The mounting British exodus to France’s Top 14 continued today with confirmation that Newcastle and England centre Jamie Noon has become the latest player to bid adieu to the Guinness Premiership.

Noon, who is expected to sign for Brive, said it had been "an extremely difficult decision" to leave the Falcons after a decade at the North East club, but explained that the opportunity to move to France was too good to turn down.

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"I have received an offer to go and experience something new and over in France, and with three children being so young myself and my wife Rachel were never going to get the chance again as a family to go and sample such a different way of life and a new culture," he explained.

The international centre thanked the club for allowing him to leave with a year still left to run on his contract's and said he hope their supporters would understand his decision.

Noon made  241 appearances for Newcastle, scoring 55 tries, and his contribution was acknowledged by Falcons director of rugby Steve Bates, who hailed him as "an outstanding performer for this club during every single one of his 10 seasons".

Noon, 29, follows club-mate Tom May across the Channel, with the latter having recently confirmed his summer departure for Philippe Saint-Andre's Toulon. And Newcastle's Jonny Wilkinson is expected to make it a triple exit when he too signs for Toulon next week.

If Wilkinson does depart - and everything indicates that he will do so - it will be the second time this season that an English club has lost three players to French teams, echoing the triple defection of James Haskell, Tom Palmer and Riki Flutey from London Wasps earlier in the year.

Haskell and Palmer both signed for Stade Francais, while it now seems that Noon will be joining forces with Flutey at Brive as he becomes the third current England international in their star-studded backline. Fly-half Andy Goode is already there, and it is also believed that England scrum-half Shaun Perry is heading to Brive as well.

And the new arrivals won't lack for British company as they join a cast already boasting the likes of Steve Thompson, Alex Popham, Damien Browne, and Liam and Barry Davies.

The continuing player-drain across the Channel is clearly frustrating RFU bosses, with Rob Andrew issuing further threats last week that individuals could be putting their international careers on the line if they move to France.

But that hasn't stopped the likes of Iain Balshaw (Biarritz), Ayoola Erinle (Biarritz), Shaun Perry (Brive), Joe El Abd (Toulon) and Kris Chesney (Toulon) taking their French leave. And it's not just English players that are departing, with Scots Jason White (Clermont Auvergne), Andrew Henderson (Montauban), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais) and Rory Lamont (Toulon)  being joined by Irish duo Frankie Sheahan (Brive) and Timmy Ryan (Toulon), and Wales' Jamie Robinson (Toulon).

Other British-based stars are also crossing the Channel with Leinster's Felipe Contepomi being joined by Sale's Sebastien Bruno and Juan Martin Lobbe as they follow Saint-Andre to Toulon. Fellow Sharks star Sebastien Chabal has also signed for Racing-Metro 92, while Leicester Tigers' French scrum-half Julien Dupuy is reportedly on the verge of returning home too.

Contepomi had been hoping to go out on a high after helping Leinster to the Heineken Cup final with their stunning 25-6 victory over defending champions Munster, but the veteran Argentine is now likely to be out of action for six months after tearing a cruciate ligament in his knee.

The 31-year-old admitted he was "sad", but trying to stay positive. "I will muss important matches, but I will be back in October, so it will not be so bad considering the time of the year this injury comes," he said.