Ford, Beard, Manu and more: Top 14 transfer rumours latest

Ford to Clermont? Simmonds to Lyon? Beard to Montpellier? Thomas to Biarritz? Manu to Racing? The lowdown on the latest Top 14 transfer rumours ahead of the 2025/26 campaign

George Ford: Sale to Clermont

Regional newspaper La Montagne has reported recently that Clermont have made the England international their priority signing for next season, to fill the impending hole left by the retirement of Benjamin Urdapilleta.

This particular rumour – the latest focused on Ford, who has been linked to several Top 14 clubs in the past – had been circulating for a while, but had been largely dismissed because of Ford’s ongoing international ambitions. However, it seems Clermont have decided to ramp up their interest, after all.

Ross Byrne: Leinster to Montpellier

Leinster’s Mr Reliable is a possible recruitment target for Montpellier, reports in France say.

The consensus is that club mate Ciaran Frawley and Munster’s Jack Crowley are ahead of him in Ireland coach Andy Farrell’s reckoning, with rising star Sam Prendergast about to overtake them all.

Byrne was also reportedly in Clermont’s sights, but their recent increased interest in England’s Ford could well put paid to that particular move. That could clear the way for a move to Montpellier for the Leinster player. But other Top 14 clubs may also now see an opening, with Clermont apparently off the table.

Moving overseas (English Premiership side Leicester are also said to be looking his way) would take the 29-year-old Byrne – a Champions Cup and multiple Pro14 winner with Leinster and a Six Nations’ Grand Slammer with Ireland – out of the international reckoning altogether. 

Adam Beard: Ospreys to Montpellier

Ospreys’ outgoing head coach Toby Booth told journalists in October he was not surprised the Wales and British and Irish Lion had caught the eye of rival clubs, including Top 14 side Montpellier. 

He also said the URC club were working to keep their star second row in Swansea. But Rugbyrama later reported that Beard has agreed to a move from south Wales to southwest France.

The French side are very much in need of engine room talent. French international Paul Willemse is on extended mandatory stand-down after another TBI, and will find out in December if his playing career is over. Bastien Chalureau seems certain to be packing his bag for destinations unknown at the end of the season. Yacouba Camara, a backrow currently filling a second-row hole for the club, is also out of contract at the end of the season.

Donovan Taofifenua: Racing 92 to Montpellier

Sidelined by an achilles injury since the closing weeks of the 2023/24 season, winger Taofifenua is reportedly heading south to the Mediterranean coast next season. Word is he has signed a three-year contract – creating, with Gabriel N’Gandebe, Madosh Tambwe, and Mael Moustin, a terrifying rotating quartet of outwide flyers.

The 2019 World Rugby U20 Championship winner was in the senior men’s international squad in November 2020, but did not make any of France’s matches in that Covid-affected year. He seemed on the brink of another call-up early last season, without hearing from Fabien Galthie. 

Since then, he’s fallen down the pecking order, and may be looking for a change of scenery to improve his chances of an international recall. 

Lennox Anyanwu: Harlequins to Montpellier

Holder of the award for most eyebrow-raising recruitment of the season so far is Anyanwu’s reported move from English Premiership side Harlequins to … yes, Montpellier. 

Anyanwu has had an impressive start to the season at the London club, easily filling the 12 void left by the departure of Andre Esterhuizen. His performances had prompted calls for him to at least make the England A squad due to face Australia A at The Stoop on November 17.

And then… L’Equipe reported Anyanwu has signed a two-year deal to join Montpellier, ending any England ambitions before they started.

Ricky Riccitelli: Blues to Montpellier

Here’s another one. Blues’ hooker Riccitelli has signed a pre-contract to move to the GGL next season, according to reports.

Hooker has been a problem position for Montpellier. Efforts to sign Luke Cowan-Dickie in time for the 2023/24 campaign fell through; Brandon Paenga-Amosa left for Western Force; Tolu Latu arrived, then joined La Rochelle midway through the campaign, before Christopher Tolofua agreed to move from Toulon – handily giving those JIFF figures a much-needed boost. 

With Riccitelli on board, Montpellier would count Tolofua, Riccitelli and Jordan Uelese as their main three hookers, with Vano Karkadze as back-up. 

Finlay Christie: Blues to Montpellier

Right now, you might think that Montpellier are the only French top flight club playing the transfer market. You wouldn’t be strictly accurate, but they’re certainly busy. 

It seems certain that Cobus Reinach will return to South Africa at the end of the season, while Ryan Louwrens, signed as one-season cover for Reinach, could also leave. And though ex-France under-20 international Leo Coly is signed on through to 2026, Montpellier are looking overseas for a new nine.

