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Struggling Biarritz ready to swoop for out-of-favour Munster pair

Munster have returned to training after an academy player tested positive for Covid-19.

Fallen French giants Biarritz are set to raid Johann van Graan’s Munster fringe, lining up the summer signing of two players surplus to requirement at the Irish province.

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Back row Dave O’Callaghan and scrum-half James Hart have failed to get much of a look-in during the South African coach’s first full season in Ireland. 

O’Callaghan has managed just a pair of PRO14 starts this term with Hart even faring worse, featuring just twice off the bench in a season where he slipped further down the pecking order when Munster snapped up former All Black Alby Mathewson on a short-term deal as cover for Conor Murray.

That inactivity at a club that has qualified for an end-of-March Champions Cup quarter-final at Edinburgh has made them prime targets for a change of scenery and reports in France claim Biarritz are willing to provide it.

French rugby would be unfamiliar territory to 29-year-old O’Callaghan, but Hart, 27, earned his stripes at Grenoble and Racing 92 before moving to Munster in 2017.  

There are currently eight players from Ireland playing in this season’s Pro D2. They include Jamie Hagan (Beziers), Stuart Olding (Brive) and Dan Tuohy (Vannes), a trio of former internationals who moved to France to keep their professional careers alive.

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Time have changed drastically for Biarritz since they were battling head-to-head with Munster for European honours. The clubs clashed in the 2006 European Cup final and the 2010 semi-final, but Biarritz have slipped out of the picture since then, losing their their Top 14 status when relegated in 2014 and only an LNR reprieve saved them from being regelated into Federale 1 following financial problems. 

That threat of embarrassing demotion was avoided and Biarritz are now mid-table in Pro D2 with hopes of making it through to the end-of-season promotion play-offs. 

Along with O’Callaghan and Hart, they are said to have also lined up Leroy Houston, the former Australian international who is now at Bordeaux, for a move down the French Atlantic coast.  

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AM 42 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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