Bastareaud seals Stade Francais deal

Mathieu Bastareaud has signed his first professional contract with Stade Francais, tying him to the Top 14 club for the next three years.

Stade confirmed that Bastareaud, who moved to Paris from third-division Massy in 2007, will remain at least until 2013.

It completes a remarkable turnaround of fortunes for the powerful France centre who faced the possibility of a lengthy ban last year after he was caught lying about being mugged during Les Bleus’ summer tour of the southern hemisphere.

Bastareaud later admitted he had made the story up and had actually hit his head falling over because he had drunk too much.

France coach Marc Lievremont surprised many when he took a gamble and included the 21-year-old in his RBS 6 Nations squad.

However, Bastareaud repaid his faith from the off, scoring two tries in Les Bleus’ first match in Scotland and putting in several more impressive performances as France went on to lift the Grand Slam.