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Canadian prop Matt Tierney has extended his stay with Pau, signing a new three year academy contract with the Béarn Pyrénées club that will keep him in the South of France until at least June 2019. The first choice tighthead for Canada’s national u20 side for the past two seasons, Tierney joined the Top 14 club headed by former All Black flyhalf Simon Mannix in September after also impressing with the senior Ontario Blues at last year’s Canadian Rugby Championship tournament.
Still three months short of his 20th birthday, the Mississauga export has been a staple in the no3 jersey for the Pau Espoirs team this season, the highest academy level below the senior Top 14 side. Aside from senior academy players, the team is regularly populated by first teamers in need of game time. Americas Rugby Championship second row Cam Pierce has featured in several Espoirs matches, while on the other side of the pitch fellow u20 star George Barton lined up in the Clermont midfield.
“It’s been been going well,” says Tierney. “We had a very strong first half of the season and were on top for a while. The second half of the season has been a real hard fight. We’re now battling to stay in the top six to make the playoffs. Learning the language has been really tough but things are slowly starting to click.”
Pau have fared reasonably well in their first season back in the Top 14 after nine years in Pro D2. Their first goal of surviving relegation looks to have been achieved as they currently sit in 11th spot with a healthy 13 point lead over 13th-place Oyonnax.
Tierney’s chances of playing Top 14 rugby in the near future could rise with the imminent departure of Georgian international Giorgi Natsarashvili to Carcassonne and rumoured retirement of former Scotland tighthead Euan Murray. Juan Pablo Orlandi, part of Argentina’s World Cup squad, is also at the club but not yet contracted beyond the end of the season. Should Tierney find himself in a first team shirt over the next couple seasons he could find himself standing beside the likes of Conrad Smith, Colin Slade, or new recruit Ben Mowen, the former Wallaby captain who is joining from Montpellier in the off-season.
