Yes this is about right. This is a legitimate rugby debate definitely. I'm a bit scared that it will go the way football has gone since long years already and I have very few hope that it will change. Meanwhile, I would say that all this money bring sponsors and bring media attention. So the debate is : do we want a game of rugby just being a fan games without opening to new fans or do we want to enlarge the rugby attention to other fans ?

It is in a way very paradoxal that the french clubs have chosen that way (I'm really wondering why..why the french rugby situation has encouraged the current way of investment in rugby more than in other countries ? In france, Clubs are really important and you would think that historically they are less inclined to go towards the money bags way..) but this is the way it is. Even club like Toulouse that are encouraging the homegrowth way are declining slightly compare to Clermont or Toulon...

In the meantime, if I can do a parrallel with footbal (there is a lot of british guys here and I'm sure they support to one point a club of football), British football has grown up has a bag of money these last years, it makes premier league a very known championship with a huge base fans and a lot of money around. IS it good, is it not good ? that is the question.

I do not think we can criticize Toulon that much (they are critized a lot in France for being such a bag of money), they are playing within the rules they are given and play well with them. they have quite an important fan based, Mourad boudjellal their president (who has put a lot of money in his club) is a very controversial person but, at then end, he loves rugby, he is not a quatari fund at all...therefore, in my point of view, the bag of mone critic about Toulon is a bit a lie. there is a passion there (ask Wilko or whatever other foreign player that plays for Toulon), there is something special. Money does not do it all.