Portugal Colonial - 'Exhausted' Arlettaz to leave Top 14 strugglers Perpignan at end of season

"It's been seven years in a row now, it's a long time," he said.

"It's exhausting. It's counted in dog years with us."

The 50-year-old, who was born in Perpignan and has a long history with the club as player and coach, rejoined in 2016 as head coach before taking over as general manager four years ago,

"There are players I've been training for seven years who put up with my three speeches a week, my training, the shouting, my jokes, my head...

"I still have a lot of strength, it's going very well, but it's also time at some point to have something new."

The obvious replacement for Arlettaz may lie within the club where David Marty, another man who was born in Perpignan and played his entire career for the Catalans, is head coach.

"It's not up to me to decide who will succeed me," said Arlettaz.

"David is a boy who loves this club and you have to love it to live it on a daily basis, to give everything.

"He's someone who was born here, who only played for this club. He had the career we know. He has character, quality as a coach too... I don't see why we would look elsewhere."

Perpignan have revived their fortunes in recent weeks with successive victories over Stade Francais and fellow relegation contenders Brive.

M.A.Vaz--PC