CONFIRMED: Bastareaud's new club turns him into a forward

NEWS: Mathieu Bastareaud will start the next chapter of his career as a forward on Friday.

Last month Bastareaud, who spent most of his career playing centre, revealed that his new club Lyon were thinking about moving him to the pack.

"With [head coach] Pierre (Mignoni), we discussed the possibility of playing at No.8," he told reporters at the time.

"I told him that I was not closed to play at that position. On the contrary, since we are talking about change, why not continue! It can also be exciting to take on this challenge over this period. After that, I think I still have a lot of work to perform at this key position. But we will try the bet!"

And now Bastareaud will get his first chance to impress in the Lyon pack after he was given the No.8 jersey for his team's pre-season fixture against Grenoble on Friday.

It's a start of a new chapter for the 30-year-old after Jacques Brunel left him out of the 31-strong France squad for the Rugby World Cup, the centre even failing to be included in the standby list of the players also announced.

Bastareaud signed a short-term deal with Lyon and will take a massive pay cut to play for MLR side Rugby United New York in 2020.