Jamie Roberts is likely to become the latest Welsh rugby player to try his hand abroad after Cardiff Blues announced that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.
The Welsh centre, who is nothing short of a battering ram when in full flow and can play a bit too, is understood to have turned down a lucrative contract offer to stay with the Blues, a deal that Cardiff Chief Executive Richard Holland told BBC Radio Wales would have made Roberts the “highest paid player in the Blues squad, and arguably in the UK”.
France represents the most likely destination for the 25-year old and if that does indeed come to pass he would be following a path well-trodden by international colleagues such as Lee Byrne, James Hook, Gethin Jenkins and Mike Phillips.
“We’ve been negotiating with Jamie for over a month now and he’s decided he’s leaving the club at the end of the season, so we’re disappointed but we wish him all the best for the future,” Holland said.
Racing Metro are the early favourites to sign Roberts, but there will certainly be no shortage of suitors for a man who has 44 caps for Wales, two Grand Slams and a Lions Tour under his belt and looks likely to be a prominent figure when the Lions tour Australia in the summer. He also has one of the squarest faces in rugby, but we won’t hold that against him.
When you consider how many Welsh players have headed abroad in recent times, it shows how well the IRFU have done to hold on to some of our finest players, many of whom are probably delighted they aren’t likely to face Roberts in the Rabo PRO12 next season.
Likewise, some of the centres in the Top 14 won’t be relishing the prospect of having to tackle him when he gets up a head of steam and, as Donncha O’Callaghan will attest after trying to take him down in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final last year, with good reason too.
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