Bordeaux-Bègles sign Nicolas Sanchez

[Melhor Time]

http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023.blogspot.com/2011/07/nicolas-sanchez-signs-for-union.html

The number of Argentine players in the French 14 continues to grow with the confirmation than Union Bordeaux-Bègles have signed 22 year old Pumas flyhalf, Nicolas Sanchez. The young Puma who is currently with the Pumas 39 man training squad in Buenos Aires will join the Bordeaux club on what is to be his first professional contract. Union Bordeaux-Bègles are to play in the Top 14 after winning promotion from the pro d2 and are in the process of setting up what looks to be a strong side. The club is also following in the footsteps of the big city teams in moving matches to large stadiums. The club has already confirmed that its five home matches vs Bayonne, Toulon, Racing-Métro, Clermont and Toulouse will all be played at the Stade Chaban-Delmas which hosted four matches at Rugby World Cup 2007. It is not yet known when he will arrive because of Rugby World Cup 2011. Should Sanchez be selected for the 2011 tournament he will arrive in Bordeaux in late October. Otherwise he will be available for the start of the season. His arrival in the Top 14 will see him team up with Argentine international winger Rafael Carballo who has been at the club since early 2010.

Sanchez joins the new boys in the Top 14 from Tucumán Lawn Tennis Club in the Northern Argentine city of Tucumán, his home town. He made his test debut in 2010 vs Uruguay and three days latter played his only other test so far, scoring 7 points against Chile. He was targeted at a young age and played for the Argentina under 20 team in 2008 before going on to play for Los Jaguares in 2009 and 2010. This led to his naming in the PladAR system and resulted in his big chance in the Vodacom Cup with Los Pampas XV in which Sanchez was the flyhalf throughout the campaign. He was subsequently named in the extended Pumas squad and was selected at flyhalf to play the second international match vs the French Barbarians in June in which he kicked six penalties.

 

[psychic duck]

fantastic signing for Bordeaux-Bègles, I understand that Nicolás Sánchez was one of the standout players for Los Pampas XV, and that he is a Todeschini esque accurate goal kicker, I actually think that he could play for a better side than Bordeaux-Bègles but he's 22 so time is on his side, he may well have to play inside centre initially as the current bordelais 10 Gerard Fraser is one of their better players

that is the seventh Argentine 10 at professional European teams, seems to be an Argentine strength at the moment, and Santiago González Iglesias should be number 8

Argentina are well covered for Contepomi's retirement

Felipe Contepomi (33, Stade Français)
Juan Martín Hernández (28, Racing-Métro)
Marcelo Bosch (27, Biarritz)
Santiago Fernández (25, Montpellier)
Ignacio Mieres (24, Exeter)
Nicolás Sánchez (22, Bordeaux-Bègles)
Ignacio Rodríguez Muedra (21, La Rochelle)

 

[Melhor Time]

He signed for one year with the option of a second which will be over to him and if the team does well, like I think it will, then he´ll Sánchez there for a while. Fraser is slow and old. He´s 33 from memory and did well in Italy but in the Top 14 he´s a no chance. Sánchez is not only over ten years younger but simply a much better player. He was thrown to the wolves last month for Los Punmas vs the French Barbarians and was man of the match in a losing team. He had a second string backline to work with and was praised by the press.

Argentina have the flyhalves now, thats for sure. There are the two who Italy poached too - Luciano Orquera (Aironi) and Alberto di Bernardo (Benetton Treviso). Benjamín Madero is a handy flyhalf too. He could well be in Europe in not too long. Centre, Matias Viazzo was flyhalf for Bourgoin last season. He´ll be playing for Tarbes in the Pro d2 in the new season, maybe as a flyhalf but hopefully, for his sake, not. In any event, I am keen on seeing what the clubs do with the players. Fernández at 12 seems permanent for Montpellier but Contepomi and Bosch could both be 10, 12 or 13 and Bosch has been 15 previously for Biarritz.

I think Argentina needs more second and backrowers playing pro. The younger guys in the Pumas now have replaced pros in Europe and many of these young players are not pro themselves. Maybe Bordeaux and Lyon should go after them. Lyon would do well to sign players like Mariano Galarza, Juan Imhoff, Agustin Gozio and Alejandro Campos. While Bordeaux need players like Genaro Fessia, Horacio San Martín and Leonardo Senatore. I think both will do some shopping during the RWC. Loads of talent sitll playnig amateur rugby from many countries.

