Sekope Kepu
Both Sekope Kepu (Waratahs) and Nic White (Brumbies), have added their names to the long list of Australian Players who will pack up and go play rugby in France after the Rugby World Cup of 2015.
Sekope Kepu:
Australian international prop Sekope Kepu has become the latest addition to the conveyor belt moving players from the Southern Hemisphere to France.
Kepu signed a three-year deal with ambitious Top 14 club Bordeaux-Begles.
The 28-year-old Wallaby – who will join after this year’s World Cup – is the second player from the Waratahs to join the club coached by former France captain Raphael Ibanez.
rugby365
Fellow Australian international utility back Adam Ashley-Cooper signed a similar deal with the Top-14 side in December 2014.
Kepu has played 52 times for Australia and will be a key player for them at the World Cup being hosted by England and which gets underway in September.
Bordeaux, who were founded in 2006, were promoted to the Top-14 in 2011 and are currently fifth in the top flight after finishing eighth last season.
Nic White:
Nic White
The 2015 Super Rugby season will be Nic White’s last with the Brumbies after the Wallaby scrumhalf announced he would move to France in 2016.
White has been the Brumbies first-choice No 9 since 2012, having signed on from the Brumbies Academy in 2010.
The youngest Brumbies captain of all time, White has represented the club on 52 occasions. He made his Wallabies debut in Sydney against the All Blacks in 2013 and featured for the Brumbies through their last two Finals campaigns, starting in all 5 matches.
Brumbies Chief Executive, Michael Jones, said he was disappointed 2015 would be White’s last in Canberra.
“We are disappointed to lose Nic, he plays a crucial part in the Brumbies game plan but I realise this is professional sport and he has to look after his own interests,” Jones said.
“Because of Nic’s competitive nature and his tenacity, I’m absolutely positive that we won’t lose anything from him this season. I am 100 per cent sure he is as committed to the Brumbies as we all are, to bring the club a Super Rugby title this year.”
White will feature for the Brumbies at scrumhalf this Friday night when the team travels to Perth to take on the Force in their first trial match of the year.
The Brumbies leave Canberra for Perth on Thursday morning.