Jedrasiak leaves Castres after 19 matches in two years

Having arrived from Clermont in the summer of 2024 on a three-season deal, Paul Jedrasiak will not see out his contract. Castres Olympique negotiated an early termination, effective on Tuesday 1 September, and the 33-year-old lock is joining Pro D2. The contrast with his eleven years in Auvergne is striking.

Eleven seasons at Clermont, 203 matches

Before the Tarn, there was ASM, and a whole decade. Jedrasiak played 203 matches there, 127 of them as a starter, between his first on 4 September 2013 and his last on 8 June 2024.

Over the same period, he played for France ten times, between 6 February 2016 and 25 November 2017. One detail often gets overlooked: he started only two of those ten matches, against Italy on 6 February 2016 and then against Wales twenty days later. The other eight times, he came off the bench, almost always around the hour mark and always in place of a lock.

Two seasons at Castres, 19 matches

His spell in the Tarn proved much shorter than planned. The total is clear: 19 matches in all competitions, 10 of them as a starter.

The second season was the leanest, with six Top 14 team-sheet appearances. His last match in a Castres shirt was on 28 March 2026, five months ago.

At Nevers, a senior role

Standing two metres tall and weighing 121 kilos, the former international joins a young pack where his experience is expected to count. He will be reunited with Hugues Bastide and Julien Kazubek, two former team-mates from the Clermont academy, as well as Arno Botha, who arrived from LOU.

USON president Régis Dumange made no secret of his satisfaction in Midi Olympique. “I’ve been in touch with him for years. He always told me he would come to Nevers one day, but I didn’t dare believe it.”

Jedrasiak will be introduced to the squad on Tuesday at the training centre. According to the president, he could make his debut within two to three weeks.