‘Caveman alert!’ - Chabal set for Australia
Ex-France No 8 Sebastien Chabal is set to take the next step on his
career following his sacking from Racing-Metro by playing in Australia
with lowly Balmain. Chabal, sacked from the Parisian-based Top 14 club
earlier this month after falling out with coach Pierre Berbizier, will
make a one-game cameo for Balmain against Petersham on February 25 as a
curtain-raiser to a Waratahs v Reds game.
“Caveman alert!” said The Daily Telegraph. “Frenchman Sebastien
Chabal to wreak havoc for Balmain in Sydney subbies.” Balmain play in
the second-division sub-districts league in the inner west of Sydney,
three levels below grade rugby, and last year saw Wallaby duo Drew
Mitchell and Matt Giteau both turn out for the small club.
“We had a spot in our international roster with Matt (Giteau) now
playing in France.
We looked for the biggest profile rugby player in the world and
that's Chabal,” Balmain club president Warren Livingstone said, quoted
by The Telegraph.
“We contacted them in December about him coming over to play some
games in between when the French season finished and when the new one
started. I sold him on seeing Australia in between the games,”
Livingstone said.
The so-called “Muzzled Wolves” have succeeded in attracting major
sponsorship, Livingstone saying of the club he steers: “We started from
scratch and are making our way up through the divisions.
“It’s just a local club, good blokes playing but every now and then
we'll do something out of the box, just to give everyone a buzz.”
Livingstone added that Balmain's opponents Petersham would not be
scared to run out against the “Caveman”, capped 62 times by France.
“I think they'll really enjoy playing against him. When Drew and Gits
played the other team were getting photos with them at the end of the
game, and that's what it's all about,” he told the paper.
“It is obviously good natured stuff. But I am not sure what they’ll
think when they read this. We're rivals anyway, we don't like them.”
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