All Black fly-half Colin Slade has signed a three-year contract with Pau, who have just won promotion to the Top 14, the club confirmed on Monday.
Slade, 27, is considered the fourth-choice fly-half in New Zealand behind Beauden Barrett, Dan Carter and Aaron Cruden.
Slade, who has played for the Crusaders for the past year after previously lining up for the Highlanders, joins a club which is coached by former All Blacks N.10 Simon Mannix.
“This recruitment once again underlines the club’s ambition,” said Mannix after Pau assured their promotion from the second division ProD2 with a 31-5 victory over Montauban at the weekend.
“Colin Slade is one of the top ten in the world who has reached his peak at 27 years of age. For me, Colin is a really, really good all-round player and a really nice young man off the pitch.
“I can tell you that he’s arriving at Pau in a very good state of mind and is a player can only pull the team higher.”
Slade said it was not an easy decision to walk away from New Zealand rugby following the World Cup, but he was excited by the challenge ahead.
“I have given it a lot of thought and considered all my options, but I am now satisfied that moving to Pau after this year is the right decision for me at this point in my life,” Slade said.
“Pau is a club with great ambition that is really keen to establish itself in France, and the chance to play in the Top 14 and potentially European Cup is an exciting new challenge for me.
“I want to make it clear that I still have goals to achieve this year and remain absolutely committed to giving 100 percent until I leave,” he said.
Slade is reported to have clinched a salary of more than 500,000 euros ($529,000) a year, with the Otago Daily Times claiming the 27-year-old, 17-times capped All Black would earn around 660,00 euros ($698,000).
Slade’s move comes as a blow to All Blacks coach Steve Hansen who said last week that Slade, valued for his ability to also play wing and fullback, “has got a really big future. We have got the Olympics next year, for a start”.
“They are keen to take one of the five-eighths, probably Barrett I would say,” Hansen said.
“He’s (Slade) got plenty of Test matches left in him, it’s just a matter of whether he wants to stay and do that.”
Slade, who will also miss out on playing against the British and Irish Lions in 2017, will join up with another All Black, centre Conrad Smith, at Pau.
Smith signed a two-year contract with the southwestern side and will join up with the French club in the foothills of the Pyrenees after the September 18-October 31 World Cup in England.
Apart from Slade and Smith, the Top 14 will also see Ma’a Nonu (Toulon) and Carter (Racing-Metro) playing next season, while twice-capped utility back Francis Saili (Munster) and winger Charles Piutau (Ulster) have both recently signed to play in Ireland.