A flurry of activity is expected among leading French clubs in the coming months to secure the services of Philippe Saint-Andre, who announced yesterday that he would be leaving his post as director of rugby at Sale Sharks at the end of the season.

Although Saint-Andre, the former France captain, held talks last week with Mourad Boudjellal, the multimillionaire owner of Toulon, he is content to bide his time until the right proposition comes along. As one of the game's most respected coaches and an iconic figure in France, he will not be short of offers.

“I'll finish at Sale at the end of the season and, for the moment, I don't know what I'll be doing after that,” Saint-Andre said yesterday.

Kingsley Jones, the present head coach, will become Sale's next director of rugby next season. Now in their fifth season working together at Edgeley Park, SaintAndre and Jones led the club to their first Guinness Premiership title in 2006 and the European Challenge Cup a year earlier.

With strong ambitions to win the Heineken Cup, it was always likely that Saint-Andre, 41, would be lured home by one of the wealthy Top 14 clubs, who do not operate a salary cap, unlike the Premiership. As well as his discussions with Toulon, he is also understood to have spoken with Biarritz, where Marcel Martin, the club president, is a longstanding friend and Serge Blanco, his former international team-mate, is a highly influential member of the board. One of the richest clubs in France, Biarritz have been in turmoil this season, losing Georges Darrieumerlou, their team manager, and Jacques Delmas, the forwards coach, in the past month. They are languishing in tenth place in the Top 14.

If Saint-Andre does join a French club, it will be the second time that he has returned home from an English team, having left Gloucester for Bourgoin in 2002. Last year, he was close to being chosen as head coach of France, but Marc Lièvremont was appointed instead. A clause in his contract with Sale, which runs to 2010, allowed him to leave to coach France, but another club side will have to pay compensation.

His departure is likely to lead to an exodus among Sale's contingent of France players, with Sébastien Chabal almost certain to leave at the end of the season for personal reasons. The charms of Cheshire life may not be enough for Sale to retain the services of Sébastien Bruno and Lionel Faure, the international front-row forwards. “Philippe has always been the draw for French players here because they can earn much more money back home,” Jones said yesterday. “It's going to be difficult for us to keep them.”

Jones intends to employ a forward coach to join himself and Jos Baxendell, the skills coach, and will take charge of player recruitment for the rest of the season. “There won't be massive upheaval, but we'll be looking for a few signings and we'll still be operating at the top end of the [£4million] salary cap,” Jones said.

The news of Saint-Andre's impending departure was broken yesterday morning to Sale's players, who play Montauban in the Heineken Cup at Edgeley Park this evening.

Andrew Sheridan, returning from the neck injury he suffered playing for England against Australia last month, has been named among the replacements. He will be joined on the bench by Mathew Tait, who has been recovering from the dead leg that he sustained against Leicester last week. Dwayne Peel starts at scrum half in place of Richard Wigglesworth.

Sale's director

Born April 19, 1967, Romans-sur-Isère
Caps 69 (34 as captain), 32 tries
Clubs as a player Montferrand (1988-1996), Gloucester (1996-1998)
Clubs as a coach Gloucester (1998-2002), Bourgoin (2002-2004), Sale Sharks (2004-present)
Coaching achievements Guinness Premiership winners (Sale, 2006); Heineken Cup semi-finals (Gloucester, 2001), quarter-finals (Sale, 2006); European Challenge Cup winners (2005)