So long Johnny, hello James, Sean and Paddy.
Leinster will welcome back Johnny Sexton from his two-year stint in Paris, next summer, but the French Top 14 league will be populated with a few more Irish faces for 2015/16.
Pau secured promotion from PRO D2 last night as they thrashed Montauban 30-5. The result means Pau – ‘Section Paloise’ – are on 93 points and cannot be caught by the chasing pack.
Pau have signed All Blacks centre Conrad Smith on a two-year deal. He will arrive after the Rugby World Cup. They have former Munster coach Simon Mannix on Jean-Bernard Duplantier’s back-room staff.
James Coughlan, who signed from Munster last summer, has been a key part of the Pau back row all season. He is pictured on the front page of a local newspaper [below] emptying the contents of a champagne bottle onto a teammate.
La @SectionPaloise sacrée par @sudouest ce matin #Graal #Top14 pic.twitter.com/H6oFtLWW4m
— Nicolas Delage (@NicoDelage) April 12, 2015
The French big spenders have secured the signing of Emerging Ireland flanker Sean Dougall – born in Scotland but a naturalised Irish international – and are said to have another Munster player, Paddy Butler, on the way.
Chris Farrell, Denis Coulson and James Hart are already with Grenoble while Galway’s Damian Browne plays with the Oyonnax side that shocked Clermont 11-10 at Stade Marcel Michelin on Saturday.
