WALES stars Luke Charteris and James Hook are being linked with moves away from Perpignan as the French giants scramble to avoid relegation, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Stade Aimé Giral outfit face a nightmare scenario of being in the Top 14 drop zone with just one game remaining – at Clermont a week on Saturday.

Given that the Heineken Cup semi-finalists have not lost at the Stade Marcel-Michelin for 76 games it looks as though Perpignan could join fellow big guns Biarritz in dropping out of the top flight.

They are currently locked on 50 points with Oyonnax and Bayonne and must better one of their rivals' points tally from encounters with Castres and Brive respectively.

Relegation, according to French newspaper Midi Olympique, could see lock and former Newport Gwent Dragons captain Luke Charteris signing for Bordeaux-Begles and fly-half Hook heading for Japan.

Charteris has spent the last two seasons in France while Hook has been a hugely popular figure at Perpignan since arriving from the Ospreys in 2011.