New Zealand and Samoa international Krisnan Inu has signed to play with current French Elite 1 champions Lezignan FC XIII this season. He will join the club for training on Tuesday 2 November.

It is another coup for former coach and club Recruitment Director Aurelien Coligni that will also see James Maloney pull on the green jersey from 1 December this year.

With Inu and Maloney joining fellow former NRL players Sam Moa and Jason Batieri at the club, Lezignan must be considered hot favourites to clinch back to back Elite 1 titles.

Lezignan Secretary General Meky Benhalima told Everything Rugby League the club is “very happy to sign such a quality player.”

“He has a lot of experience, he is the second world champion of the team. Our young players training at the club will be able to learn from him.

“I think that it can give another media dimension to the Championship and bring people back to the stands!”

Krisnan Inu played 139 NRL games after debuting for Parramatta in 2007. The 34 year old went on to represent the NZ Warriors and Canterbury Bulldogs before heading to Super League and playing a total of 117 matches at Catalans, Widnes and Salford. The centre/winger who possesses silky ball skills played 11 matches in 2021 for the Red Devils.

Inu has represented New Zealand on six occasions while playing one international match for Samoa.

It has been suggested in French media that Inu may play in the back row for Lezignan this season.

While Lezignan has recruited Inu, they will lose prop forward Lambert Belmas who has signed with Toulouse.