The It brives strongly strikes on the transfer market by attaching the services of I Land LandAustralian center with an impressive and just sacred course in champions cup with the UBB. A recruitment that marks the club’s ambitions for the 2025-2026 season.
A European champion to guide Brive towards the Top 14
Table of Contents
- A European champion to guide Brive towards the Top 14
- A long CV like the arm and a rare experience
- An animated transfer window and strong choices behind the scenes
- A demanding sporting context: Brive does not want to wait any longer
- Expectations around Tapuai and the BRIVISTE collective
- A season under tension and under close surveillance
The Corrézien club, which has failed narrowly during the last final phases of Pro D2, wanted experience and leadership to cross the last level. It is now done with the signing of I Land Land36 years old, a real globetrotter of international rugby, passed by Australia, England, South Africa and France. In Bordeaux-Bègles since 2023, he has come out of a successful season, punctuated by a European victory.
A long CV like the arm and a rare experience
Native of Brisbane, Tapuai started with Queensland Redsbefore wearing the jersey of Wallabies Seven times. The rest of his career took him to Premiership (Bath, then the Harlequins with which he won the English title in 2021), in South Africa with the Sharksthen at theUbb where he offered a champions Cup this spring. Versatile, powerful (1.80 m, 100 kg) and fine strategist, Tapuai does not arrive in Brive in early retirement but well to give new momentum to an ambitious team.
An animated transfer window and strong choices behind the scenes
The arrival of Tapuai comes as Brive saw leaving Guillaume Galletierone of his executives, whose contract was broken prematurely. This musical chair game is not trivial: by recruiting a player non-jiff (not from French training), the CAB must adjust its workforce to stay in the quotas set by the League. Recent departures like that of Galletier, and possibly others in the coming days, illustrate the club’s desire to respect these constraints without sacrificing the competitiveness of the group.
A demanding sporting context: Brive does not want to wait any longer
Income in pro D2 at the end of the 2022-2023 season, the It brives gave itself the means to go up immediately. Budget up (17 million euros this season, a record in the anteroom of the Top 14), reinforced staff, targeted recruitment … The coujoux has not spared their efforts. But after two aborted attempts (sixth then second last season, with a painful elimination in the semi-finals against Montauban), the pressure rises.
With WorshipBrive does not only recruit an experienced player: he is a leader of the cloakroom, accustomed to major meetings, who arrives in Corrèze. His arrival must secure the three-quarter line, reassure the youngest, and have a mental course cross the group in decisive moments.
Expectations around Tapuai and the BRIVISTE collective
The integration of Ben Tapuai, expected as an X factor, will be scrutinized from the first days. If the player has nothing more to prove individually, he knows that the Brivist challenge is not won in advance: the pro D2 remains a trapping championship, where experience counts but does not do everything. Supporters, they hope that the science of the Australian game will make the difference in issues.
In the longer term, the CA Brive clearly displays its intentions: to find the Top 14 As soon as possible, and settle in the elite permanently. The arrival of a profile as referenced as Tapuai, backed by an ambitious recruitment policy and a solid budget, gives reasons to believe it.
A season under tension and under close surveillance
With this choice of choice, Brive sends a message to its direct rivals: the club does not come to do figuration. It remains to transform the test on the field and to respond present at the meeting of the final stages, where everything was played on details during the last exercises. Tapuai, who has often shone in hot moments, could well be the missing asset to tip the fate of the CAB in the right direction.
Source: the mountain
I grew up in a family where rugby was all times. I was on the edge of the field when Castres beat Pau and joined the elite, I was in the Pierre Antoine stadium against Gary Whhetton when he made his Haka to celebrate the Brennus of 1993 and I have always been rocked from the legends of this sport. Now, it is with XV Ovalie that I hear prolonging the adventure. #Teamco
