Louis Jouffret still hoping for more Featherstone Rovers appearances before joining Ottawa Aces

The Frenchman joined Rovers from Batley ahead of the 2020 campaign and played five games for the club before the Championship campaign was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Championship and League 1 clubs could still play again this year after the Rugby Football League proposed a tournament could be played this autumn, with a prize pot of £250,000.

A number of clubs have already declined an invite to play in the competition but Featherstone are still yet to make a decision.

Jouffret will join the Aces ahead of the 2021 campaign but hopes he can turn out in Rovers colours before the end of the year.

“I don’t know what it is like now because we have the autumn competition so we are just waiting to hear some news,” he told the Betfred Championship Weekly podcast.

“I am just hoping I can play for Featherstone before the end of November this year.

“I think we started well. We got two wins in the cup and four in the league.

“We played really well and I just felt we could have done something this year, but things happen you can’t control and you have to deal with it.

“I will have positive memories from my time at Fev, even though it was short.”

The Aces will begin in League 1 in 2021 – just like Toronto Wolfpack four years ago.

Ottawa has a strong French-speaking population, which should make the arrival of Jouffret a popular one.

“I am really looking forward to it, I am really happy to the first signing and I can’t wait to see the other signings,” continued Jouffret.

“It is a great opportunity with them targeting Super League. I think it will work really well.”

Jouffret will spend plenty of time travelling back and forth to Canada but said of the logistics of signing for the club: “They are going to be hard but I am going to get used to it. It is what we get paid for, we just need to get the job done.

“I am looking forward to discover new teams and see a different league.”

Laurent Frayssinous was named as the head coach of the new club at the beginning of July.

He was previously in charge of Catalans Dragons for more than four seasons although he has been without a club since departing Perpignan in 2017.

Jouffret was also in the Dragons academy during Frayssinous’s time in charge.