Chabal admits he could quit Sale

Chabal could not prevent Sale losing 24-16 to Munster on Sunday

Back-row forward Sebastien Chabal has admitted he may be forced to quit Sale and return to France at the end of the season for personal reasons.

The 30-year-old France international has become a cult figure at the club since joining from Bourgoin in 2004.

Chabal told L'Equipe: "As it stands, I am under contract at Sale until 2011, with that last season as an option.

"I feel good there, but there are personal reasons which mean I could return to France."

Chabal has spoken to Sale director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre about his future and added: "Personally, I want to stay at Sale where I am playing at the heart of a very good team.

He will finish the season with us and he will leave

Sale director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre on Chabal's future

"My wife and my kids live in England. They haven't moved away. But my eldest is studying in France and it is true that my wife, who has also stayed in France with the little one, hasn't come back since the end of the [summer] holidays.

"At the moment I am coming and going and it is weighing on me.

"If I have a family, it is to live with them, so that is bothering me."

Chabal, who rejected an offer to join Toulon in the summer, said it was Saint-Andre's idea that he could quit Edgeley Park at the end of the season.

"I wouldn't have wanted to speak about it so early in the season but it was Philippe who brought up the subject," Chabal added.

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What would Chabal's departure mean for Sale?

"He said: 'You can't continue like this. You could return to France next season'. It was just an idea thrown out there by Philippe."

Chabal, who has won 30 caps for France, won the Premiership title with Sale in 2006.

And although his agent Miguel Fernandez has admitted there has been no contact with any French club, Saint-Andre expects his fellow countryman to move on at the end of the campaign.

"He will finish the season with us and he will leave," said Saint-Andre. "We can't keep a player against his wish and stop him from being happy."