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Pro d2 club Bayonne have confirmed the departure of Head Coach Patricio Noriega. The former 25 time capped Puma and 24 time capped Wallaby will not continue on at the club following relegation from the Top 14 to the second division.
Bayonne finished on equal competition points with the 2013 champions Castres but with an inferior record to thereby be relegated together with the bottom placed Lyon. The clubs will be joined by a number of former Top 14 clubs in seeking promotion including Albi, Biarritz, Béziers, Bourgoin, Colomiers, Mont de Marsan, Montauban, Narbonne and Perpignan.
In an effort to win promotion back to the Top 14 with immediate effect Bayonne have acquired the services of Vincent Etcheto. Aged 46 year old Etcheto was backs coach of Bordeaux who won promotion to the Top 14 in 2011 and will play in the European Rugby Champions Cup for the first time next season.
Etcheto is from Bayonne and is a former player. He also played for the teams now known as Bordeaux and Racing 92. The future of Noriega is unknown but his name has previously been put forward as a contender to be involved with the Argentine Super Rugby franchise set to debut in the 2016 competition.
Noriega played Super Rugby for Australian teams the Brumbies and Waratahs and was a leading test prop for Australia despite having previously played for his native Argentina in Rugby World Cups 1991 and 1995. His coaching career began in Buenos Aires where he coached by Hindú and Lomas before taking up a position as Wallabies scrum coach in 2009.
