Josh Strauss lands short-term Top 14 deal after Scotland RWC axe
Stade Francais have announced the arrival of Scotland international Josh Strauss as a medical joker for at least a three-month period.
The 32-year-old South African earned his last Test cap just last Saturday when coming off the bench in Scotland’s win over Georgia in Tbilisi.
However, he was deemed surplus to requirement by Gregor Townsend when the Scots named their World Cup squad on Tuesday and he has now been snapped up on a short-term deal by the Top 14 Parisians. Strauss had been playing in recent times for Sale in the Premiership.
"We have several absentees in our squad following injuries or players selected for the World Cup," explained Heyneke Meyer, the Stade Francais coach, about his successful approach for Strauss.
"We have therefore been looking for an experienced profile to overcome the youth of our group. Josh has played for the Scottish national team, has a lot of experience, but most of all, he's going to give us his leadership. I'm glad he joins the club."
Strauss said: "This challenge is really exciting in this period of the World Cup. It's a great opportunity in my career and in my life.
"Everything happened very quickly. I had to make a quick decision and I’m very happy to be here. I already worked with Heyneke Meyer and I already know some players in the team. I’m very happy to join the Stade Francais Paris."
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Latest Comments
was I right to infer that you assumed a 1:1 correspondence between points and places?
If so why were you so evasive about admitting that?
I've typed out a reply regarding the pool format but I won't send it if you don't answer my question.
Go to commentsFoster should never have been appointed, and I never liked him as a coach, but the hysteria over his coaching and Sam Cane as a player was grounded in prejudice rather than fact.
The New Zealand Rugby public were blinded by their dislike of Foster to the point of idiocy.
Anything the All Blacks did that was good was attributed to Ryan and Schmidt and Fozzie had nothing to do with it.
Any losses were solely blamed on Foster and Cane.
Foster did develop new talent and kept all the main trophies except the World Cup.
His successor kept the core of his team as well as picking Cane despite him leaving for overseas because he saw the irreplaceable value in him.
Razor will take the ABs to the next level, I have full confidence in that.
He should have been appointed in 2020.
But he wasn’t. And the guy who was has never been treated fairly.