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'Very easy choice': Ex-England back Abendanon extends Pro D2 deal
The Nick Abendanon adventure in France will continue until summer 2023 at the very least as the 35-year-old ex-England player has extended his existing deal at Pro D2 Vannes. It was at the height of the lockdown in 2020 when the 2015 European player of the year feared he would have to quit the sport.
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With the pandemic causing ructions in the recruitment market, Abendanon had been released by Clermont, his club since his 2014 switch from Bath, and was facing having to retire as he couldn’t find himself a new team.
In the end, though, the waiting game he was forced to endure eventually paid off, Abendanon opting to join second-tier Vannes for the 2021/22 season where they came agonisingly close to securing promotion to the Top 14. They finished second on the table behind Perpignan and then lost out in the semi-final playoffs to Biarritz.
Vannes’ fortunes haven’t been so giddy this term as they currently occupy eleventh spot on the table, 13 points behind Carcassonne in the sixth and final playoff spot with six games remaining. Despite that downturn in results, the Vannes relationship with Abendanon remains strong as he continues to pull out the performances, the full-back starting 14 matches and scoring five tries this term.
A Vannes statement read: “It’s now official. Having arrived in 2020, Nick Abendanon will remain at Vannes until 2023. We are very happy to formalise our captain’s contract extension for a third season in Brittany.
“It’s always difficult in a team like Clermont where you have got so many superstars in the team. You have got almost two internationals in each position, there is bound to be people that are upset. When things go wrong fingers get pointed and stuff." https://t.co/ub6MShZmlJ pic.twitter.com/pXuRTtnpIv
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 14, 2021
“After starting his career in England at Bath, Nick played six Top 14 seasons at Clermont before joining RCV in 2020. This season again, our England full-back and captain has proven that time has no influence on his performances. Remarkable and exemplary throughout the year, he scored five tries in 14 games – all played as a starter.”
Abendanon said: “I’m very happy to continue this adventure with Rugby Club Vannes. We are very happy here and with the ambition of the club, it was a very easy choice for me and my family.”
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It was February 2021, in a feature interview with RugbyPass, when Abendanon candidly admitted he wasn’t the same player he was at Clermont but his time at Vannes had rekindled his love for rugby. “The first day I came to Vannes, I rocked up and they said, ‘This is where the training ground is’. It was a couple of makeshift tents and a couple of Portakabins and I was like, ‘Oh, what the hell have I done here?’
“But it’s quite refreshing in a way. All the guys, there are no big egos. Everyone is very grounded. They work very, very hard here, they are all very ambitious, they all want to do their best to get spotted and seen and hopefully play in the Top 14. It’s refreshing to come down a peg and re-find the love of the game, I guess.”
Comments on RugbyPass
This sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
12 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
12 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
12 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
12 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
12 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
12 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
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