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https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/james-fender-forced-into-rethink-after-grenoble-move-collapses\/ <\/p>\nmens<\/p>\n
united-rugby-championship<\/p>\n
James Fender of Ospreys during the EPCR Challenge Cup match between the Ospreys and Perpignan at Swansea.com Stadium on January 12, 2024 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Athena Pictures\/Getty Images) https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/james-fender-forced-into-rethink-after-grenoble-move-collapses\/ <\/p>\n
Former Wales<\/a> under-20 lock James Fender<\/a> is set to see out the final year of his contract with hometown club the Ospreys<\/a> after a move to Pro D2 Grenoble<\/a> was on the brink of dramatic collapse.<\/p>\n Fender only penned a new deal with the Ospreys in April but wanted to leave after being offered a two-year deal by Grenoble, who, a month ago, suffered a third promotion-relegation play-off loss in a row against Perpignan.<\/p>\n Fender, 23, made 13 appearances last season for the Ospreys, but Grenoble cannot agree on a transfer fee with the United Rugby Championship<\/a> outfit, and the deal appears to be dead in the water.<\/p>\n Grenoble freed up a non-JIFF place for Fender by letting Georgian outside centre Giorgi Kveseladze<\/a> leave for either a move to the third-tier Nationale or a return to his homeland with the Black Lion.<\/p>\n The French side are set to move on and have made a move for the Spanish lock Ignacio Pi\u00f1eiro, who is a free agent after his Oyonnax<\/a> contract ran out at the end of the month.<\/p>\n In a twist of irony, Pi\u00f1eiro, 22, could make his debut against his former club, who are due to entertain Grenoble at the Stade Charles-Mathon in their opening game of the season on August 29.<\/p>\n Pi\u00f1eiro, who began his career with Valencia before moving to Clermont<\/a> Auvergne in 2021, can play on the blindside of the back row and has played internationals against the USA<\/a> and Canada<\/a> this month.<\/p>\n A member of the Spanish squad that lost the Rugby Europe Championship<\/a> final to Georgia<\/a> has trained with Grenoble this week, indicating that a deal is close to being done.<\/p>\n The news that Fender is set to stay in South Wales will be welcomed by the Ospreys, who have seen a host of big names leave the club as the four Welsh regions struggle to make ends meet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"mens united-rugby-championship James Fender of Ospreys during the EPCR Challenge Cup match between the Ospreys and Perpignan at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-292772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114918489033758637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}