the essential
On this Monday, July 1st, the date of integration of the new faces into training, the Agen recruitment, launched this summer, was discussed.
The SUA has been moving quite a bit in the last few hours. On Friday, USAP made the arrival of Jefferson-Lee Joseph official. On Saturday, President Fonteneau’s club published a press release on the subject, mentioning “a request from the player to be able to play in the Top 14 starting next season”. “The SUA has decided to release him from the last year of his contract”, we could read in particular.
This Sunday, the Agenais made official the arrival of Suresnes captain Hayam El Bibouji. The hooker (1.83 m, 101 kg), aged 22, will be loaned by Section Paloise for one year. Last season, he participated in 21 matches with the National semi-finalist, including fifteen as a starter.
Macharashvili to replace Hamadache
This Monday, Agen announced the arrival of a new recruit. This is the Georgian Lasha Macharashvili. Author of a very good season in Pro D2 with Mont-de-Marsan two years ago, he had attracted the interest of certain Top 14 teams, including Montpellier. But his arrival in the Hérault club did not go as planned. With the MHR, the right pillar (1.91 m, 125 kg), aged 25, has only played eleven matches in all competitions, including four as a starter. He has signed up until 2027.
His arrival should help compensate for the probable end of Malik Hamadache’s career, whose last match dates back to the beginning of January against Valence-Romans. In total, with the Georgian, the SUA has made ten recruits official: hookers Hayam El Bibouji (Suresnes), Lucas Malbert (Rouen) and Santiago Socino (Gloucester), prop Lacha Macharashvili (Montpellier), second rows Mathieu de Giovanni (Stade Français) and John Madigan (Béziers), scrum-half Jack Maunder (Rebels), fly-half Franck Pourteau (Rouen) and Billy Searle (Biarritz), and winger Lucas Martins (Blagnac).
Contacted about the SUA recruitment and the possibility of bringing in an additional player, president Jean-François Fonteneau was rather clear: “Normally, it’s done. We don’t rule out looking at profiles later. But it’s not on the agenda at this point.”
The club should therefore stop at ten recruits for the professional group. In this sense, the arrivals once mentioned of the young third row of Stade Toulousain Léo Labarthe or the French international at 7 Thibaud Mazzoleni seem no longer to be anything but a distant illusion, just like the possibility of recruiting a winger to replace Jefferson-Lee Joseph. Agen should attack the season with its current group.
