Rugby player Bias re-signs for Brive after cancer battle

Back row forward Alexandre Bias signed for French Top 14 side Brive for a second time on Wednesday after battling against Hodgkins disease. The 30-year-old - who was diagnosed in 2009 with the disease which is a cancer that affects the lymph glands - had been on trial with Brive since the beginning of the summer and did enough to convince the club to reward him with a one year contract. "I have been waiting two years for this moment, to sign for a club," said Bias, who was a member of the France team crowned world champions at Under-19 level in 2000. "I am delighted to return to play for Brive and am impatient to pull on the jersey competitively." Bias played for Brive from 1999-2002 before moving on to Bourgoin and then Castres in 2004. Brive also announced that experienced 29-year-old prop Pascal Idieder had had to retire from the sport having failed to recover from a serious vertebra injury in March this year.