If I am not mistaken then the recruitment phase for the Top14 is over and it is only the new sides, Lyon and Bordeaux who can still sign players. Both teams are big French cities and will be utilizing the stadiums in their cities that hosted matches at Rugby World Cup 2007. I expect neither side to be relegated. I don´t like the chances of Agen, Brive and think Castres will stop winning. They´ve lost some gifted players and gained only really one player - who is awesome in Max Evans. The teams small stadium and the city itself may be too small very soon. No option of moving games to larger stadiums for Castres. Biarritz, Bayonne and Perpignan can go to Spain and all others in the Top 14 have decent stadiums or an okay one with a large one close like Toulon with Marseilles.

 

[psychic duck]

and if the team does well, like I think it will

I disagree here, I think Bordeaux-Bègles will be one of the teams going down. I think Lyon have the players to stay up and Agen finished the Top 14 season strongly and improved later in the season so shouldn't have the poor start they had last season and I think should stay up.. So my prediction is Bordeaux-Bègles and Brive to go down.

There are the two who Italy poached too - Luciano Orquera (Aironi) and Alberto di Bernardo (Benetton Treviso).

Argentina are better off without Orquera, can't tackle to save his life.

While Bordeaux need players like Genaro Fessia, Horacio San Martín and Leonardo Senatore. I think both will do some shopping during the RWC.

The article below says Senatore is being linked with Newcastle

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spor...-for-samoan-test-star-tu-ifua-72703-29036334/

If I am not mistaken then the recruitment phase for the Top14 is over and it is only the new sides, Lyon and Bordeaux who can still sign players.

None of the teams now can sign players off contracts from another team now in theory... but they can sign free agents and players to cover during the World Cup and that kind of "joker" player as they're known generally get full time contracts if they're good (like Agustín Figuerola)

for example Toulon recently signed Mathieu Bastareaud after the official window ended because Stade Français agreed to release him from his contract so he was technically a free agent who Toulon signed and also Castres signed Rory Kockott on temporary contract

Both teams are big French cities and will be utilizing the stadiums in their cities that hosted matches at Rugby World Cup 2007. I expect neither side to be relegated. I don´t like the chances of Agen, Brive and think Castres will stop winning. They´ve lost some gifted players and gained only really one player - who is awesome in Max Evans. The teams small stadium and the city itself may be too small very soon. No option of moving games to larger stadiums for Castres. Biarritz, Bayonne and Perpignan can go to Spain and all others in the Top 14 have decent stadiums or an okay one with a large one close like Toulon with Marseilles.

I disagree here, although I agree that Brive look to be in trouble, Agen improved a lot at the end of last season and haven't lost any players for this season, they have a decent pack strengthened by J Schwalger and Scelzo, they will be in the bottom four but I think they have a stronger side than Bordeaux-Bègles

Castres will not go down next season, I'm not sure who you're referring to as those "gifted players" they've lost, I agree maybe long term the smaller city sides will struggle but as long as Castres have their pack led by the immense Chris Masoe and their goal kicking machine in Teulet they'll be okay.

As I wrote before, I think Brive and Bordeaux-Bègles will go down

 

[Melhor Time]

I disagree here, I think Bordeaux-Bègles will be one of the teams going down. I think Lyon have the players to stay up and Agen finished the Top 14 season strongly and improved later in the season so shouldn't have the poor start they had last season and I think should stay up.. So my prediction is Bordeaux-Bègles and Brive to go down.

They need more players to compete and I think they´ll get them. Some good ones have been confirmed in Nicolás Sanchez (flyhalf), Fabien Rofes (hooker), Bruce Reihana (fullback) and Thierry Brana (centre)

Argentina are better off without Orquera, can't tackle to save his life.

Without question. Such a shame Gower is out of the RWC!

The article below says Senatore is being linked with Newcastle

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spor...-for-samoan-test-star-tu-ifua-72703-29036334/

Interesting - would be a great buy for Newcastle but its hard for Argentine players to play in England because of the foreign player rule that applies to Argentine players but not South Africans or Pacific Islanders.... Hence the mass movement of many to France. He´d be great for Lyon.

