Australia international Henry Speight to join French club Biarritz
Henry Speight has played 19 Tests for Australia
©PA
Australia international Henry Speight has decided to head to France next season after signing a three-year contract with Top 14 club Biarritz.
Speight was contracted with Reds until the 2021 season but the Queensland Rugby Union has agreed to release him from the final year of his contract.
“I would like to take the opportunity to say a heartfelt and enormous thank you to the entire organisation that is the Queensland Reds," he said.
“Firstly, the opportunity to experience an elite Rugby program which is surrounded and upheld by quality people, who have a genuine care for the person and the professional.
"This group and the organisation have demonstrated that the Reds are a destination club that will allow players to be their absolute best and the strong culture here is something that I know that I will deeply miss".
The Fiji born wing started his career with Waikato in 2008 and represented Brumbies, Canberra Vikings and Ulster before joining Reds in late 2019. Overall, he has played 128 Super Rugby games with 122 of it coming for Brumbies in a span of nine seasons.
The 32-year-old has also played 19 Tests for Australia between 2014 and 2017 and was part of the 2015 World Cup campaign where the Wallabies finished runners-up.
“Henry has been great for our program. He is a true gentleman and a family man who brought plenty of experience and knowledge," said Reds head coach Brad Thorn.
“He was well respected and a lot of the guys here looked-up to him for advice both on-and-off the field.
“We’ll miss Henry, but we’re happy to send him along his way. He’s contributed so much for Australian Rugby for more than a decade. We wish him and his family all the best for their next chapter in France.
“When one door closes, another one opens. It’s awesome we have another quality player in Suliasi Vunivalu set to join our program. It’ll be exciting to see him battle fellow Fijian Filipo Daugunu and others within our squad for those wing spots next year".
