The great thing about summer is that even if I do not play sevens( a chunky 47 year old prop trying to play sevens would NOT be a pretty sight), there is the Tri-Nations championship pitting Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in a proverbial three scorpions-in-a-bottle-deathmatch. South Africa, the defending Rugby World Cup Champs split a pair of games in New Zealand, and lost a tight one to the Wallabys in Perth this past weekend.

Summertime in the Northern Hemisphere is transfer season for European clubs. The French clubs in the Top 14 have been particularly busy. Here is a rundown from Planetrugby.com :

Transfer river flows to France
France’s Top 14 continues to attract players from all around the world and at an ever increasing pace. We take a closer look at who has gone where in what the French press are calling an “arms race” as every club, without exception, has reinforced its ranks with big name players and ‘foreigners’ in the front lines.

After a transfer season that saw some serious traffic, one would be forgiven for asking who isn’t off to play in France next season.

To say there is a global mass exodus towards France might be a bit of an exaggeration, but since last year’s World Cup, the trickle has become a torrent as the flow of players towards the Top 14 - especially from the Southern Hemisphere - intensifies.

A new trend is also emerging.

Players from the British Isles are jumping on the bandwagon as the attraction of the sunny Mediterranean and French cuisine is become an interesting counterweight to the power of the Pound.

The Super 14 however remains the favourite hunting ground, or should we say ’supermarket’. You can’t blame the French clubs for waving their Euros: with the exception of a handful of superstars, pound-for-pound (no pun intended), Southern Hemisphere players are just plain cheaper than their French counterparts and often come with international experience. This time around they’re even more attractive since they will immediately be fully operational under the ELVs.

Les Stars d’adord. There’s no coincidence that the biggest names are heading for the Mediterranean coast. Take a look at a weather report for any given day in mid-winter and you’ll notice that while the vast majority of Western Europe is covered with rain and cold, a small pocket of golden sunshine is ever-present on the French south coast where you’ll find Toulon, Perpignan and Montpellier.

Of course Perpignan have stolen the limelight by replacing one of the world’s best place-kickers (Percy Montgomery) with the world’s best fly-half, Dan Carter. 700,000 Euros isn’t bad for seven months in Catalogne. Those tapas are going to taste mighty good. They’ve also recruited centre Maxime Mermoz from Toulouse and wing Farid Sid, who returns from Brive.

The red carpet has been rolled out at big spending Toulon for Jerry Collins (reportedly for a whopping 1,2 million Euros for three years), who will join his cousin Tana Umaga in one of Europe’s most beautiful and laid-back regions. He will team up with, amongst others, former Wallaby scrum-half Matt Henjak and Rugby League star Luke Rooney (from Penrith Panthers).

Victor Matfield might have packed his bags but the newly-promoted club have simply bought a new line-out combination from South Africa in the form of Stormers hooker Tiaan Liebenberg and locks Ross Skeate and Francois van der Merwe. Rumours have also all but been confirmed regarding the arrival of Springbok loose forward Joe Van Niekerk.

Of the myriad moves by French clubs, Perpignan getting All Black poster child Dan Carter is by far the most high profile move. Clearly these moves are going to make the Top 14 a better league, but will also make for some compelling Heineken Cup matches for teams like Toulouse, Clermont Auvergne, Stade Francais, Perpignan, Biarritz, Castres and Montbauban.

Maybe Setanta Sports might start showing some top 14 games and not just the Magners League and the English Premiership. One can hope…