Japanese star gets French jaunt
TRANSFER NEWS: While international teams are in Japan for the World Cup, wing Akihito Yamada will be heading to France.
Top 14 club Lyon revealed this news on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old wing, capped 25 times by the Brave Blossom, failed to make the host’s World Cup squad.
Lyon tweeted that his arrival “symbolised” a “historic partnership just signed with Japanese club Shining Arcs.”
The Top 14 will kick off its season without World Cup players on August 24 and will have completed eight rounds of matches by the time the competition in Japan ends on November 3.
Yamada will “share the life” of the Lyon squad from August 7, “in order to learn (their) working methods” and “be prepared in case he is called into the team.”
Yamada has played for the Wild Knights since 2010. He spent a season with Perth-based Western Force, without playing a game, and has also played the Sunwolves, the Japanese Super Rugby franchise.
