{"id":367265,"date":"2025-08-23T12:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T12:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/367265\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T12:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T12:58:13","slug":"wales-star-among-20-new-signings-as-ambitious-club-rip-everything-up-and-start-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/367265\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales star among 20 new signings as ambitious club rip everything up and start again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The former Wales international will play in the third tier of French rugby<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_261223-Scarlets-v-Ospreys-United-Rugby-Championship-.jpg\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Owen Williams has left the Ospreys for France(Image: Gruffydd Thomas\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Former Wales playmaker Owen Williams is one of 20 players who have been announced as new signings for ambitious French outfit Nissa Rugby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Nissa Rugby suffered relegation from PRO D2 last season &#8211; the second tier of French rugby &#8211; when they were known as Stade Nicois.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">They will play this season in the Championnat F\u00e9d\u00e9ral Nationale and have rebranded as Nissa Rugby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">In a bid to win promotion back into PRO D2 at the first time of asking the Nice-based club have been on an aggressive recruitment drive under wealthy president Jean-Baptiste Aldig\u00e9. <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/walesrugby.substack.com\/subscribe?coupon=7b6a76da\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The 33-year-old Williams, who has won 10 caps for Wales, joins from the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/ospreys\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Ospreys<\/a> while the club also have two Welshmen in the coaching team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Former Dragons attack coach <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/barry\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Barry<\/a> Maddocks has come on board along with Gareth Baber, who is a former <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/cardiff\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Cardiff<\/a> coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">They have also signed Fijian centre Waisea Nayacalevu who had signed for the Ospreys last season but the Welsh club cancelled his contract before he had played a single game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Following their relegation from PRO D2 27 players have left the club. <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va3GNLN3LdQXSBPCAX2M\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Join WalesOnline Rugby&#8217;s WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_CDF_110323_Italy_V_Wales130JPG.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Owen Williams (centre) pictured playing for Wales in 2023(Image: Ben Evans\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Williams will be a key signing for the ambitious French club with the former <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/scarlets\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Scarlets<\/a>, Leicester Tigers, Gloucester and Ospreys man bringing a load of experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The 33-year-old is an outstanding goal kicker and an excellent tactician who will bring experience and control.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Williams is also a very good playmaker with peripheral vision who tends to get the best out of his outside backs. <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=e90f3817-255f-4349-881b-d9a4515d3f52&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">There are a handful of Welsh players in France, including Sam Davies at Grenoble and Owen Lane who is at Valance Romans in PRO D2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">With the Welsh Rugby Union looking to cut from four to two professional clubs in the near future there are likely to be more Welsh players headed for France.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Each club is limited on the number of overseas-based players but while most people focus on the Top 14 there are opportunities in PRO D2 and the divisions below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Wales international will play in the third tier of French rugbyOwen Williams has left the Ospreys&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,128590,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-367265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-owen-williams-leicester","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115078201609777553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367265","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=367265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}