The right pillar Owen Franks, double world champion with New Zealand, has signed up for Toulouse as a World Cup joker, the outgoing winner of the Top 14 announced on Wednesday. Franks, 35, is a big name in the world. world rugby. He won the World Cup twice in 2011 and 2015 for the All Blacks, with whom he has 108 caps.
The New Zealand pillar had been playing for the Hurricanes for two seasons, in Super Rugby, after having had a first experience in Europe, in Northampton, between 2019 and 2021. Stade Toulouse, the main supplier of the Blues, is deprived for the start of the season 2023-2024 of about fifteen internationals due to the World Cup in France (September 8-October 28), including the French right pillars Dorian Aldegheri and New Zealand Nepo Laulala.
In order to compensate for these absences, the reigning French champion had already enlisted six World Cup jokers, including the Samoan third line Piula Faaselele, the Fijian three-quarters Setareki Bituniyata or the New Zealand winger George Tilsley. Toulouse will begin the defense of its Top 14 title with a trip to Bayonne on Friday August 18.
