Reports in France claim Brookes signed by Toulon, du Preez also on their radar

Wasps prop Kieran Brookes is set to the quit the Gallagher Premiership five years after he made the last of his 16 appearances for England. The tighthead was a regular off the bench when Stuart Lancaster was in charge of the English set-up. 

However, just one of his caps since the post-2015 World Cup departure of Lancaster have come under current boss Eddie Jones and Midi Olympique have now reported that Brookes will join Toulon in the Top 14 next season from Wasps. 

The much-experienced 30-year-old has done the rounds in the Premiership this past decade, playing for Newcastle, Leicester and Northampton before joining Wasps in 2018 where he enjoyed a renaissance in the club's run to the final of the 2019/20 league in England. 

That campaign ultimately has a cruel twist for the prop - having played in 18 of their 23 games to reach the decider, he was ruled out following a Covid outbreak at the club in the run-up to the showpiece fixture versus Exeter at Twickenham.

"I was absolutely gutted," said Brookes in a recent interview with the Daily Mail. "I was distraught. It would have been my first final. I tested negative but my housemate tested positive and through contact tracing, I had to go into isolation. She’s a physio at the club, so she was devastated to miss the final as well.’"

With the busy transfer negotiation season building up a new-year head of steam in France, Brookes isn't the only player in England to be in the sights of Toulon as Midi also report that the club are interested in securing the signature of Worcester back row Cornell du Preez. 

The soon-to-be 30-year-old South African has nine caps for Scotland since making a 2017 Six Nations debut against England at Twickenham. He spent five seasons with Edinburgh before taking up the challenge of playing in the Premiership.