Ex-Wales centre bolsters Biarritz after Saili, Kuridrani exits

Relegated Top 14 side Biarritz have announced the signing of Tyler Morgan, the former Scarlets midfielder who last weekend represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens tournament in England.

It was May 16 when the Dwayne Peel-coached Welsh region confirmed that the 26-year-old Morgan - capped five times at Test level by Warren Gatland’s Wales - was one of nine players departing Scarlets at the end of the 2021/22 season.

Finding alternative employment in a congested market where budgets are restricted hasn’t been easy for anyone these past few months but Morgan, who played for Wales 7s last weekend in Coventry as an unattached member of the squad, can now breathe a sigh of relief as he has been snapped up by Biarritz ahead of their August 25 Pro D2 campaign opener at home to Oyonnax.

The signing was announced on Friday on social media by Biarritz chairman Jean-Baptiste Aldige, who has been trying to piece together a squad capable of challenging for promotion from the second tier following the departure of numerous big-name players after their Top 14 relegation.

Those exits included former All Blacks midfielder Francis Saili, who is now wanted by Stade Francais, and his fellow centres, ex-Wallabies pick Tevita Kuridrani, who went AWOL before the end of last season, and Brieuc Plessis-Couillaud, who has joined Pro D2 rivals Carcassonne.

Biarritz had already signed ex-Wallabies midfielder Joe Tomane for the upcoming campaign, but their options have now been further boosted by the capture of Morgan, the back who debuted for Wales in 2015, the same year he was a starter at outside centre alongside Jamie Roberts in the Twickenham World Cup quarter-final versus the Springboks.

Morgan, who has signed a one-year deal at Biarritz, spent seven seasons at the Dragons before a post-lockdown switch in 2020 took him to the Scarlets where he made 19 appearances, his last coming off the bench as a late April replacement versus the Dragons.