I disagree here, although I agree that Brive look to be in trouble, Agen improved a lot at the end of last season and haven't lost any players for this season, they have a decent pack strengthened by J Schwalger and Scelzo, they will be in the bottom four but I think they have a stronger side than Bordeaux-Bègles

Agen have a great pack and will be better in the new season witht he props arriving. An average backline though. Good players but not great ones. Could struggle for sure.

Brive has recruited well - better than Castres. Notably good prop in Lacombe (Toulouse) and Natriashvili (Georgia), and a good flyhalf in Geraghty (Northampton). But overall I put them in the same boat as Castres.

Castres will not go down next season, I'm not sure who you're referring to as those "gifted players" they've lost, I agree maybe long term the smaller city sides will struggle but as long as Castres have their pack led by the immense Chris Masoe and their goal kicking machine in Teulet they'll be okay.

Not right away, I agree. Its a work in progress. the could go down this season or in the futureu. I think they will at some stage the question is when. Seriously I think there is only a few years of Castres left in the top flight. The city is small, the stadium is the smallest in the Top 14 and there are no big ones nearby to utilize. Biarritz is smaller but uses San Sebastian and fills it. Biarritz won´t go down. They´ve recruited well with Benoit Baby, Liam Messam and Seremaia Burotu amongst the new players.

Castres though, I´d be worried as if I were a local. Masoe is looking aged. He was great in 2009-2010 but in 2010-2011 not the same. Teulet, ala Robo Cup, is only in the side to kickgoals. He is a poor defender and has been shown up often against big time opponents. At 33 I can´t see him lasting to much longer. Marc Andreu is awesome but the club is going to have poor players at scrumhalf and flyhalf with both leaving. Perhaps Seremaia Bai will play flyhalf then again I am not such as Castes have sigend Remi Tales from La Rochelle which is not the greatest repalcement for the 10 shirt. Nicolas Sánchez is certainly a better buy.

Gone are: notable players including Benjamin Kayser to Clermont, Cameron McIntyre to Japan, Sébastien Tillous-Borde to Toulon and Carl Hoeft to Toulouse.

Those arriving are certainly significantly weaker than those leaving. i.e. Lakafia (Toulouse), Mach (Agen), Taumoepau (Toulon), Tales (La Rochelle) and Wihongi (Sale Sharks). The one good piece of news is Max Evans (Glasgow). Aside from Evans all are joining after getting little game time at their previous clubs.

 

[psychic duck]

They need more players to compete and I think they´ll get them. Some good ones have been confirmed in Nicolás Sanchez (flyhalf), Fabien Rofes (hooker), Bruce Reihana (fullback) and Thierry Brana (centre)

not sure the latter three are that good, Reihana is in his late thirties now, Rofes and Brana weren't first choices at their previous team

Agen have a great pack and will be better in the new season witht he props arriving. An average backline though. Good players but not great ones. Could struggle for sure.

From what I've read Silvère Tian was immense when he signed for them, but apart from that yes they aren't great

Brive has recruited well - better than Castres. Notably good prop in Lacombe (Toulouse) and Natriashvili (Georgia), and a good flyhalf in Geraghty (Northampton). But overall I put them in the same boat as Castres.

disagree here, they needed to strengthen their locks and back row and have signed two unproven players in Hauman and Luafutu, Vosloo will be a big loss, Lacombe is a hooker not a prop and isn't really that much better than what they have already

they finished 12th last season and the squad in my opinion (unless Hauman or Luafutu turn out to be a revelation) hasn't been strengthened and if anything weakened by the loss of Vosloo

whilst Agen who finished 10th, I would say have strengthened their pack, and still could possibly get Andrew Hore as well pending on a decision of his between the Highlanders or Agen

Not right away, I agree. Its a work in progress. the could go down this season or in the futureu. I think they will at some stage the question is when. Seriously I think there is only a few years of Castres left in the top flight. The city is small, the stadium is the smallest in the Top 14 and there are no big ones nearby to utilize. Biarritz is smaller but uses San Sebastian and fills it. Biarritz won´t go down. They´ve recruited well with Benoit Baby, Liam Messam and Seremaia Burotu amongst the new players.