Word is that they have made an approach for the New Zealander. But, to steal a sentiment from Private Eye, answer, so far at least, has come there none. Probably because All Blacks’ coach Scott Robertson waved a recall carrot in his direction, linked to his recent – and decent – outing for an ABXV in Munster.

Herschel Jantjies: Stormers to Montpellier

Montpellier have reportedly also approached 2019 World Cup winner Jantjies to club swap shirts with Reinach.

Jantjies failed to make the 33 for Rugby World Cup 2023 in France and may consider a change of scenery an option to revitalise his international hopes. But so far there is no indication that he has looked seriously at Montpellier’s proposal.

More intriguing, perhaps, is that the club seem to be trawling overseas options more heavily than French ones, despite already being close to their JIFF limits. 

Will Evans: Harlequins to Perpignan / Montpellier / Provence

One of English rugby’s leading turnover specialists said back in April that he was thinking about a lucrative move across the Channel in part because he’d heard nary a peep from the national selectors.

Cue a three-way battle for his signature: with Top 14 sides Perpignan and Montpellier and hugely ambitious ProD2 outfit Provence all said to be vying for the backrow’s not inconsiderable services.

Enzo Hervé: Toulon to Clermont

Urdapilleta is retiring at the end of the season, and another Clermont 10, Anthony Belleau, is out of contract, with no clear indication of what he will do next. An extension is possible. 

But so is the prospect of bringing Hervé from Toulon. The former Brive player has an additional year’s option on his contract, but his options at Toulon may be reduced next season and Clermont seem to think they could tempt him from Stade Mayol with the right offer. He would have the advantage over Byrne of JIFF status.

Tevita Tatafu: Bayonne to Bordeaux

Bordeaux are apparently ready and willing to pay some €500,000 to release new France international tighthead Tatafu – who made his long-awaited debut against Japan in November – from the final year of his contract at Bayonne.

Tonga-born Tatafu, now considered heir apparent to Uini Atonio’s international 3 shirt, was called up to the France squad, before the July tour of Argentina and Uruguay, but did not get a seat on the plane as he still had to complete the final months of his residency requirement before he could play for Les Bleus.

The 22-year-old lost 18kg between June and October, but – France forwards coach William Servat said in the lead up to France’s first Test – has not lost any of his scrumming power, while adding “more activity, more movement”. His debut was not without its issues, but no one is pretending he’s anything approaching the finished article.

Backrow Tevita Tatafu, meanwhile, looks likely to leave Bordeaux for Japan at the end of the season.

Tadhg Furlong: Leinster to Bayonne

An early season rumour you may have forgotten, or at least cast to the back of your mind – Leinster and Ireland’s currently injured tighthead was the subject of reports linking him to a possible move to Bayonne as a ready-made all-the-experience-in-the-world replacement for the departing raw potential of Tatafu. 

After an initial flurry of articles, however, things have gone quiet on the Furlong-Bayonne front. The 32-year-old’s CV has been doing the rounds in France, but the consensus is that the reasonable payday on offer wouldn’t be enough to call time on his international career. Which might explain…

Marcel Van der Merwe: Brive to Bayonne

Midi Olympique reported that the Basque club were looking closely at the 34-year-old South African international as another possible replacement for the departing Tatafu.

The Springbok has become a bulwark for the Correze club following his arrival from London Irish at the start of the 2022/23 campaign. He played 24 times in his first season, 20 of them as a starter, and 26 times last season – 23 of them in the starting XV. And he has been a near-constant in the squad again in the early exchanges of this season. 

If the move goes ahead, Bayonne would be Van der Merwe’s fourth French club – he also turned out for Toulon and La Rochelle.

Sam Simmonds: Montpellier to Lyon

Another Montpellier move – but this one’s the other way. There was a tantalisingly brief prospect of a reunion with fly-half brother Joe at Pau, but it now seems almost certain that Sam Simmonds will swap the GGL for Lyon’s Stade Gerland next season, at the end of his second campaign in France. An additional one-year option on his contract will not be taken up, reports say.

That will, at least, free up a non-JIFF place.

Billy Vunipola’s arrival from Saracens this summer has meant Simmonds has switched from his preferred position in the middle of the backrow to the flanks, after a debut season in France almost exclusively at 8.

Bastien Chalureau: Montpellier to Provence

Chalureau was a controversial call-up to the France Rugby World Cup squad in 2023. He had been handed a six-month suspended prison sentence for violence ‘committed on the grounds of race or ethnicity’ in November 2020, following a street brawl in Toulouse in January that year.

