De Malmanche signs for Stade Français

[TRF_Cymro]

Yet another All Black will make his way to France after Chiefs hooker Aled de Malmanche signed a two-year deal with Stade Français.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,9818_6993170,00.html​

 

[nickdnz]

Well, the French pride themselves on having a good scrum, and I'd rate de Malmanche as one of the best scrummaging hookers around as well as probably the strongest. Not a great lineout thrower, but if he sorted that out he could be one of the best hookers in the world. Good signing for Stade.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Idd good signing, I really hope Hika sticks around otherwise the Cheifs may be in difficulties.
Also quiet curious about the other signings of stade, they sacked a huge part of their players, got in this penible situation with the French court and are now massively investing in a "new" squad

 

[DonBilly]

Idd good signing, I really hope Hika sticks around otherwise the Cheifs may be in difficulties.
Also quiet curious about the other signings of stade, they sacked a huge part of their players, got in this penible situation with the French court and are now massively investing in a "new" squad

In the meantime Stade Français received 12 Million â'¬ from new investors.

 

[Darwin]

Well, the French pride themselves on having a good scrum, and I'd rate de Malmanche as one of the best scrummaging hookers around as well as probably the strongest. Not a great lineout thrower, but if he sorted that out he could be one of the best hookers in the world. Good signing for Stade.

Bit of an understatement really, his line out throwing is atrocious! I agree that if he could sort out his lineout throwing he would be a world class hooker, as the rest of his game is very impressive. The problem is that he has really shown no sign of improving his throwing over the years, so I don't really have any confidence that it will ever be able to throw to an acceptable standard.

No surprise to see him leave the Chiefs, as apparently he wasn't wanted for next season.

 

[Brian44]

As fan of Stade Francais and as I rarely watch Super 12, I wanted to know a bit more about him, so I come here to ask you...

I heard he can play prop as well as hooker. What's his level at prop? Also I was very surprised that in his 2010 season highlights on youtube you can briefly see him wearing a number 15 shirt!!!! Is that a joke of some sort?

Thanks in advance for the information you can provide

 

[Darwin]

As fan of Stade Francais and as I rarely watch Super 12, I wanted to know a bit more about him, so I come here to ask you...

I heard he can play prop as well as hooker. What's his level at prop? Also I was very surprised that in his 2010 season highlights on youtube you can briefly see him wearing a number 15 shirt!!!! Is that a joke of some sort?

Thanks in advance for the information you can provide

The days of Super 12 are long gone... there are 15 teams now... and counting

de Malmanche was originally a prop, but has been converted to hooker over the last 4-5 years. He is regarded as the most powerful hooker in the NZ game - he is very strong in the scrum and is very powerful with the ball in hand. His major flaw (as a hooker) is that he is a horrendous lineout thrower. He is an option at prop (and can play both sides), though he hasn't played much at prop over the last few years.

I'm sure what you thought was him wearing the 15 jersey would have been him wearing the 16 jersey (as he often does as reserve hooker).

 

[Brian44]

The days of Super 12 are long gone... there are 15 teams now... and counting

de Malmanche was originally a prop, but has been converted to hooker over the last 4-5 years. He is regarded as the most powerful hooker in the NZ game - he is very strong in the scrum and is very powerful with the ball in hand. His major flaw (as a hooker) is that he is a horrendous lineout thrower. He is an option at prop (and can play both sides), though he hasn't played much at prop over the last few years.

I'm sure what you thought was him wearing the 15 jersey would have been him wearing the 16 jersey (as he often does as reserve hooker).

Thanks for the interesting insight!

Sorry for the blasphemy about Super 15... I read some news about SH rugby, I should have known!

As TOP14 start in August, de Malmanche is most probably going to be our number 1 choice at hooker while Swarzeski will be playing the RWC with France. So it's important to be reassured about him! (and to be frank, I hope he'll be our main hooker as long as possible, which would mean France is doing well in NZ)

From what I've seen plus your insight, I am pretty sure he'll be a significant value added to the team as he plays as forwards do in SH, meaning running and being more technical than in France. As for the bad throwing, our main hooker has always been disastrous at it, so it won't be a shock.

I hope de Malmanche will enjoy France and playing in the TOP14 where scrummaging is very, very important and is not refereed the same way than in the SH.

Welcome to Paris Aled!

 

[Darwin]

Thanks for the interesting insight!

Sorry for the blasphemy about Super 15... I read some news about SH rugby, I should have known!

As TOP14 start in August, de Malmanche is most probably going to be our number 1 choice at hooker while Swarzeski will be playing the RWC with France. So it's important to be reassured about him! (and to be frank, I hope he'll be our main hooker as long as possible, which would mean France is doing well in NZ)

From what I've seen plus your insight, I am pretty sure he'll be a significant value added to the team as he plays as forwards do in SH, meaning running and being more technical than in France. As for the bad throwing, our main hooker has always been disastrous at it, so it won't be a shock.

I hope de Malmanche will enjoy France and playing in the TOP14 where scrummaging is very, very important and is not refereed the same way than in the SH.

