Posted on April 14, 2021 at 11:51 a.m.
Aurélie SACCHELLI
Several transactions have taken place in recent hours in the Top 14, including the formalization of three recruits in Lyon for next season, and the arrival of a medical joker in La Rochelle and Pau.
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It gets around behind the scenes in Top 14 clubs! Many transactions have taken place in recent hours, whether for next season, or to end the season with medical jokers. Thus, the LOU announced the arrival of three new players from the 2021-22 season, in addition to Romain Taofifenua, who had formalized the news a little early. The three newcomers who will join the current sixth in the Top 14 (six days from the end) are Guillaume Marchand, Mohamed Boughanmi and Lima Sopoaga. Marchand, a 22-year-old hooker, has signed for one season, and will arrive from Toulouse, where he has been wearing the colors since 2018 and with whom he has played 14 games this season. Boughanmi, a 29-year-old pillar, has also signed up for a year. He played in Béziers, Toulon, La Rochelle and Pau and once wore the jersey of the XV of France, during the tour of South Africa in 2017. He has only appeared in seven games with the Section this season. Finally, Sopoaga is a 30-year-old New Zealand opener, who has played for Wasps since 2018 (9 games and 1 try this season) and has already played for the All Blacks 18 times. He signed for two years and will compensate for the retirement of Jonathan Wisniewski.
Jantjies arrives in Pau
In the short term, Pau and La Rochelle have recruited two medical jokers for the end of the season. The Section, currently penultimate seven points behind 12th, Bayonne, struck a blow with the arrival of Elton Jantjies, 2019 world champion with South Africa (37 selections), 281 points). The 30-year-old opener was under contract until the end of the season with the Johannesburg Lions, who agreed to release him. He hasn’t played since last October and a South African Super Rugby match. La Rochelle, second in the Top 14, also called on a South African joker, in the person of Marcel van der Merwe, a 30-year-old pillar, selected seven times from the Springboks. He knows the Top 14 well, having worn the Toulon jersey from 2016 to 2020, and has been playing for the Pretoria Bulls ever since. But like Jantjies, he has not played an official match since October.
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