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The top five signings ahead of the new Top 14 season
By Josh Raisey
No sooner has the Top 14 finished than a new season is just about to start, as is the nature of the toughest league in the world.
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It’s less than five weeks until the new French season starts, which will get underway when Stade Francais host newcomers Montauban on Saturday, September 6.
As ever, teams have been busy bolstering and strengthening their squads over the summer, looking to break the grip reigning champions Toulouse have on the league, with five of the last six titles going to the French giants.
Here are the biggest signings ahead of the new season.
5. Davit Niniashvili to La Rochelle
Georgian wonderkid Davit Niniashvili has spent the past few seasons torching defences in Lyon colours, but now moves to a La Rochelle side looking to reassert itself after a frustrating 2024/25 campaign where they failed to make the play-offs.
At just 23, the full-back already has a wealth of Top 14 and international experience, and arrives with a reputation as one of the most electrifying broken-field runners in Europe. The move feels like a perfect fit: Ronan O’Gara gets an instinctive runner to help add some life to a team that perhaps became too reliant on their pack last season.
With 23-year-old France scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec also moving to the west coast over the summer, La Rochelle look to have got the refresh they so desperately needed.
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4. Julián Montoya to Pau
Pau have made one of the most quietly effective additions of the summer by bringing in Argentina captain Julián Montoya from Leicester Tigers.
It may not be as flashy as some of the signings across the league, but the 95-cap Puma’s level never drops. He is abrasive and uncompromising every time he runs out, which is what any team needs throughout a league campaign, and it is no surprise he almost led the Tigers to glory last year.
This could be a transformative signing for a club that’s been lingering in mid-table limbo.
3. Taniela Tupou to Racing 92
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Racing don’t do things by halves, and their capture of Wallaby prop Taniela Tupou — aka “Tongan Thor” — is another example of their all-star recruitment drive.
Tupou hasn’t had the smoothest couple of seasons with injury and inconsistency limiting his impact, but when he’s on form, as the British & Irish Lions experienced recently, he is as destructive as players come. His sheer explosiveness in the carry and his underrated scrummaging game make him one of the most devastating tightheads around.
If Racing can manage to keep the 29-year-old fit, he can help them snap out of the doldrums. If being the operative word.
2. Joey Manu to Racing 92
A sign of Racing’s intent next season with another player on the list, this time former NRL star Joey Manu, who joins from Toyota Verblitz, where he’s been testing the rugby union waters with a large degree of success.
One of the most gifted backs in the NRL over the past decade, Manu has now got his shot at the highest level of the 15-man format. The 29-year-old has power, vision, footwork, and big-match temperament. The Top 14 can be unforgiving for league converts, but Manu looks like the type of athlete who can break the mould.
If he clicks, this could be a game-changer for Racing, and, who knows, maybe even the All Blacks down the line? It’s the ceiling this unknown quantity has that makes him such an intriguing signing.
1. Zach Mercer to Toulon
He’s back in France. Again.
After a brief and somewhat underwhelming return to England with Gloucester, Zach Mercer has opted for another French adventure — this time with Toulon, a club that seems tailor-made for his style of play.
His breakout stint with Montpellier earned him a Top 14 title and universal acclaim, winning player of the year in 2022, but an England recall never quite materialised. At 28, Mercer now returns to the league that gave him the freedom to express himself — a roaming, offloading No.8 with eyes up and hands silky enough for a fly-half.
With Facundo Isa moving to Pau over the summer, they are in need of a dynamic No.8, and Mercer fits the bill in what is an increasingly English pack with Kyle Sinckler, David Ribbans and Lewis Ludlam already at the club.
Never given the credit he deserves in England, specifically by Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick, but he’s loved in France.
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