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Canadian prop Doug Wooldridge is joining Clermont Auvergne. Multiple French sources had indicated that the World Cup tighthead was one of several targets for the Top 14 club as a medical joker for long-term casualty Davit Zirakashvili, and Rugby Canada has now confirmed the signing. Zirakashvili, a Georgian international, fractured his right forearm against Brive in December for the second time and is not expected to return until May at the earliest.
Wooldridge joins from the Castaway Wanderers club in Victoria, though he originally hails from Lindsay, Ontario, and represents the Blues in the Canadian Rugby Championship. Despite winning 23 caps since 2009 and being recognized as one of the strongest scrummagers in Canadian rugby, this will be his first foray into professional rugby, though he did have a stint with Welsh club RGC 1404 in 2010. He arrives with a recommendation from World Cup teammate Jamie Cudmore, who will ironically be sitting out the next couple months after undergoing surgery on a herniated disc in his neck.
Wooldridge has signed for three months and is expected to be added to Clermont’s European Champions Cup squad immediately.
