-Credit: (Image: SYLVAIN THOMAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Here are your rugby headlines for Tuesday, December 10.
LRZ ‘inspired’ Sexton to quit rugby for NFL
Aaron Sexton has revealed Louis Rees-Zammit’s NFL journey was part of the reason he decided to quit rugby to join the NFL.
The Ulster back has signed up to the NFL’s 2025 International Player Pathway Program (IPPP), which former Wales wing Rees-Zammit did earlier this year. The Penarth-reared product was signed up by the Kansas City Chiefs before being snapped up by the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad.
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And, speaking to RTE, utility rugby back Sexton said the emergence of Rees-Zammit was a “huge factor” in him deciding to take the leap into NFL.
He said: “With Rees-Zammit, that was a big move when he went and we would have followed it last year when he was going,” he said.
“Even over the past couple of years, I’ve always been told, you know, anytime we did any testing with rugby, trust me, you’d be good at it… But I never really thought there was an opportunity for me.
“The second there was, I just took a chance and went all in.”
An Ireland Sevens international, Sexton has accrued 10 appearances for Ulster. The former sprinter, 24, will hope, like Rees-Zammit, his pace attracts the eyes of the top NFL sides in testing.
He added: “Around four or five years ago now, when I was still sprinting and seeing DK Metcalf (Seahawks wide receiver) race. I was at the US trials, where he was racing sprinters.
“He ran 10.34 and I was running 10.43, so I know that I have got the speed. I’m just champing at the bit right now. I’m running in a park on my own, doing my drills, doing my homework.
“Obviously, I do know I still have a lot to grow and a lot to learn. But yeah, I’m looking to go out, enjoy it and perform.”
Disgraced France international arrested again
France and Montpellier prop Mohamed Haouas has been arrested again, according to reports in France.
This incident comes after he signed a fresh two-year deal with his club, with reports suggesting the tighthead was arrested for drunk driving in the early hours bridging of Sunday, December 8.
Haouas is alleged to have had an alcohol level markedly over the allowed limit of one gram per litre of blood while driving around Montpellier’s La Paillade district. Two pedestrians reportedly alerted authorities after finding him unconscious at the wheel of his parked car.
After being released on Monday morning, the French international is expected to face court on in the new year. “He will be tried on Feb 4, 2025 as part of an appearance procedure upon prior admission of guilt,” the public prosecutor’s department said.
Previously, Haouas, who has 16 French caps to his name, had a pre-arranged contract with Clermont Auvergne for the 2023/24 season cancelled when he received a year’s prison sentence for assaulting his wife.
Despite facing a conviction, Biarritz signed the prop in July 2023, and he then went on to agree terms for a return to Montpellier for the 2024/25 season, sparking major controversy. He made his first start of the campaign in the Challenge Cup away victory over Dragons on Friday night.
President Mohed Altrad defended the decision to grant him a deal, telling Midi Libre: “We have a project for him. We want to support him, help him, put him on the right path. Even more than in the past. And from a sporting perspective, we need it.”
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Ireland star named player of the Autumn Nations Series
Josh van der Flier of Ireland has been crowned the Autumn Nations player of the series.
The 31-year-old Leinster back rower played in all four of Ireland’s November Tests, which saw a loss to New Zealand but victories over Argentina, Fiji and Australia.
Van der Flier, who was named world player of the year in 2022, scored tries in the matches against the All Blacks, Fiji and Australia, and maintained his excellent form by scoring in Leinster’s Champions Cup victory over Bristol on Sunday. In the fans’ vote, Van der Flier narrowly beat South African winger Cheslin Kolbe.
He secured 37% of the public vote on the Autumn Nations Series website and edged Springboks wing Kolbe, who finished with 34%.
He 68 caps for Ireland since his debut in 2016, and has three Six Nations titles to his name, including the 2018 and 2023 Grand Slams.
Ben Cohen would trade World Cup medal for a degree
Former England wing Ben Cohen has said he would rather have a degree or life skillset than his World Cup winners’ medal after opening up about life after rugby.
Cohen was part of the England side which lifted the Webb-Ellis Cup more than two decades ago but now wants to help others transition out of the game after facing his own challenges following the hanging up of his boots.
“It meant everything, winning a World Cup,” Cohen told The Telegraph. “The bigger issue for me was that I just didn’t get a skill set or a life skill, and now I think, well, OK, winning a World Cup doesn’t really bring me anything. It’s not like it’s a degree, you know.
“I probably wish I’d got a skill set and a steady job. Then I probably would have looked the other way and thought ‘I wish I could have been a sportsman’. But the reality is I would probably rather have been over [on that other side], because it’s going to suit me for the rest of my life, instead of a portion of my life. When you sort of get [to retirement] you think: ‘I’m in my 30s, who am I?’ And at that point you think, I am lonely here, this is sink or swim.”
He has come together with the rest of his 2003 team-mates to set up a ‘Champions 2003’ charity, helping people transition into new careers after finishing playing rugby and other sports, too.
He added: “When you’re part of something systematic, you kind of lose yourself within that, and that’s your structure; what time you’re going to get up, what you’re going to eat, when you’re going to play or train and everything like that,” he says from the View from The Shard observation deck. “No different to the services. Once you take that out, what do I do? And where do I go? Because I’ve been in an industry that says ‘yes’ to you all of the time.
“That whole adjustment into civvy street is hard, and that reinvention, you kind of fall into being an entrepreneur, because you haven’t got the skills set to go into systematic. I was 32, 33 when I retired. Although I set up my anti-bullying foundation and all that kind of stuff, it catches up on you in the respect of, who am I?”