Jokers… Assets? Extra cards in his deck especially. Before moving on Saturday to the French champion Montpellier, in bad shape at the moment in the Top 14 of which it occupies 11th place, the Stade Français, dolphin of the Toulouse leader, is regaining strength. The Parisian club, which has just signed three straight victories against Perpignan (52-3), in Pau (29-31) and in front of Brive (27-0), announced this Thursday the arrival of three medical jokers.
To replace the right pillar Paul Alo-Emile, in the grip of a deep depression, the team from the capital has finally got its hands on its rare pearl with the arrival of the South African Vincent Koch, world champion in 2019 with the Springboks. . After six seasons with Saracens, the 32-year-old joined another English club, Wasps, recently placed in receivership due to serious financial difficulties.
Licensed and free to work elsewhere, like the rest of the workforce, Koch therefore bounces back to Paris, like his Wasps teammate the winger or English center Paolo Odogwu (25), who came to compensate for the absence of Sefa Naivalu , victim of a fractured tibia against Brive last Saturday. Fijian winger or full-back Peniasi Dakuwaqa (25), who arrives from the Cook Islands, is making up for the absence of Tongan international Telusa Veainu, who suffered a knee injury last summer.
“I admit that I am a little lost in it”
“Since the start of the season, we have been playing ten games with only two right props,” explains Parisian manager Gonzalo Quesada. This is exceptional. We couldn’t find a pillar of the level we wanted but we couldn’t go much further. The misfortune of the Wasps means that we will be able to end the season with three straight pillars. We also had the misfortune to lose our best three-quarter Sefa Naivalu for four or five months. Paolo Odogwu has a somewhat similar profile. As for Telusa Veainu, it’s more from a medium-term perspective. »
The arrival of three medical jokers at the same time is spectacular but it respects the rules laid down by the National League. Top 14 clubs, which have a maximum of 35 professional contracts, are entitled to two medical jokers per season, apart from the first lines which are not subject to a limitation. This requires replacing a player dismissed for a minimum of three months and signing before March 31. The medical joker’s contract ends when the injured person returns.
The Top 14 clubs can also recruit, each season before January 31, two additional players, who are not subject to each other’s injuries. “I admit that I get a little lost in it, recognizes Gonzalo Quesada. We have people who take care of that at home. When we have a sporting need, we turn to them and ask them if we have the right or not, if we have the budget. Because it is also necessary to ensure that the salary cap (ceiling of the wage bill at 10.7 M€) is respected.
