Saturday, 14 December 2013

CHRIS FOY"S WORLD OF RUGBY: French clubs lose appeal as Metro go off the ...


By

Chris Foy




PUBLISHED:


22:25, 12 December 2013




|

UPDATED:


00:53, 13 December 2013



As a warning about what lies behind the pay slips and postcards, it was mightily effective. Racing Metro’s capitulation at ‘home’ to Harlequins last Saturday may have profound repercussions.


For all those players around the home unions who are weighing up enticing offers to move to France, footage of the Parisian club’s 32-8 Heineken Cup loss to Harlequins in Nantes should be essential viewing.


One of the Top 14 league’s wealthiest teams, awash with multi-national talent and hell-bent on signing even more, were reduced to an abject rabble.


Tackle: Chris Robshaw (centre) is challenged for the ball by France


Tackle: Chris Robshaw (centre) is challenged for the ball by France’s Racing Metro 92 Bernard Le Roux



Winners: Harlequins players Sam Smith celebrate their 8-32 win at the end of their match against France


Winners: Harlequins players Sam Smith celebrate their 8-32 win at the end of their match against France’s Racing Metro 92



Granted, Racing were without a number of

their high-profile recruits; including the Wales pair Jamie Roberts and

Dan Lydiate, and former Northampton prop Soane Tonga’uiha.


But they had ample Test talent on duty, from captain Dimitri Szarzewski and France team-mate Benjamin Fall to Juan Martin Hernandez and Juandre Kruger, with Jonny Sexton, Mike Phillips and Brian Mujati on the bench.


It all amounted to nothing, despite the presence of a 30,000 crowd to support their feeble efforts.


Those considering a cross-Channel move – the likes of Toby Flood, Leigh Halfpenny, Sam Warburton, Alun Wyn Jones, Jamie Heaslip and Sean O’Brien, would all be well advised to note that result at Stade de la Beaujoire.


In fact, they should absorb all the Heineken Cup results from last weekend; when four of the seven French sides lost, with Toulouse surrendering to lowly Connacht at home.


Respect: A moment of silence in honor of Nelson Mandela was observed before the Racing and Harlequins match


Respect: A moment of silence in honor of Nelson Mandela was observed before the Racing and Harlequins match



Even the victory for champions Toulon at Exeter was far from convincing, creating the impression of a team who had very little collective cohesion, relying on the sheer force of their individual superstars to see them through.


In some cases, the French are ambivalent about European combat, while many Top 14 teams simply don’t attach any significance to away matches.


That mind-set must sit uneasily with the competitive pride instilled in British and Irish players, whatever the circumstances, however hopeless the task.


Furthermore, many French sides have developed with a heavy emphasis on expensive imports, but without a core; a local soul.


Set that model against the Irish one, for a clash of cultures. Last weekend, Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht all won – Leinster doing so in style, with a starting XV made up entirely of home-grown players. That is a feat to be acclaimed.


France will continue to attract players from these shores, but let’s be clear; on offer is money, lifestyle and tribalism, but not across-the-board professional support and competitive fulfilment.


Wrong move? Toby Flood may want to think twice before making a move to France


Wrong move? Toby Flood may want to think twice before making a move to France


McNamara weighing up Bath move


Bath are going places, but the road they are on is certainly covered in jarring pot-holes.


This week, director of rugby Gary Gold was unceremoniously removed from office, 18 months after taking charge at the West Country club.


The South African had compiled a strong cast of coaches and an impressive playing squad, but he had been a peripheral figure this season.


Now, Steve McNamara, lately England’s rugby league coach, is weighing up an offer to become Bath’s attack and skills guru.


He will be tempted by the calibre of players, outstanding training facilities, the current title challenge and no doubt a good salary.


But he will also surely consider the impatient whims of owner Bruce Craig. Steve Meehan, Brad Davies and now Gold have been cut loose, while Sir Ian McGeechan came and went, since Craig seized control.


He also brought in New Zealand fly half, Stephen Donald, only to watch the glossy import fail to live up to his All Black billing. There is a sense of a rugby club in a hurry, and a ruthless leader running it in a manner more reminiscent of top-flight football.


Proposition: Steve McNamara (above) could become Bath


Proposition: Steve McNamara (above) could become Bath’s attack and skills guru



Welsh Cities have staying power


More tense meetings in Wales. The WRU and the regions would struggle to agree that black is black and white is white; such is the level of mutual loathing.


With top players leaving, crowds down and finances alarmingly stretched, there is an escalating state of uncertainty about the future.


Some say preserve the status quo with more funding, others that the regions should be dispanded and new, union-controlled ones formed, while there is a siren call among fans for an Anglo-Welsh league.


