1
Bath flyhalf Searle to play for 2 French clubs next season
By Ian Cameron
Biarritz Olympique has officially secured the services of Billy Searle, the former Wasps and Worcester Warriors playmaker, for the next three seasons.
The 27-year-old's move to the Basque Country is slated to take place following the World Cup from September 8 to October 28, during which Searle will serve as the World Cup joker for Stade Toulouse.
Searle's new adventure promises to be eventful in his first season. Recently designated as the World Cup joker by Stade Toulousain, he will now play for two clubs in one season as he joins Biarritz Olympique's ranks, as the club look to shore up their personnel.
Having plied his trade exclusively within the English championship, Searle brings a wealth of experience from his time in the English domestic league. The season just gone witnessed his appearances for the Worcester Warriors before he made a transition to Bath due to the former's club financial turmoil. His participation this season was limited to a mere five matches however.
Initially, Searle will step into the shoes of Romain Ntamack as part of his new role for Toulouse, before he has to fight for his place at Biarritz, where - according to RugbyRama - he will face the likes of Christopher Hilsenbeck, recruited for a single season, and Ilian Perraux, a consistent presence at the club since 2018, who is contracted through 2024.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Zebre put up for sale by Italian Rugby Federation
3
Stuart Lancaster 'wants out' of Racing 92 and eyeing Euro giants job
4
Henry Arundell lined up for early England homecoming
5
Latest Comments
"Right, so even if they were the 4 worst teams in Champions Cup, you'd still have them back by default?"
I think (i) this would literally never happen, (ii) it technically couldn't quite happen, given at least 1 team would qualify via the challenge cup, so if the actual worst team in the CC qualified it would have to be because they did really well after being knocked down to the challenge cup.
But the 13th-15th teams could qualify and to be fair I didn't think about this as a possibility. I don't think a team should be able to qualify via the Champions Cup if they finish last in their group.
Overall though I like my idea best because my thinking is, each league should get a few qualification spots, and then the rest of the spots should go to the next best teams who have proven an ability to be competitive in the champions cup. The elite French clubs generally make up the bulk of the semi-final spots, but that doesn't (necessarily) mean that the 5th-8th best French clubs would be competitive in a slimmed down champions cup. The CC is always going to be really great competition from the semis onwards, but the issue is that there are some pretty poor showings in the earlier rounds. Reducing the number of teams would help a little bit, but we could improve things further by (i) ensuring that the on-paper "worst" teams in the competition have a track record of performing well in the CC, and (ii) by incentivising teams to prioritise the competition. Teams that have a chance to win the whole thing will always be incentivised to do that, but my system would incentivise teams with no chance of making the final to at least try to win a few group stage matches.
"I'm afraid to say"
Its christmas time; there's no need to be afraid!
Go to commentsYou are a very horrible man Ojohn. Brain injury perhaps?
Go to comments