Bottom of Pro D2 and relegated to Nationale at the end of last season, Nissa Rugby (formerly Stade niçois) have no intention of hanging around in the third division and want to go straight back up. That, at least, is the message sent out by their XXL recruitment. On Thursday, the Riviera club announced the signing of versatile full-back Jean-Pascal Barraque (34). A player with Top 14 pedigree, since he arrives from Perpignan, having also spent time at Clermont, Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Biarritz.

Waisea and Rouet: the headline acts of a five-star recruitment drive

A good bit of business for Nice, who sign their twelfth player of the summer with experience of the French elite, after Hayden Thompson-Stringer (Brive, La Rochelle, Pau), Pat Leafa (Vannes), Josh Tyrell (Biarritz), Adrian Motoc (Racing and Agen), Christiaan van der Merwe (Vannes), Bilel Taieb (Oyonnax), Masivesi Dakuwaqa (Montpellier and Toulon), Guillaume Rouet (Bayonne), Waisea Nayacalevu (Paris and Toulon), Atila Septar (Clermont and Pau) and Arthur Duhau (Bayonne).

Another player to have signed for the Nissards is Wales’s Owen Williams who, while he has never played in the Top 14, still arrives from the Ospreys (he has also played for Gloucester and Leicester in England) and has 7 caps for Wales. Another marksman for a seriously well-armed Nice! Even if big names are not always enough to make a good team, Nissa Rugby’s new president Jean-Baptiste Aldigé has at least given himself the means to bounce straight back and return to Pro D2 as quickly as possible.