Clermont head coach says club have ‘no desire’ to sign Paddy Jackson

Jackson had been linked with the French side this week.

Clermont Auvergne head coach Franck Azema has rubbished reports linking his side with a move for Paddy Jackson. The 26-year-old fly-half was this week strongly linked with the French club after having his contract revoked by Ulster Rugby and the IRFU. Jackson and former teammate, Stuart Olding, are looking for new employers after an internal review into their behaviour resulted in ending their association with the province Jackson and Olding were acquitted of rape at a trial in Belfast last month, with Jackson also found not guilty of sexual assault. Having been let go by Ulster, Jackson was strongly linked with Clermont but Azema has moved to pour cold water over recent speculation. “The Irish out-half will not come,” Azema said.

"There is no contact between Paddy Jackson and the club and no desire on our part to engage his services." "I trust our squad in this position where we do not lack resources with Camille Lopez, Patricio Fernandez, Isaia Toeava and Dorian Lavernhe who continues to progress and whom we trust. With the constraints imposed by the Salary Cap, it is not possible to strengthen the position where the internal solutions are numerous."

Azema's comments came roughly 24 hours after Aviva Premiership leaders Exeter denied interest in signing Olding, with forwards coach Rob Hunter saying the 25-year-old was not on the club's radar. https://twitter.com/ASMOfficiel/status/985897419496882176 "I can tell you what I know, which is absolutely nothing," Hunter said following Exeter's win over London Irish on Sunday.

"It's not something that we've discussed in the office. So it's another one of those where we've been linked to somebody but we've not spoken to an agent and we've not spoken to a player.

"It's not on our radar at all. We get linked to lots of players, it's just not on our radar, it's nothing to do with us really."