{"id":366973,"date":"2025-08-23T10:15:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T10:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/366973\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T10:15:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T10:15:14","slug":"french-club-rip-up-script-as-nissa-sign-20-players-in-massive-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/366973\/","title":{"rendered":"French club rip up script as ‘Nissa’ sign 20 players in massive overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A full club rebrand, a major squad overhaul and an entirely new backroom staff \u2013 all with one aim: getting Nissa Rugby promoted back to the Pro D2.<\/p>\n

Formerly known as Nice, the French Riviera outfit has hit the reset button, rebuilding from top to bottom with ambitions of climbing to the Top 14<\/a> and establishing themselves as the latest French rugby heavyweight.<\/p>\n

After a disappointing Pro D2<\/a> campaign, Nissa set about recruiting aggressively. Club president Jean-Baptiste Aldig\u00e9, the former Biarritz<\/a> Olympique owner, brought in 20 new players, from Test star Waisea Nayacalevu<\/a> to Bayonne\u2019s points record-holder, Guillaume Rouet.<\/p>\n

\"VideoPortia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women\u2019s Top 50 award<\/p>\n

New Zealand Women\u2019s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women\u2019s Top 50 award this week. <\/p>\n

View Top 50<\/a><\/p>\n

\"VideoPortia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women\u2019s Top 50 award<\/p>\n

New Zealand Women\u2019s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women\u2019s Top 50 award this week. <\/p>\n

The full list of arrivals:<\/p>\n

Farai Mudariki (prop, Zimbabwe\/Nevers), Hayden Thompson-Stringer<\/a> (prop, England\/Provence), Vazha Kapanadze (prop, Georgia\/Bourg-en-Bresse), Pat Leafa<\/a> (hooker, New Zealand\/Vannes), Rayne Barka<\/a> (hooker, France\/SAXV), Josh Tyrell<\/a> (utility forward, Samoa\/Provence), Adrian Motoc<\/a> (lock, Romania\/Biarritz), Christiaan van der Merwe<\/a> (lock, South Africa\/Vannes), Bilel Taieb<\/a> (back row, France\/Provence), Masivesi Dakuwaqa<\/a> (back row, Fiji\/Biarritz), Enzo Labadie (back row, France\/Anglet), Guillaume Rouet<\/a> (scrum-half, Spain\/Bayonne), Owen Williams<\/a> (fly-half, Wales\/Ospreys), Massimo Ortolan<\/a> (fly-half, France\/SAXV), Waisea Nayacalevu (centre, Fiji\/Ospreys), Jean-Pascal Barraque (centre, France\/Perpignan), Atila Septar<\/a> (centre, Romania\/Provence), Arthur Duhau<\/a> (wing, France\/free agent), Inoke Nalaga (wing, Fiji\/Agen) and Cl\u00e9ment Egiziano (outside back, France\/Carcassonne).<\/p>\n

Alongside the recruitment drive, Nissa also secured former Fiji<\/a> head coach Gareth Baber, who will work with sporting director Matthew Clarkin.<\/p>\n

The scale of the rebuild is stark: 27 players left the club at the end of last season, giving Aldig\u00e9 licence to shape the squad in his own image.<\/p>\n

The Nationale kicked off this weekend and runs until May, with the champions going up automatically to the Pro D2 and the runners-up given a final play-off shot at promotion.<\/p>\n

For Nissa Rugby\u2019s opening Nationale fixture \u2013 a 42-6 thumping of Tarbes \u2013 Rouet, Williams, Egiziano, Barraque and Duhau all started with Barka, Kapanadze, Dakuwaqa and Septar named among the replacements. <\/p>\n

Fiji star Nayacalevu, Motoc, Nalaga, Thompson-Stringer and Mudariki are still unavailable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A full club rebrand, a major squad overhaul and an entirely new backroom staff \u2013 all with one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-366973","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\/115077560631919967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366973","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=366973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}