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Racing 92 statement: Henry Arundell one of nine new 2023/24 signings
Ex-England boss Stuart Lancaster has pulled off a coup, convincing rising star Henry Arundell to join him in his new project at Racing 92. Having finished up his lengthy stint as senior coach at Leinster in Ireland, Lancaster has now started work as director of rugby with the Parisian club.
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One of his first tasks was to bring in Arundell, the seven-cap 20-year-old who became a free agent when London Irish fell into administration in early June.
The services of the youngster have been in high demand in recent weeks and after it was confirmed by England on Friday that Arundell was part of their 41-strong training squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup, it has since emerged that he will be staying on in France after the tournament to play in the 2023/24 Top 14 season.
Arundell is one of nine new signings by the Parisian club, who have also recruited three new staff members to work under Lancaster – including Paul Stridgeon, the ex-Wales head of S&C, and former France out-half Freddie Michalak.
A statement read: “Racing 92 are pleased to announce the signing of nine players and new members of the sports staff for next season. They will contribute to enriching the squad of the professional team under the chairmanship of Laurent Travers, who will take over as chairman of the management board from July 1.
“Racing will return to the Top 14 fields from August 19 and the Champions Cup from December 8. The players joining for the 2023/2024 season are:
- Henry Arundell (full-back) until 2024;
- James Hall (scrum-half) until 2025;
- Siya Kolisi (back row) until 2026;
- Thomas Laclayat (prop) until 2027;
- Clovis Le Bail (scrum-half) until 2026;
- Wame Naituvi (winger) until 2026;
- Will Rowlands (lock) until 2026;
- Tristan Tedder (out-half) until 2025;
- Josua Tuisova (winger) until 2026.
“Back row Jordan Joseph, after a successful loan to Pau, will also return to the Racing squad.
“Under the direction of the new director of rugby Stuart Lancaster, the sports and technical staff has recorded the arrivals of Frederic Michalak (backline coach), Paul Stridgeon (head of physical preparation) and Tom Whiteford (team manager). They complete the sports staff alongside Dimitri Szarzewski (forwards coach) and Joe Rokocoko (skills coach).
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“At the epilogue of this 2022/23 season, Racing warmly thanks all the players and staff members who leave the club. We thank them for their involvement and team spirit and wish them success in the rest of their sporting and professional careers.
“Thanks to Briac Poussin, Michel Miro, Gilbert Gascou, Rory Teague, Didier Casadei, Philippe Doussy, Biyi Alo, Asaeli Tuivaka, Jon Maiau, Warrick Gelant, Anton Bresler, Ali Oz, Ben Volavola, Teddy Iribaren, Finn Russell and Louis Dupichot.
“Seven players have extended their adventure at Racing. They are Olivier Klemenczak (centre) until 2024, Boris Palu (lock) until 2025, Francis Saili (centre) until 2024, Donovan Taofifenua (winger) until 2025, Christian Wade (winger) until 2024, Wenceslas Lauret (back row) as World Cup joker until November 2023, and Thomas Moukouro (prop) until 2025. Having arrived at 13 years old, Thomas went through all the categories at youths level and joined the training centre in 2018.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Let’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
3 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.
3 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 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.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 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.
38 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 commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
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