Director of Coaching, Scott Johnson, will take his squad to the banks of Lake Geneva in August, where they will train prior to a fixture against Lyon OU, who were promoted to the French top flight in May.
The game will be hosted by Swiss rugby club Hermance RRC at their Stade Marius Berthet ground which is situated just across the border in Chens Sur Leman, France, on Friday 12th August, three weeks before the first day of the RaboDirect Pro12 season, kicking off at 7.00pm CET.
The fixture will help Hermance celebrate their 40th anniversary, and will see a number of old relationships rekindled, with Hermance and Swansea RFC having exchanged visits and faced each in action on a number of occasions during the seventies, with an All Whites team featuring the likes of Geoff Wheel, Barry Clegg and Ospreys Managing Director, Roger Blyth.
2011/12 will see Lyon play in the T14 having clinched the Pro D2 title last season, finishing two points ahead of second placed Grenoble, a success that came 12 months after the club had lost out to La Rochelle in the play-off for the second promotion place after finishing second in the final table.
Lyon have a long and proud history, having appeared in three successive French Championship Finals between 1931 and 33, losing the first to Toulon before defeating Narbonne in consecutive years. However, the majority of the following years were played in the lower ranked leagues.
The French club boast a number of familiar faces in their ranks, none more so that former Osprey Ricky Januarie who signed a two year contract with Les Loups earlier this summer and he could find himself playing alongside former Cardiff Blues and Sale centre Lee Thomas, who helped Lyon to their title success last season, while once capped England full-back Mark Van Gisbergen, who scored a try for Wasps in their LV= Cup defeat to the Ospreys at the Riverside Hardware Brewery Field in February, has also made the switch to Lyon for the new season.