He appealed against the racial element of the sentencing. An appeal in November 2023 confirmed the six-month suspended sentence for violence, but removed the racist aspect from the records. The trials cast a shadow over his call-up as cover for the injured Paul Willemse. In the end, he played just half an hour for France in the World Cup, against Uruguay, and has not featured since.

He is out of contract at Montpellier at the end of the current season, and is apparently attracting interest from ambitious ProD2 side Provence.

Mathis Sarragallet: Grenoble to Lyon

Sarragallet is one of the ProD2’s worst-kept secrets. The Grenoble hooker has been on the radars of both Lyon and Castres, who are both in need of hooking reinforcements.

Word on the rugby street is that the club closest to the 23 year old’s current home has won the race for his signature. He will challenge Guillaume Marchand – brother of Toulouse and France hooker Julien – and Sam Matavesi for the number two shirt from next season.

Which just leaves the future of another out-of-contract Lyon hooker – 23-year-old Yanis Charcosset – up in the air. 

Brian Alainu’uese: Toulon to Lyon

Behind the front three, it seems Lyon are also looking to beef up their second row. The road between Lyon and Toulon is a well-trod one, with players and coaches heading either way regularly. 

It seems Lyon are keen on picking up ‘safe hands’ Samoan international Alainu’uese at the end of the season to add to some already decent lock stocks. His presence would provide additional cover for Mickael Guillard’s expected absences with France.

Gabin Lorre: Beziers to Lyon

This would be a good signing. Up-and-coming fullback Lorre, 22, has been attracting covetous looks from a number of Top 14 sides for some time. Toulouse – who, really, don’t need another fullback – Pau, and Bayonne have tried to pry him away from Stade Raoul Barrière in the past.

But, so far, Beziers have succeeded in keeping him, and tied him to a deal through to 2027, though it was one with a Top 14 interest clause. Enter Lyon, desperate to replace the departing Davit Niniashvili. 

It’s something of a two-season twin blow for freshly sold Beziers, who saw on-loan record-breaking try-scorer Raffaele Costa Storti return to Stade Francais after touching down 21 times last season alone. Lorre scored 14 of his own in the last campaign, including four doubles. He’s added six more in 10 matches this season, including a hat-trick last time out against Dax.

Davit Niniashvili: Lyon to La Rochelle

Speaking of Niniashvili, the Georgian flyer has been the subject of all sorts of transfer rumours for a while. Toulon were in pole position for some time, according to some reporting, but it seems that La Rochelle – a club long on the Niniashvili radar – are the ones to have got their man, despite interest, too, from Toulouse.

Lyon, unsurprisingly, made what club president Yann Roubert described as a ‘very good’ contract extension offer. No side would let a player of his potential – and JIFF status – go without a fight, but Ronan O’Gara’s Rochelais, who are on the hunt for a long-term replacement for Brice Dulin, are the ones to have turned his head.

Nolan Le Garrec: Racing 92 to La Rochelle

Not a rumour, this, because it was confirmed as a done deal in August, but worth noting because of the rapidity at which a four-year deal for the French international scrum-half was signed and confirmed – and because of its knock-on effects further along the recruitment chain.

Racing announced Le Garrec’s departure at the end of the season, and La Rochelle his arrival, before the current campaign even started. 

There’s no denying losing Nolan Le Garrec will be a severe blow for Racing – he scored 85 of their 238 points in the first 10 games of this season. Cue near-instant reports linking them to out-of-contract scrum-halves Santiago Arata and Baptiste Couilloud. Both players, in the end, opted to remain at their respective clubs. Which led, in the end, to..

Leo Carbonneau: Brive to Racing 92

Enter Brive’s now 20-year-old scrum-half and sometime captain Leo Carbonneau. He’s under contract with the ambitious ProD2 side through to 2026, but has recently rejected a contract extension offer, and – according to reports – has said yes to a move to the Hauts-de-Seine. 

All that remains, apparently, is for the two clubs to agree a contract release fee – which is believed would be in the region of €500,000 or so.

Joseph Manu: Toyota Verblitz to Racing 92

The former Sydney Roosters’ star seems set to leave Japan after just one season to try his hand in the Top 14, with Racing 92. 

Prior to his move to Toyota Verblitz, Montpellier were keen to bring the ex-league player to southwest France. But history would take him in a different direction. Veteran Henry Chavancy, who recently crossed the 400 match threshold for Racing, is out of contract at the end of the season and, at 36, may think it’s time to hang up his boots, while Sam James’s year-long deal has an additional year’s option on it – whether that will be taken up has not been confirmed. 

