BREAKING: Jonathan Joseph has a new club after leaving Bath

Following the unexpected collapse of the team's sale on Thursday, the club was faced with a time-sensitive situation, leaving them with only 24 hours to swiftly assemble their squad for the upcoming 2023/24 season.

With the pressure mounting, Biarritz acted promptly to secure the services of Webb, Joseph, and Haouas, bolstering their roster and injecting a new level of talent into the team.

While awaiting official confirmation from the club, multiple French outlets have reported that Webb and Joseph have inked two-year contracts with the side.

Both players, who previously toured with the British and Irish Lions in 2017, bring a wealth of experience to the squad, with a combined total of nearly 100 Test caps.

At 34 years old, Webb recently represented Wales during the 2023 Six Nations and was included in their training squad for the Rugby World Cup. However, he decided to retire from international rugby at the end of May. In a social media announcement, he cited the "uncertainty and difficulties in Welsh rugby" as well as the "opportunity to play abroad" as significant factors in his retirement choice.

On the other hand, Joseph bids farewell to Bath after a remarkable ten-year tenure with the club. Despite having one year remaining on his contract, the center with 54 Test caps departs the Premiership club to embark on a new chapter in his career.

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Owens, who hung up his whistle two years ago, has come up with five possible changes to encourage expansive rugby.

Owens wrote: "As for goal-line dropouts, I was a big fan initially because I felt it would prevent attacking teams from numerous pick-and-gos near the try line, with teams instead attempting to move the ball wide to avoid being held up and losing possession. But I'm not sure it has worked as planned. We still see plenty of pick-and-gos until teams get over, we still see plenty of mauls and the number of collisions hasn't decreased.

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"We are also seeing fewer scrums near the goal line, and to be honest I'm not sure that is a good thing. The scrum needs to be an important part of the game, and right now we are not seeing the benefits of it. Rugby must continue to be a game for all shapes and sizes, and at all levels, too.

Attacking teams are also kicking longer knowing that if the ball rolls dead, the defending team has to do a goal-line dropout and they can get the ball back. We've also lost the short dropouts we used to see from the 22-metre line where teams would compete to win the ball back, or a quick dropout would be taken, because teams now backed up on their goal line just kick the ball long to escape and what happens? The opposition kick it back.

"From initially believing it would work, I would now like the goal-line dropout law to go to be honest. If anything it is having a negative effect."

Owens wrote: "To make it more effective, we need to be stricter about players staying on their feet at the contact area. Jackallers are going in to win turnovers and just being dragged to the ground by the attacking side, which means the jackaller has to let the ball go.

"The attacking side commits two, sometimes three players to the ruck to secure possession, but the defending side often decide not to continue contesting, and you end up with more defensive players on their feet, fanning out to cover the space, than attackers.

"It's illegal to pull a player down in that contact area, so until the officials deal with that more strictly, we are not going to see the full benefits of the 50:22 in terms of creating more space for attacking rugby. The law should stay, and the ruck law should be refereed."

Owens wrote: "We should aim for good performances that facilitate good games. In my opinion, perfect has become the enemy of the good because people are striving for a standard that is unachievable. A frustrating over-reliance on the TMO is one result of this fear of getting things wrong.

"Pressure is being exerted on referees by spectators, social media users, coaches, players, performance reviewers and referee managers. That is a lot of people scrutinising everything. I think we need to take a step back and make sure we pick up the things that matter."

Owens, who would like to see the number of replacements reduced from eight to four our five, previously said: "This is something I have been saying for a long time.

"Every question and answer session I do I am always asked which law I would like to change and I always say I would like to see the substitution law changed.

"We as referees and referee managers in World Rugby, we're always looking at things that need to be applied firmer, which contributes to the safety of the game and that is an ongoing process

"It is a physical game and unless you change it beyond total recognition of what the sport is, you are going to have to accept that there is going to be a risk of injury, but a minimal risk if you compare it to people that are injured everyday in walking about doing nothing."

Owens wrote in his column for The Telegraph during the Lions series: "Some of the scrum-feeds from both sides - particularly in the second half by Cobus Reinach - were beyond a joke.

"I must say that I have been as guilty of not giving enough free-kicks for crooked feeds as any referee, but it has to be stopped as soon as possible now. Scrum-halves simply have to put the ball into scrums in an acceptable manner.

"Everyone you speak to about it wants feeds to be straight. Brian Moore has been making the point for years and I agree with him. Everyone comments on it, and there is no excuse. It has been allowed to creep in, after a brief crackdown a couple of years ago."

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