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Bayonne - All Black great Joe Rokocoko signed a two year contract with ambitious Top 14 side Bayonne on Monday.
The 2003 world player of the year will join the French side after this year's World Cup which - if selected - would be his third.
The winger, who turns 28 on June 6, has been capped 68 times by the All Blacks and has been included in national coach Graham Henry's preliminary squad for this year's World Cup, which is being hosted by New Zealand and runs from September 9 to October 23.
"He is a young player with experience," said Bayonne sporting director Christian Gajan.
"Joe has the advantage of being a wing who can also play at centre.
Gajan has all but achieved his target he set himself of replacing the 10 players leaving the club with five to six top class replacements as Bayonmne bid to reach the Top 14 play-offs next season, having just missed out this term finishing seventh.
"There are still one or two players missing, in the realm of experience," said Gajan, who revealed that the senior squad had been reduced from 35 to 30.
Gajan added that he wanted to add 12 homegrown players from the club's academy.
"There will be less foreign players next season than there were last season," he said.
Rokocoko's signing follows that of Australian international lock Mark Chisholm - a member of the Brumbies side that won the 2004 Super 12 title - last week.
The 29-year-old, capped 13 times and likely to go to the World Cup later this year, signed a two-year contract with the option of an extra year.
They join former All Black internationals Sione Lauaki, who signed a three-year contract from French champions Clermont, and Neemia Tialata, who put pen to paper on a two-year deal from Super Rugby outfit, the Hurricanes.
Veteran France international utility back Cedric Heymans, who was named in the 32-man squad for the World Cup last week, has also signed from Toulouse.
