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Warrick Gelant the latest Bok picked off by French heavyweights - report
By Stefan Frost
Stormers back Warrick Gelant looks set to fill the void left by Teddy Thomas when he leaves Racing 92 at the end of the season.
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According to Rapport, Gelant is reported to be joining the Parisians from the Cape Town URC franchise on a salary of around €450,000 (R7.7 million) per season.
Gelant will move to Paris at the end of the season to plug the gaps created in Racing’s back three following Simon Zebo’s departure to Munster last summer and Thomas’s scheduled move to La Rochelle.
A fullback by preference, Gelant was part of South Africa’s World Cup winning squad and will leave Cape Town after Western Province and the Stormers failed to persuade the 26-year-old star to extend his contract, which ends in June. Negotiations have been ongoing since late last year and ultimately failed, ending Gelant’s two year stretch with the Stormers.
In the opening two United Rugby Championship games of this season, Gelant was named on the bench for the Stormers, watching on as fellow Springbok Damian Willemse started at fullback. Gelant’s first start came in a 20-10 victory over the Sharks at Cape Town Stadium. He also started at 15 against the Lions at the weekend, with Willemse at 12.
Gelant will become the latest in a long line of South Africans to migrate to France, joining the likes of Cheslin Kolbe who is now at Toulon.
RugbyRama are reporting that Tongan scrum half Sonatane Takulua will join Pro D2 side Agen at the end of the season. He plays his rugby with relegation threatened Toulon at present, having spent the bulk of his career with the Newcastle Falcons.
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His transfer comes after reports that Agen scrum-half Paul Graou, a standout player in the French second division, is moving to Toulouse for the 2022/23 season.
Graou joined Agen last off-season from US Montauban on a two-year contract and is now using a clause in that deal to push a move to the Top 14. The clause must be activated before the end of February if Graou is to reunite with his friend Antoine Dupont in Toulouse.