This column would need PhDs in business management and sports-crisis administration to come up with any compelling answers but one thing is clear – the primary cities have to remain the Welsh rugby hub.


For all the nostalgic talk of reviving old heartlands such as Neath and Pontypridd, modern logistical necessity dictates that Cardiff, Swansea and Newport or Llanelli must be key bases, along with Wrexham or Colwyn Bay if there is a new professional venture in the north.


Cardiff’s population (300,000 approx) is 10 times that of Ponty; enough for football and rugby to exist side-by-side.


Pride: The Millennium Stadium must remain the home of both Welsh rugby and Welsh football


Pride: The Millennium Stadium must remain the home of both Welsh rugby and Welsh football



RFU enter European club rugby debate


The RFU have belatedly entered the urgent public debate about the future of European club rugby and having taken their time to speak up, chief executive Ian Ritchie did so in convincing fashion.


As the senior official in the world’s biggest and richest union, he is striving to oversee a late salvage operation, to somehow arrange a compromise deal and keep continental competition going.


Yet, in identifying three issues which are still to be resolved – governance, voting balance and competing TV rights – Ritchie refused to acknowledge that the former and latter issues are intrinsically linked.


Broadcast deals are the crux of this whole mess and the reason why entrenched positions have been adopted and maintained.


That much was made clear by Leicester executive director and Premiership Rugby board member, Peter Wheeler, in his Welford Road programme notes last Sunday, which stated: ‘Trying to estimate exactly what might happen next season is extremely difficult, although the contract which the Premiership clubs have with BT Sport prevents them from playing in any competition not broadcast by them.’


Convincing: Ian Ritchie spoke passionately about the future of European club rugby


Convincing: Ian Ritchie spoke passionately about the future of European club rugby



The last word


The lottery balls have been drawn and the winners are celebrating their good fortune.


England, France, Ireland and Italy have all been given one chance to play in a Six Nations match refereed by Nigel Owens, the Welsh official currently setting a worldwide standard which other whistle-blowers are failing to match.


The IRB has revealed the referee line-up for the championship and the draw (it may as well be random, frankly) has been cruel in many cases.


The finale of the tournament is at the mercy of Steve Walsh, which just means that France v Ireland will come down to a series of big-ego calls, no doubt accompanied by the Kiwi-turned-Aussie glancing at himself on the big screen.


Wales have been condemned to a Friday-night clash with the French, controlled and wrecked by their pedantic, Franco-Irish nemesis, Alain Rolland – the man who dismissed Sam Warburton in the early stages of the World Cup semi-final between the same nations.


Last weekend, Owens ran Northampton v Leinster with empathy, clear dialogue and common-sense beyond the likes of Walsh and Rolland. It will never catch on…


Respected: Nigel Owens (centre) is setting an excellent standard for other officials to aim for


Respected: Nigel Owens (centre) is setting an excellent standard for other officials to aim for



 
 
 









Comments (3)


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RFCCrazy,


Lorient, France,


17 hours ago


Racing – Métro are a union between two historic clubs (Racing Club de France and US Métro), they have assembled a team of individuals and I agree that any team will struggle without a local core to it. But this raises a larger problem that the FFR needs to address, in all of France’s top teams, the key players are foreign and this is holding back the French team. Too few youngsters are thrown into the Top 14 because superstars have their place. Teams like Bordeaux, Grenoble, Oyonnax and Brive might not get pluses racing but they play some lovely rugby and have a balanced mix of French/foreign players.





Mattlanna,


Dublin, Ireland,


22 hours ago


Its a bad week to try and highlight the poor French clubs who at least will be in the H Cup next season, the English and Welsh clubs have hardly covered themselves in glory (Leinster trouncing the EPL poster boy Northampton away). Players going to France will at least have top level club competition next season and there is no doubt that by the end of the pools more French teams will go through than the over rated Engish






alan,


The voice of reason, France,


1 day ago


The initial part of this article is about players who want to come to France, thinking again because of the quality of the Rugby, an admirable sentiment, however they are not thinking of moving for the quality but for the money, the high wages which in some cases are four or five times as high as they can earn in the Home nations is the incentive, who cares about the rugby when up to a quarter of a million is available for the right player. Considering some of these players basic at the moment is less that £50k they would be insane not to come to France regardless of the current club Rugby situation, a 4 year contract which would currently earn at home £200k or one that would earn in France £1 million, I know where I would be playing, and I suspect that given the same offer of a contract with another newspaper of 5 times your current earnings where you would be writing. Come on Chris a Rugby players time at the top is limited let them earn it when and where they can



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Article source: http://www.skysports.com/rugbyunion/match_report/0,,11069_57965_1,00.html


CHRIS FOY"S WORLD OF RUGBY: French clubs lose appeal as Metro go off the ...
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