Januarie completes Lyon move

South Africa scrum-half Ricky Januarie will sign for newly promoted Top 14 side Lyon, the club have confirmed.

The 29-year-old departs for Europe after being left out of Springbok head coach Peter De Villiers’ planning group ahead of the World Cup in New Zealand later this year.

Free bets suggested the international player could have stayed with the Stormers had he been included in De Villiers plans for the World Cup.
Januarie has signed a two year deal with the French side as he hooks up with countryman Connie Basson.

Lyon have been busy since winning promotion to the top tier of French rugby, snapping up the services of Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Wasps full-back Mark van Gisbergen, Fijian number eight Sisa Koyamaibole and Biarritz centre Laurent Trainier.

Januarie got his first taste of Northern Hemisphere action after signing with Magners League side Ospreys in 2009, but will now look to be part of a young side that are free bet outsiders to break into the play-offs, but remain eager to show they can compete with the best sides France has to offer.

Earlier in the week Stormers backline coach Robbie Fleck dismissed rumours Januarie would leave the club, describing them as “silly”.

“We haven’t even discussed those issues, and it certainly hasn’t entered into our framework,” Stormers backline coach Robbie Fleck told rugby365.com. “Every single guy is focussed on the Bulls game and more importantly focussed on the Stormers. Our major theme this week has been about us, the Stormers first … about where we are, where we need to go and what we have to do to get there. All those other things have literally been sideshows and the focus has been about us.” He added.

The Stormers went down 16-19 to their rivals on Saturday, and now it seems with just 12 months left on Januarie’s deal, the Super Rugby franchise have decided to let the scrum-half go.