteran Wallabies utility back Kurtley Beale on a two-year deal.
The 31-year-old’s addition to the squad was announced by the club’s sporting director and former France flanker Yannick Nyanga in a video released on Monday.
Capable of playing at flyhalf, in the midfield and at fullback, Beale will depart Australia with a wealth of experience after having amassed 92 caps for the Wallabies since 2009.
He has also played in over 150 Super Rugby matches for the Melbourne Rebels and the Waratahs, the club of which he is currently vice-captain of and has played well over 100 times for since his professional debut 13 years ago.
By virtue of having played in more than 60 tests for the Wallabies and being based in Australia for more than seven years, Beale will remain eligible for international selection despite his relocation to France.
Whether or not incoming Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie will opt to select the seasoned playmaker is another question entirely, however, as the prospect of overhauling the Australian squad must be a top priority for the former Chiefs boss.
That may involve parting ways with Beale, who has been an established figure within the national setup for well over a decade now and has attended the past three World Cups in New Zealand, England and Japan.
Should Rennie look to retain Beale’s services, though, he could be viewed as a safe pair of hands with an impressive curriculum vitae to boot.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAEFXFng5zX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
This isn’t Beale’s first foray into European club rugby, as he joined English Premiership side Wasps on a one-season deal for the 2016-17 campaign, helping them to a semi-final finish domestically and a quarter-final finish in the Champions Cup.
He leaves the Waratahs with one Super Rugby title to his name after he played a key role in their maiden championship in 2014.
Racing’s acquisition of Beale only adds to their star-studded squad which already features the likes of French stars Virimi Vakatawa, Teddy Thomas and Camille Chat, as well as foreigners Finn Russell, Simon Zebo and Juan Imhoff.
Beale will also be joined by six-test Wallabies utility forward Luke Jones, who will leave the Melbourne Rebels for a second stint in France following his three-year spell with Bordeaux between 2016 and 2019.
“We’ve tried to mix youth and experience in positions where we haven’t managed to pull through from our academy,” Nyanga said in the video announcement released on Racing’s social media channels.
“We have two premium signings who will bring some experience and their ability,” he added.
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Laurent Travers accompagné de Yannick Nyanga & Christophe Mombet reviennent sur la saison terminée et se projettent sur la saison à venir.#RacingFamily
https://t.co/k3F4frbyMP— Racing 92 (@racing92) May 11, 2020
The signings of Beale and Jones will help offset the departures of fullback Brice Dulin, flyhalf Ben Volavola, and props Ben Tameifuna and Vasil Kakovin, which were also confirmed in Monday’s video.
Additionally, former All Blacks loose forward Chris Masoe will leave his post as defence coach, and will be replaced by ex-France hooker Dimitri Szarzewski.
Racing 92 were performing admirably in the Top 14 until the 2019-20 season was cancelled last week due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, sitting in third spot after 17 matches.
The Paris-based club have also qualified for for the European Champions Cup quarter-finals and are due to clash with fellow French giants Clermont in a fixture set to take place when the tournament’s suspension is lifted.
Comments on RugbyPass
I’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
39 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
37 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
39 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to comments