Castres though, I´d be worried as if I were a local. Masoe is looking aged. He was great in 2009-2010 but in 2010-2011 not the same. Teulet, ala Robo Cup, is only in the side to kickgoals. He is a poor defender and has been shown up often against big time opponents. At 33 I can´t see him lasting to much longer. Marc Andreu is awesome but the club is going to have poor players at scrumhalf and flyhalf with both leaving. Perhaps Seremaia Bai will play flyhalf then again I am not such as Castes have sigend Remi Tales from La Rochelle which is not the greatest repalcement for the 10 shirt. Nicolas Sánchez is certainly a better buy.

Gone are: notable players including Benjamin Kayser to Clermont, Cameron McIntyre to Japan, Sébastien Tillous-Borde to Toulon and Carl Hoeft to Toulouse.

Those arriving are certainly significantly weaker than those leaving. i.e. Lakafia (Toulouse), Mach (Agen), Taumoepau (Toulon), Tales (La Rochelle) and Wihongi (Sale Sharks). The one good piece of news is Max Evans (Glasgow). Aside from Evans all are joining after getting little game time at their previous clubs.

only McIntyre from those departures was a first choice starter, Kayser was second choice because Bonello had a good season, Tillous-Borde, who I've never been impressed by didn't make the side as he was behind the Castres local boy Albouy, Hoeft was 36

and all the first choice team bar McIntyre is still there

and Taumoepeau is equal to Hoeft (as a 35 year old)
Kockott at least equal to Tillous-Borde if not better
McIntyre towards the end of the season wasn't always making the team as well, as Pierre Bernard was preferred

and Castres sign players with little game time at previous clubs it's what they are known for look at their current side

Cabannes (Biarritz)
Bai (Clermont)
Andreu (Toulon)
Tillous-Borde (Biarritz)
Albouy (Stade Français)

Cabannes is a France A player now, Andreu and Tillous-Borde France players, Bai and Albouy highly respected first team starters

it could well be the same with Lakafia (Toulouse), Taumoepeau (Toulon) and Lamerat (Toulouse)

I don't think you're giving enough credit to the team who overachieved and finished third

 

[Melhor Time]

Interesting thoughts.

TB missed the season fro Castres through injury, not selection. I rate him highly. He was awesome for France in 2008 before Dupuy and Parra. His only defect being goalkicking but I´d have him ovr Yachvilli for sure. He´d be in my RWC squad for France.

Kayser was poorly used. Maybe as he wan´t happy there or the club knew he would be better somewhere else, who knows.....

The thing about Castres is the team does well in tight contests. They alwasys win at home - only lost once in the previous season which was the barrage match vs Montpellier. Its rare to see Castres scoring tries. They win with Robo Cop kicking points. A good scrum but not much else is how I would describe them. So much will depend on Luc Ducalcon. Curiously Castres have 7 props and five secondrowers. Two of the secondrowers are really backrowers. A lot has changed since when the team was genuine ***le contenders with players like Nallet, Papé, Ledesma, Nacho Fernández Lobbe, Thomas Castaignède and so on.

Whatever happens it wil be interesting for French rugby. If they keep doing well its a traditional, small town club competing with teams from the big cities. If they do get relegated then its another south-western French team out of the Top 14 like Beziers, Pau, Albi, Montauban, etc as the Top 14 continuously moves into different parts of France with big city teams replacing the,.

 

[psychic duck]

Interesting thoughts.

TB missed the season fro Castres through injury, not selection. I rate him highly. He was awesome for France in 2008 before Dupuy and Parra. His only defect being goalkicking but I´d have him ovr Yachvilli for sure. He´d be in my RWC squad for France.

Kayser was poorly used. Maybe as he wan´t happy there or the club knew he would be better somewhere else, who knows.....

The thing about Castres is the team does well in tight contests. They alwasys win at home - only lost once in the previous season which was the barrage match vs Montpellier. Its rare to see Castres scoring tries. They win with Robo Cop kicking points. A good scrum but not much else is how I would describe them. So much will depend on Luc Ducalcon. Curiously Castres have 7 props and five secondrowers. Two of the secondrowers are really backrowers. A lot has changed since when the team was genuine ***le contenders with players like Nallet, Papé, Ledesma, Nacho Fernández Lobbe, Thomas Castaignède and so on.

Whatever happens it wil be interesting for French rugby. If they keep doing well its a traditional, small town club competing with teams from the big cities. If they do get relegated then its another south-western French team out of the Top 14 like Beziers, Pau, Albi, Montauban, etc as the Top 14 continuously moves into different parts of France with big city teams replacing the,.

