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Ex-England prospect Ibitoye left on shelf and facing season in ProD2

(Photo by Romain Perrocheau/AFP via Getty Images)

Barring a late call, former Harlequins flyer Gabriel Ibitoye could end up playing in France’s ProD2 next season for Agen, the club he left after just a handful of outings following his Harlequins’ switch.

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He is expected back at Stade Armandie for the start of preseason this week after efforts to find him a new club stalled following the end of an unsuccessful loan spell at Montpellier.

In an interview with regional newspaper Sud Ouest, Fonteneau said his efforts to find a new club for Ibitoye had been in vain. “There have been no transfer requests concerning him,” the president said. “In France, he is a little stuck.”

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A first Top 14 campaign that appeared to start so well following his move to southwest France – with two tries in his opening match – quickly turned into a nightmare for the former Harlequins player.

He did not score again in five further appearances for troubled Agen, a side that lost 26 of 26 Top 14 games in a dismal relegation season, before he was loaned out to Montpellier in January.

It was not a happy move. Agen president Jean-François Fonteneau was scathing in his assessment of a player he had considered his star signing at the start of the campaign.

“He hasn’t been involved since the start of the season,” Fonteneau said at the time of Ibitoye’s move to the Mediterranean coast.

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“He does not invest much. He has a ProD2 clause which allows him to leave in the event of relegation at the end of the season. [This move] is therefore more in the management of his career rather than in the involvement with the club.”

He made just three outings for Philippe Saint-Andre’s Challenge Cup-winning side, and failed to add to his try tally.

Harlequins were, reportedly, interested in re-signing Ibitoye in March. He rejected their advances in a bid to secure a longer-term deal with Montpellier, according to The Rugby Paper.

But the club announced his release shortly after the final match of the regular season.

Now, it seems that Ibitoye may well have to return to Agen to see out the final year of his contract, whether he wants to or not.
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His hopes now rest on a non-French club coming in for him.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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