France international Geoffrey Doumayrou to join Montpellier

France international centre Geoffrey Doumayrou will be joining Top 14 club Montpellier ahead of the 2021/22 season.

Doumayrou will make a switch from rivals La Rochelle after guiding them to the Heineken Champions Cup final where they lost to eventual champions Toulouse.

The 31-year-old started his professional rugby career with Montpellier in 2009 and went on to make 59 appearances for them scoring eight tries. He made a switch to Stade Francais in 2012 and went on to make over 100 appearances for them scoring 25 tries while enjoying Top 14 title with them in the 2014/15 season and also the European Challenge Cup in the 2016/17 season.

Doumayrou joined La Rochelle ahead of the 2017/18 season and scored two tries for them in the Champions Cup quarter-final win over Sale Sharks.

"I am very happy to come back to the club that formed me, the town where I took my first steps in the Top 14," he told the Montpellier website.

"I am coming back almost 10 years later with the desire to take up this new challenge."

Doumayrou also played 13 times for France between 2017 and 2019.

"We are very happy that Geoffrey is coming back," said coach Philippe Saint-Andre.

"He is a great competitor and an experienced player who will bring us a lot both in terms of his intrinsic qualities and in developing our young players."

Montpellier recently went on to clinch the European Challenge Cup after beating Leicester Tigers 18-17 in the final and have secured a berth in the next season's Champions Cup.