Cheetah signs for Bourgoin

Centre Piet van Zyl  has signed a two-year contract with Bourgoin in France’s Top 14.

Van Zyl, who was born in Worcester in 1979 and educated at Paarl Boys’ High, played for Boland 144 times from 2001 to 2008 before moving to the Cheetahs in 2009.

In 2007 he was in the Namibian team at the World Cup in France and last week played for Namibia against Côte d’Ivoire in a qualifier for the 2011 Worlds Cup, a match drawn 13-all.

Bourgoin has battled financially in recent times but avoided relegation to  Pro D2 by ending just two places above relegation. They were still in jeopardy because of their parlous financial state but avoided that by providing plausible guarantees for next season.