I think we need to agree to disagree regarding Tillous-Borde, he was injured throughout 2009/10 with a serious injury but this season Albouy has been ahead of him

definitely not a contender for the France squad, I rate Morgan Parra, Dimitri Yachvili, Julien Dupuy, Julien Tomas and Jean-Marc Doussain all higher than him for the France team

This team is achieving just as much as that team from the late nineties did, just this team are overachievers

I think that Masoe and Tekori offers ball carrying on top of that scrum, and they are good in defense

regarding the big teams in the league, who do you think will be the next big city team to get rich owner?

Stade Phocéen (formerly known as simply Marseille), who signed Lomu and Isitolo Maka whilst in Féderale 2

Nice, Strasbourg, Saint-Etienne, Nantes and Rennes are the other big city teams lingering in the lower leagues

all the cities mentioned there are in Féderale 1 apart from Rennes and Nantes

it could benefit rugby in France long term though if teams in more northern areas such as Strasbourg get big fanbases

 

[Melhor Time]

regarding the big teams in the league, who do you think will be the next big city team to get rich owner?

Stade Phocéen (formerly known as simply Marseille), who signed Lomu and Isitolo Maka whilst in Féderale 2

Nice, Strasbourg, Saint-Etienne, Nantes and Rennes are the other big city teams lingering in the lower leagues

all the cities mentioned there are in Féderale 1 apart from Rennes and Nantes

it could benefit rugby in France long term though if teams in more northern areas such as Strasbourg get big fanbases

Looking at the Top 14 and the Pro d2 is interesting. Lets say Clermont and Brive are in central France and thus all teams south are in the south and all teams north are in the north. That means only SF and RM are in the north with Lyon now joining them. RM are new too, replacing neighbours Bourgoin. The south east has Toulon, Montpellier and Perpignan. The south west has Toulouse, Castres, Bayonne, Biarritz, Agen and now Bordeaux. It used to be a lot more in the south west.... and smaller cities. The region has teams like Tarbes, Pau, Mont de Marsan, Dax, Albi, Auch and Carcassonnaise. All are comparable to Castres not Toulouse, Montpellier or Bordeaux. Between Montpellier and Perpignan lie two former big sides in Narborne and Beziers. Needless to say their time has gone. Top 14 looks unlikely when they are fighting over a small space against so many others and often in the same departemente as other sides with Beziers being in Herault with Montpellier. Périgueux are new to the Pro d2 and have no other side to compete against from Dordogne and are far enough away from Toulouse to be considered outside of the south west but the population is small. They´ll never have a chance. La Rochelle should win promotion back alongside Grenoble. Both are big cities compared to the majority of Top 14 sides. Grenoble really should do well. Its a much bigger city covering the same area as Bourgoin and always got big crowds when Bourgoin played there. i.e....



Of all teams in the Pro d2 in 2011-2012 it should really be Grenoble and La Rochelle getting promoted. La Rochelle were unlucky to be relegated. Agen and Brive were both behind La Rochelle and it did look like Agen would drop. Oyonnax may have a chance but the town is another small one. I can´t see them getting the better of La Rochelle, Grenoble or Bourgoin and Albi, These four will fight for places in the Top 14 in 2012-2013. I´d say La Rochelle would win and Grenoble be the play-offs winners to claim the other Top 14 spot. Should this happen then the number of south west sides would fall further as would the number of small town teams as La Rochelle has a population of 70,000 but covers an areas of almost 10 times that number and Grenoble has a population of 157,000.

In terms of the long term move from small to big cities the one that must be the next is, like you say, Marseilles. Its amazing that there is no team in the Top 14 let alone the Pro d2 already considering France play a test there almost every year and fill the stadium. The Top 14 semi-finals there last year were both full and Toulon are packing the venue or coming close wherytime they play there. Getting 55,000 for Namibia vs Argentina in 2007 had more to do with the RWC. Marseilles has no top level team but has plenty of rugby supporters.