Even so, Manu could form part of a pretty devastating midfield rotation, alongside Josua Tuisova, Gaël Fickou and the promising Inia Tabuavou.

Mathis Ferte: Brive to Toulouse

No sooner does one transfer rumour come along, then another one follows along. And, frankly, it’s no surprise that Top 14 clubs – Toulouse and Toulon to the fore – are interested in the 20-year-old Brive player, who’s nominally a fullback, but can also play wing, centre or fly-half, as required. That sort of utility is worth its weight in gold. 

Word is Ferte visited Toulouse’s training facilities recently – with the full knowledge and approval of Brive manager Pierre-Henry Broncan – raising the stakes on speculation that the defending French champions are on the verge of triggering a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave two years before his current contract ends, if Brive fail to win promotion at the end of the season.

Except it now seems that no such clause exists. Which would mean that any interested club would have to fork out a release fee. It’s not impossible – Ferte is one of French rugby’s brightest young prospects – but one more season in the Correze probably wouldn’t be a terrible thing. Let’s talk about his future again next season.

Baptiste Jauneau: Clermont to Pau

Another intriguing rumour this, and another one that could – and probably should – swirl on past the end of this season into the next one. While Dan Robson considered his future, Pau were audaciously active on the scrum-half recruitment market. 

They attempted a late bid for Castres’ Arata once it became clear negotiations with Racing 92 had cooled. And they looked very closely at Bearn-born 21-year-old one-time France international Jauneau.

He’s under contract at Stade Marcel Michelin until 2026, so they would have had to fork out for a release fee. But now Robson has apparently opted to stay a season longer at Pau, this one looks like it can be put to bed. For now. 

Iosefo Masi: Fiji Drua to Lyon

Semi Radradra is expected to leave the Top 14 and join Japanese side Toyota Verblitz at the end of his current contract.

The French club immediately looked towards Fiji for a replacement, and have their eyes on Iosefo Masi, an Olympic sevens champion at Tokyo 2020, Rugby World Cup quarter-finalists in 2023, Olympic silver medallist at Paris 2024, and Pacific Nations Cup winner in September.

It’s an impressive record. So are his 16 tries in 29 matches with the Fijian Drua. No wonder Lyon are looking his way.

Duhan Van der Merwe: Edinburgh to La Rochelle

Somewhat forgotten amid the recent rumours about a possible return to South Africa with the Stormers – quickly denied by the Cape Town club, by the way – are whispers from three weeks previously that the Scotland winger was considering a move to southwest France, rather than the western Cape. 

Those France rumours – which, for the record, also mentioned reported interest from La Rochelle’s Top 14 rivals Bayonne and Lyon – weren’t exactly rejected by Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt, who said (unsurprisingly) that the club ‘desperately’ wanted to keep van der Merwe in Scotland, and that contract talks, in general, were ongoing.

But it seems that negotiations for this particular move have fizzled out. La Rochelle, it seems, have turned their attentions to Fiji international Selestino Ravutaumada, to replace the likely departing Raymond Rhule.

Teddy Thomas, too, may be en route to the exit door at La Rochelle.

Teddy Thomas: La Rochelle to Biarritz

We have to talk about Teddy. He is out of contract at the end of the season at La Rochelle. And, despite his recent renaissance as a try-scoring outside centre, his future, by his own admission, remains uncertain.

He suggested in a recent edition of The Moscato Show on RMC Radio that he might think about returning to where it all began for him: Biarritz. But he also suggested that now might not be quite the right time.

“The end is coming quickly for me,” he said. “To come full circle, every player would like to do that. Now, to say that I would dream of finishing in Biarritz, I don’t know at all. It’s not the right time. I’m 31, I still have a little time ahead of me.”

So. Maybe not today. Maybe not at the end of this season. But, soon, and for the end of his career. Perhaps.

Peceli Yato: Clermont to Perpignan

Like Montpellier, Perpignan appear to be pretty busy on the transfer market right now. But, if the former are noisily rattling numerous recruitment cages, the latter are going about it with noticeably more decorum. But that doesn’t mean they’re not leaving a mark. 

The club confirmed recently that Racing 92’s Tristan Tedder – a former USAP player – will return to Stade Aime Giral at the end of the season, after slipping down the fly-half pecking order at La Defense Arena. They’re also reportedly in the reckoning for Will Evans’ signature – and Franck Azema is trying to tempt the experienced Yato from his old club, Clermont.

Coach and player know one another well, and it seems Perpignan have a more-than decent shot at getting their forward.

