Tag Archives: Guilhem Guirado

France captain Guilhem Guirado will be moving to Montpellier at the end of the season, the Top 14 club announced on Thursday. “It was a very important decision which needed a lot of thought. Now it is official I am very happy to be joining Montpellier,” Guirado told the club website. Guirado’s current side Toulon said last month that the …

Top 14 outfit Toulon will be parting ways with France captain Guilhem Guirado at the end of the season, the club’s president Mourad Boudjellal said on Friday. While Stade Français have been chasing the 32-year-old hooker it appears his next stop may be Top 14 rivals Montpellier. Boudjellal said Guirado “needs a change of scenery and wanted to get closer …

The nominations for Six Nations Player of the Tournament have been announced, and there are four Irish in the mix… Not even the most optimistic of Ireland fan could have predicted just how this season would pan out so far. Joe Schmidt’s side beat every team in their path, completing a November clean sweep before picking up the Grand Slam …

Mathieu Bastareaud leads France as Jacques Brunel makes three changes for Wales clash.

There are seven Irishmen in Will Greenwood's NatWest 6 Nations team of the week.

France take on Italy on Friday night in the Six Nations in Marseille, as Le Bleus chase their first win in this season’s tournament. Jacques Brunel has endured a tumultuous start to his reign. After an agonising loss to Ireland in the opening round, they fell to Scotland by six points in Murrayfield. However, it was the aftermath of their …

Toulon President Mourad Boudjellal is given an eight-week touchline ban for criticising referees in the Top14.

Toulon superstar and former All Black Ma’a Nonu showed the Bordeaux Begles at the weekend that while age can slow a man, it does not dull pure class. The 34-year-old was at his typically terrifying best against the Top 14 strugglers on Saturday, turning in another ball carrying and line breaking masterclass for the French giants. The 13-26 away victory …

France and Wales are battling for second place in the Six Nations table and with world ranking points at stake ahead of the Rugby World Cup draw imminent, things are beginning to boil over. With the home side doing their best to throw away their 10-9 lead, they took a break from their error strewn ways to charge down a …

Following on from their dramatic opening day win over Ireland, Scotland will be looking to claim their first win in Paris since 1999 and underline their position as Championship contenders. However, in order to do so Vern Cotter’s side will have to beat a French team that will have taken an awful lot of confidence from their defeat in Twickenham last …

Anyone who thought that Ireland and England were simply counting down to a final day showdown in Dublin were shocked in Dublin this weekend. Scotland produced some brilliant running rugby to beat Ireland in Murrayfield, opening up an Irish defence that looked flat-footed in the face of the agile Stuart Hogg and the skilful Huw Jones. Although Ireland’s power game …

Gy Noves is banking on flair overcoming England’s power in Twickenham, after selecting a side filled with attacking intent for Le Crunch. In what is seen as a surprise move, Baptiste Serin has been selected at scrum-half ahead of Maxime Machenaud, and will join the in-form Clermont fly-half, Camille Lopez in the half-backs. With Wesley Fofana ruled out with injury, Gaël Fickou partners Rémi …

When it comes to paying outlandish salaries to southern hemisphere stars whose careers are coming toward a close, nobody does it with as much gusto than Toulon. Take Ma’a Nonu for example, a player who dominated in midfield for the All Blacks, but didn’t reach those heights consistently while playing with either the Hurricanes, Blues or Highlanders. This though didn’t put …

New Zealand’s 41-13 thrashing of South Africa effectively handed them their fourth Rugby Championship in five years and extended their superb unbeaten record to an incredible fourteen games. The win in Christchurch means Steve Hansen’s men are only two games away from equalling South Africa’s 17-match unbeaten streak, the world record for the most unbeaten games in a row by …

Dodgy feeds at the scrum may have made their job title misleading, but hookers now rule the rugby world. In fact, a staggering six of the ten teams from the Rugby Championship and Six Nations have hookers as their skippers. In an era in which it is de rigueur to substitute front-rowers midway through the second half, if not earlier, …

In the aftermath of their embarrassing World Cup exit at the hands of New Zealand, the French Rugby Federation demanded that a 30 man elite squad be nominated at the beginning of each season, so as to protect those players from injury and exhaustion. Those included in the elite squad become available to Guy Noves 15 days before the beginning …

European rugby chiefs have unveiled the short list for the player of the year award. With the season coming to a close, organisers of the European Rugby Champions and Challenge Cups, European Professional Club Rugby, have unveiled the nominees for the player of the year award. Like many of these prizes, the player of the year award is voted for …

England only have one more player than Italy included. As fans, we know that picking a team of the weekend is a fairly subjective process. Nonetheless, we generally agree on up to 75% of selections in any such team. This often leads to long debates as to the composition of the remaining 25%, most of which are in good nature. Indeed, …