Lyon (AFP)

With the return of Mathieu Bastareaud or the arrivals of Izack Rodda and Joe Taufete'e ... Lyon, 2nd in the Top 14 at the time of the premature end of the season, does not consider it taboo to speak of the title, admitted Wednesday its president Yann Roubert.

"It is absolutely not taboo or shameful to say that we want to play the title. As we know, ten clubs can do it. Even thirteen. Competition will be fierce next season," said Roubert during a press conference.

In this perspective, the leader confirmed the returns of the center Mathieu Bastareaud (31 years old), who signed for two years after an interlude in the United States, and that of the opener Léo Berdeu (22 years old), who returned from a loan to Agen.

Better, the Lyon club has confirmed the arrivals of the second international Australian line Izack Rodda (23 years old, 25 caps), the Queensland Reds player having recently terminated his contract with the Wallabies.

Recruits, the LOU also entered the third Australian line Colby Fainga'a (29, Connacht), the American hooker Joe Taufete'e (27, Worcester) and the third French line Gillian Galan (28, Toulouse).

The Englishman Carl Fearns (Rouen, Pro D2) has left, like Hendrik Roodt and captain Julien Puricelli, who are stopping their careers.

Before facing Racing 92 on August 21 in Bourgoin-Jallieu and ASM on August 28 in Clermont, Pierre Mignoni's men, who resumed training on June 2, will go to Chambon-sur-Lignon (Haute- Loire), for an internship scheduled from August 3 to 7.

- Wage cuts -

The club has also taken steps to cope as best as possible with the coronavirus crisis, including a drop in wages for all LOU staff, including players.

"Efforts, which will focus on next season, have been made in a real surge of solidarity on the part of the employees. There are still some technical modalities to settle. The effort is comparable to that observed in other clubs", a explained Roubert.

This effort will reduce the club's budget, which was around 33 million euros in 2019/20.

"I saw that Clermont had announced a saving of 2.5 million euros for the whole. We will be more or less in that order," he continued.

These reductions in wages may be compensated entirely or partially by a system of bonuses for sports goals.

"We have lost 100% of our income since March 1 because we did not play and we could not organize events at the Stade de Gerland. The shop and the brewery were closed. helped limit our charges, this did not completely cancel them. State and community aid, but also the support of our subscribers help us get over it, "said the Lyonnais leader.

"Subscriptions will drop or will not increase. There will be compensation in the form of credits, gifts, for those who re-subscribe but many have given up on this proposal," he said.

© 2020 AFP