Mattéo Le Corvec: Toulon to Perpignan

Here’s another Perpignan rumour, just to make the point. The hugely promising 23-year-old backrow is set to carry on a family tradition by joining the club his father Gregory played at for more than a decade, winning the French championship in 2009.

Perpignan are particularly active in the backrow market this season with a number of senior players careering towards the end of their contracts. Yato and Le Corvec would inject new blood, but expect to see a couple of contract extensions, too.

Gaetan Barlot: Castres to Bordeaux

Castres’ international hooker Barlot has been a transfer target for some time. He was on Stade Francais’ shopping list last season, despite having another year to run on his existing contract, and ruled himself out of a move to Stade Jean Bouin to honour the last year of his deal with a club that brought him to the attention of France’s selectors.

Out of contract at the end of the current season, he has agreed to join last season’s Top 14 runners-up, Bordeaux, where he will compete for the number two shirt with a rival for his international berth, Maxime Lamothe. Which could be fun.

In April, Lamothe signed a contract extension to stay at Stade Chaban Delmas until 2028. 

Mateo Garcia: Bordeaux to Toulon

Montpellier – them again – were keen on Bordeaux’s third-choice fly-half, who became their second choice after Joey Carbery was injured 40 minutes into his debut, for a while. But they cooled on a deal after he, apparently, hesitated on signing a contract.

Meanwhile, amid question marks over the future of Camille Lopez – who is still to decide whether he will call time on his playing career at the end of the season – Bayonne, too, wanted a player they had called their own until 2020 back. 

But reports suggest it’s Toulon who have won the race for Garcia’s signature. With Dan Biggar and Enzo Herve both expected to leave at the end of the season, fly-half has been a priority recruitment position for the Var club.

Zach Mercer: Gloucester to Toulon

An international snub too far… Eddie Jones convinced Mercer to return to England from Top 14 side Montpellier to stake a claim for a Rugby World Cup place. Then, with Mercer committed to Gloucester, Jones lost his job, and was replaced by Steve Borthwick.

Mercer didn’t make England’s World Cup squad, and has not looked like getting the chance to add to his criminally low two senior international caps.

Gloucester Live reported in August that Toulon had agreed to buy out the last two years of Mercer’s Gloucester contract. Expectations among the fans at Stade Mayol will be high, but it probably won’t take him long to win over hearts and minds in the port city.

Georges-Henri Colombe: La Rochelle to Toulouse

According to Ronan O’Gara, Colombe, who came on as a replacement during France’s Autumn Nations Series opener against Japan, has fallen to fourth in the tighthead prop rankings at La Rochelle – behind Uini Atonio, Joel Sclavi and Aleksandre Kuntelia. 

Which seems odd. And it certainly hasn’t put off Toulouse from agreeing a four-year deal with the 26-year-old, after he turned down the chance to extend his stay at Stade Marcel Deflandre.

With Colombe’s impending arrival, it seems equally certain the Toulouse will release All Black Nepo Laulala, currently sidelined with a ruptured Achilles, from his contract a year early. 

Tawera Kerr-Barlow: La Rochelle to Stade Francais / Bordeaux / Montpellier

With Nolan Le Garrec arriving from Racing 92, and Thomas Berjon under contract through to 2028, La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara has reportedly decided out-of-contract 2015 World Cup winner Kerr-Barlow,  who will be 35 next season, is surplus to requirements.

The scrum-half has said that he wants to continue his playing career beyond the current campaign, and that he would prefer to remain in the Top 14, if possible. 

Midi Olympique reports that his CV has piqued the interest of the staff at Stade Francais – who may be looking to overhaul their scrum-half stocks: Brad Weber is out of contract and reports hint that the club may also look to offload Jules Gimbert. Bordeaux, too, are said to be interested: They expect to have to replace Yann Lesgourges, who is said to be leaning very heavily towards signing on at Biarritz, while Paul Abadie is also out of contract.

More recently, Montpellier have apparently thrown their hat in the ring, despite their evident non-JIFF issues.

Sireli Maqala: Bayonne to Racing 92 / Bordeaux

Not happening. The latest is that the Fiji centre – who has enjoyed a stunning start to the season for the Basque side – has signed a new three-season deal, according to L’Equipe. All that remains is the confirmation.

Looking for insightful, knowledgeable French rugby content? My name is James Harrington. I’m a France-based freelance sports journalist, writing mostly about French club and international rugby. Contact me for match previews, reviews, articles, news, features, interviews, live blogs, or just all-round, up-to-date, French rugby expertise.

You can read my French rugby column in The Rugby Paper every Sunday. And I also round-up all the Top 14 action on the Irish Examiner website.