France v Wales, 09/02/13

[barthelemy]

Another example of the French Rugby organisation mess and the French federation weakness/poverty : All the french players returned to their club last week, during all the week. France did not trained together all along last week. This is the result of the weakness and poverty of the french federation, clubs having much more money. The only condition for this is to not make play French team players on this last weekend top14 championship. It is totally crap : the clubs do not want the players to be together during one more week, they want to take care of their players but they can't use them for championship matches of the last weekend. Everybody is losing on this one : the clubs that can't use their players and the french national team that can't train for one week.

The reason for this is the money : the french federation is only giving 500 euros per days and per players to the french clubs when these ones have players selected for the french national team to compensate the fact that these players are not playing in their clubs. It is really nothing compare to how much clubs are paying their players. Therefore, clubs are letting their players play and train a minimum with the french team.

And the french federation can't pay more because they do not have the money...

For information : French federation budget = 100 millions euros , RFU = 160 millions euros /year

The 60 millions euros difference is the profit made with the ownership of Twickenham which is owns by the RFU. The french federation has no stadium for now (they are talking about building one but it will take at least 3 or 4 years) and these 60 millions euros difference permits the RFU to compensate the english clubs much more that the French rugby federation. As a result, RFU has much more power on clubs than the FFR.

It is really frustrating....

 

[gaston le gaff]

I agree on some points especially the stadium problem which hopefully will be resolved in 3/4 years when they build the new one, but this last week when the Internationals returned to thier club but could not play was an agreement between the FFR and the LNR and this was done before the start of this current season, right or wrong it is not that much about money, but the way the TOP 14 calender is proposed there is constant dicussion between the 2 bodies but never an agreement which suits both parties, they often talk of reducing the numbers to 12 there are those for and against, also playing TOP 14 during the Autumn Internationals as well as the 6 Nations is an ongoing problem + now with the Argies entering the 4 Nations the French clubs are now missing their players at the begining of the season eg. we at Montpellier had 6 players unavailable for 9 matches, this problem and others has been dogging the National team for years and it does not look as though it will be resolved in the near future. Rugby has become a sport where money is the most important factor, sponsorships etc and of course T V receipts, this is the curse of the Pro game and it will probably not improve...We have to grin and bare it...

 

[barthelemy]

If the french federation was proposing an interesting money deal to the clubs (that would permit clubs to employ some joker players to replace the missing French players for example), Clubs would accept more easily that players play for the french team all along the 6th nation tournament.

Surely, and you are right on this, the fact to have a top 14 does not help the calendar and the disponibility of the players. + the fact to have some Semi-finals and finals at the end of the Top14 championship is adding even more matches to the calendar. 2 teams more in our championship, it is 4 more matches to play along the year (so 4 weeks more of matches for French players) and if you are part part of teh team that plays the Top14 final championship, you should play 6 more matches than any other rugbyman in Europe. 1 Month and half more over the year..it is making definitely a huge difference at the end of the season.

For example, for the 2011 year, I saw a comparison between the number of matches played by Dussautoir and Carter and the difference was huge. Dussautoir it was 45 matches played for the 2010-2011 and Carter it was like 32 matches played + All blacks are playing together 6 months a year compare to maybe 3-4 months for the french team. You can't be competitive in the same way obviously with such differences.

you are also right that the autumn/summer tours are an issue for the calendar...

Anyway, all of this make the french rugby struggling about consistency. When we have a proper preparation time, same time as other national team, (like WRC for example) we are in general performing very well....our results in world cup are speaking for itself...

 

[martinspoonboy1]

well maybe the meaning has evolved but the Spoon is when you lose all matches...well at some point right ?...am I wrong here ?
Thought for sure.....wait...lemme check.

Oh no you're right...I was sure it was for losing ALL MATCHES, not just finishing last; a bit like a Grand Slam and then just winning the tournament...dunno why I've had this concept of it ?.....
Anyways:
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3820_8504853,00.html

I was pretty sure I was right as i remember there being controversy over Italy beating France in 2011 and still getting the wooden spoon for finishing last!

 

[Big Ewis]

Barthelemy:
what you're saying is absolutely depressing...of course it's true, but I mean absolutely depressing.
We'll look like the side looking for excuses, like "yeh we lost that game cause we're tired...."; and at the same time it's just a fact - that we ARE truly and genuinely tired.

I'll never forget as a good example 2010, last test match of the year. It was just physically too much for us. At home against the Wallabies and being tied 16 all after half and then just taking punches for another 30min...til they got 60.
The worst possible thing for France too, because we happen to be the very cliché and epitome of inconsistency in sports, so that doesn't exactly help our cause...
It's very, very, very frustrating. On paper we look EXCELLENT, and we've played two shhitty matches in a row...fan-fkn-tastic.

martinspoonboy1
yeh yeh by bad I was totally wrong...can't believe I've spent the few years I've been a Rugby fan thinkin it was just for all matches lost !! :lol:


EDIT:
a good discussion beneath the article here, read some of those comments by the users, good info about the French schedule and playing way more than anybody else...I really really hope we do get at least the one victory in NZ...http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3559_8218239,00.html