Blues and All Blacks XV star AJ Lam linked with Top 14 move

Reports out of France suggest versatile Blues back AJ Lam could be heading offshore, with Top 14 middleweights Clermont said to be circling the talented 27-year-old.

The club currently sit 11th on the Top 14 table, staring down the barrel of another 50 per cent win season, with dreams of escaping the mediocrity that has progressively captured them in the 2020s.

Rugbyrama this week reports that Lam, an All Blacks XV representative in 2024 who was then called into the All Blacks as training cover, is involved in contract negotiations with the central French club.

While Lam has been named in the 2026 Blues squad, the coming season will see him complete the final year of his contract with New Zealand Rugby.

Starting his professional career as a winger, Lam’s emergence alongside Rieko Ioane in the midfield was a strong force in the Blues’ Super Rugby Pacific title run of 2024. While that form was largely continued in 2025, an All Blacks XV omission signalled something was in the air.

All Blacks XV selectors have overlooked players whose long-term commitment to New Zealand was in question, with fellow Blues star Ricky Riccitelli a victim of the selection policy ahead of his departure earlier this year.

Should pen be put to paper, Lam would join a trio of capped All Blacks – fellow 2024 Super Rugby champion Harry Plummer, Pita-Gus Sowakula, and George Moala – at Clermont. Los Pumas stars Marcos Kremer and Bautista Delguay also call the club home.

There is plenty of movement in the Blues’ midfield stocks at the moment, with Rieko Ioane set to spend the remaining 2025/26 URC season with Leinster, before returning for the final year of his NZR contract in 2027.

Serial Top 14 champion Pita Ahki is on his way home for the 2026 Blues campaign, supplementing Ioane’s 87 Test caps with seven European club trophies.

Up-and-comer Corey Evans also remains an option for Vern Cotter, having proven his versatility across various positions in the backline in the 2025 Super Rugby season before starring in the midfield for Northland in the NPC.

Recent New Zealand U20 graduates Xavi Taele and James Cameron complete the 2026 Blues squad’s midfield stocks, each coming into Super Rugby as highly touted Auckland products who started at outside centre for the 2024 and 2025 U20 campaigns, respectively.