Welcome to Paris Aled!

If you are not too worried about lineout throwing, you are going to be very happy with de Malmanche! If he was an accurate lineout thrower I have no doubt he would have quite a few AB's caps to his name by now (though he probably wouldn't be going to Stade Francais if that was the case!). You are unlikely to find a stronger ball-runner close to the ruck than de Malmanche; you will frequently see him driving 4-5 metres forward with a number of players hanging off him. It may take him a while to adjust to the different scrummaging in the TOP14, but once he does he will be a valuable asset in this department too.

de Malmanche does have a few issues with Asthma; I wouldn't expect him to play more than 60 mins per game (though most hookers seem to be taken off after 60 mins in any case..).

 

[TRF_Cymro]

I would think that De Malmanche's throwing will improve whilst at Stade.

 

[nickdnz]

Found this video, which may be of some interest.



I thought Stade was in some serious financial trouble and as such cancelled most of the in-coming players?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Found this video, which may be of some interest.



I thought Stade was in some serious financial trouble and as such cancelled most of the in-coming players?

Rumoured.

 

[Amobokoboko]

I'm glad they sorted out their financial issues

 

[Darwin]

I would think that De Malmanche's throwing will improve whilst at Stade.

Perhaps, but it has shown no signs of improvement in the four years of professional rugby he has played thus far....

 

[Brian44]

Thanks a lot guys for the info... During the world cup, de Malmanche will be on the field and subbed by one of our young rookies Bonfils (21 years old), who is an excellent lineout thrower and a good runner and tackler but is still a bit weak in the scrum. It should compensate with Aled's weaknesses.

If it's not too much to ask from you, could you also tell me about another player we just recruited?

His name is Fainifo, he played for the Brumbies as a utility back (11-14-13-15) and we can't find a lot about him...

 

[Darwin]

Thanks a lot guys for the info... During the world cup, de Malmanche will be on the field and subbed by one of our young rookies Bonfils (21 years old), who is an excellent lineout thrower and a good runner and tackler but is still a bit weak in the scrum. It should compensate with Aled's weaknesses.

If it's not too much to ask from you, could you also tell me about another player we just recruited?

His name is Fainifo, he played for the Brumbies as a utility back (11-14-13-15) and we can't find a lot about him...

Francis Fainifo is an ok player. I think I've only seen him play on the wing at Super Rugby level. He's someone who looks to have all the skills: he seems to have plenty of pace, has a great sidestep off either foot, and is reasonably solid on defence. His handling can let him down at times, but it is his consistency that seems to be his major issue; he can look great one game then can be completely anonymous for the next few games. If he played every game in the season you would probably get 3-4 really good games out of him, but you probably wouldn't notice that he was playing in the rest of the games...

 

[Brian44]

Found this video, which may be of some interest.


I thought Stade was in some serious financial trouble and as such cancelled most of the in-coming players?

Yes, the private company managing all the sponsoring for Stade Francais went bankrupt earlier this year and was therefore unable to pay the club 5 million Euros that was due.

Then the club tried to open its capital to private investors to prevent an administrative relegation in 2nd or 3rd division. But as they were rushed and pressured they chose a fishy fundation in Canada that was supposed to inject 12million Euros, and started recruiting a lot of players to prepare next season. It's only later that they found out it was a huge scam (Haitian baptist pastors were in fact behind the fundation and stole money from the officials of Stade Francais) and the 12 millions would never come. At this time, everybody talked about cancelling most of the new contracts. The club only had 6 days to find money.

Finally former international and SF player Richard Pool Jones came with a solution involving the investment of one of France's wealthiest families who bought Stade Francais and took its presidency. This solution involved the investment of 9.5million Euros in the club's capital and the new president said that all the contract that had already been signed would be respected. I don't know if de Malmanche's contract was indeed signed, but I hope it was.

 

[Brian44]

Francis Fainifo is an ok player. I think I've only seen him play on the wing at Super Rugby level. He's someone who looks to have all the skills: he seems to have plenty of pace, has a great sidestep off either foot, and is reasonably solid on defence. His handling can let him down at times, but it is his consistency that seems to be his major issue; he can look great one game then can be completely anonymous for the next few games. If he played every game in the season you would probably get 3-4 really good games out of him, but you probably wouldn't notice that he was playing in the rest of the games...

Thank you again for the insight.

It's a bit disappointing though, as our wings were not really strong these past two years... We kinda counted on Fainifo to take the 15 jersey during the RWC too, and he doesn't seem to have much experience at high level rugby in this position...

Let's hope he'll just play 5 games in the season and these will be his "on" games with devastating sidesteps!

 

[DonBilly]

De Malmanche is a French name by the way. Curious to know how French people ended in NZ, Huguenots maybe.

 

[nickdnz]

De Malmanche is a French name by the way. Curious to know how French people ended in NZ, Huguenots maybe.

Well, de Malmanche is actually New Zealand born with Welsh grandparents so if the name is French, it's probably more to do with French immigration to Wales. Regardless, there are thousands of French people who have immigrated to New Zealand.