Stuart Olding could be playing against some very familiar faces in his Brive debut.
It was announced last week that Stuart Olding had signed for Brive in the PRO D2. The French club snapped the centre up after his Ulster and IRFU contract was revoked last month. The decision was made to let Olding go after a joint internal review between the province and the union following his acquittal of rape charges at Belfast Crown Court in March.
Olding had been linked with moves to Sale Sharks and the Exeter Chiefs. However, both clubs publicly distanced themselves from Olding after initial reports linking him with those moves started gathering momentum. At Brive, he will be playing under former Ulster forward Jeremy Davidson. The Belfast native succeeded Nicolas Godignon as head coach after they were relegated from the Top 14.
Olding’s Brive debut could come against an Irish province. Connacht rugby confirmed to SportsJOE that they will play Brive in a pre-season friendly on August 11 at Arnac Pompadour. The fixture was first reported by John Fallon in The Belfast Telegraph and Independent.ie. This game could also be the first time we see Andy Friend at the helm of Connacht.
Connacht will also travel to Pat Lam’s Bristol for a preseason friendly. This is a return fixture of the game played at the Sportsground last summer.