Nantes should be at the top level but.. no team. Really odd this. The venue always gets crowds when France play. The Fiji vs Wales, Canada vs Wales and Samoa vs England RWC matches had some of the most vocal crowds in the RWC. I guess its a project for the future. Another RWC venues, St Ettiene, had a team in the Pro d2 last season and did get good crowds but had no bidget so had poor players and lost virtually every match. So I don´t think these two will be rising fast. Strasbourg could. From memory they have a side in the Fedérale 1. Nice are the same as are Lille. The three alongside Marseilles therefore appear to be the most likely ones. None are strongholds of rugby but this could change quickly. All they need is a good team to support. No doubt French rugby would benefit from this. The further the spread the better. Rugby is already bigger than soccer. The only weakness being small cities like Castres, Biarritz, Bayonne and Agen play in the Top flight while big cities, like those mentioned, lack teams.

Give it 20 years and there could well be a vastly different landscape. Biarritz and Bayonne should still be around but Castres and Agen will be gone and probably very shortly. Brive to go too.
http://www.therugbyforum.com/wiki/File:France_location_map-Regions_and_departements.svg

 

[Aout]

Can't believe I missed this thread !

I am myself from Strasbourg (east of France), but I spent my 3 last years studying in south west of France (Pau, between Biarritz and Toulouse) before moving to England.

As you said, in the next couple of years, rugby will move to big cities. I'll talk about Strasbourg because I know very well what is happening with rugby in this city, although I could have speak about Lille as well.

Strasbourg is a large city, in one of France's richest region (Alsace). It's home to many European Institutions (European parliament etc...), and it is ideally located, at the crossroad of Germany, Switzerland, Benelux and France of course.

We had a "good" football team over the past years, which has totally collapsed this year (they'll become amateur... few years ago they were playing the UEFA cup). Anyway, with football gone, rugby has a massive opportunity to blow out.

They are (actually, they "were") an amateur side when they moved from Fed2 to Fed1, and they struggled at the beginning of the season, losing almost all their games. Then they recruited (during the winter) some academy players from Grenoble and some other French professional clubs, along with some Southern Hemisphere players.

They ended up winning almost all their games, even against top sides, which allowed them to stay in Federale 1. The goal of the club is now to be in Pro D2 in 2014. Bear in mind that they managed to stay in Federale 1 (which is a very tough league), without any decent training ground or stadium (it's crazy that in such a large city they are playing in an amateur stadium without any stands), and with only one or two semi professional players.

The region has massive revenues, and they'll probably never ever struggle on the financial side, especially if you take into account that there are no other major sport club in Alsace (there are professional Ice Hockey and Basket ball teams, but they remain marginal) which could have drained all the money. And once again thanks to Strasbourg location, they could attract some foreigners fan (you only need 10mn to move from Strasbourg to Germany, and public transport on both sides of the border are great).

I'm quite confident for the future of rugby in Strasbourg, and I believe that several other cities in France are in the same situation. More and more people are getting ****** off at football, and they are now looking at rugby, especially with our national team results (which are much better in rugby than football), and all the values carried by rugby : French pride, etc...

The future for rugby in France's largest cities looks bright.

 

[Melhor Time]

Very intersting Aout.

What is Strasbourg like for rugby? - do you know of international or Top 14 players who have come from there?

If I am not mistaken Maxime Mermoz is from Épinal and Morgan Parra is from Metz. They are the closed to Strasbourg that I know of.
If Strasbourg does have local clubs of ntoe then it means that, indeed, success os on the cards. Lyon is new to the Top 14 but has long been a rugby stronghold. For instance, Pascal Papé, Lionel Nallet, Raphaël Lakafia, Sylvain Marconnet, and Vincent Clerc are from the Lyon-Grenoble region and Juliean Bonnaire is from Bourgoin.

 

[Aout]

Strasbourg does not have a great rugby history. There are only 2 clubs in Strasbourg, one professional (the one in Federale 1), and the other one is an amateur side (where I played, but this year they invested 4millions € in a new rugby center - stadium, training ground etc-), which isn't a lot for such a big city (Coventry, which is 150 000 inhabitants smaller has more than 30 rugby clubs).

The only player I know who was born in Strasbourg is Henry Chavancy (He's outside center for Racing Metro, he played for France U20), but he has not played in any local rugby club.

Rugby in east of France remains marginal compared to football, but once again there's not major football club in east of France anymore (few years ago you had Metz, Nancy, Strasbourg, Sochaux... none of them are in the elite anymore).

This explains why Strasbourg need to recruit players from other professional sides, as they do not have the pool to fuel their team.