Top 14 2014/15 Season

[gaston le gaff]

Montpellier still on holiday mode they went down 26-19 to London Irish in Grenoble last night they were awful, "lights are on but nobody at home situation", if Mon Galthie was on the coach home (he may have driven) the atmosphere probably not good, when you see him speechless like last night and that very black look you know there could even be training this morning, could be a very tough week for the players in Montpellier. London Irish deserved their win and were far the better team, Montpellier went through the motions no more no less. Things are going to have to change before Racing next Sat. but then i am sure they will.and FTD will be able to play more than 19mins, in a total of game 3 preseason games, and between Fulence, Nico Mass, and FTD, they have played exactly 66 mins in total for all three some preparation before Sat TOP 14 game against Racing, Mass could have been slighty more but he came on for his 19 mins and got yellowed so he did exactly 9 mins total game time for this TOP 14 prep, thank you FFR, PSA, Blanco, and friends for there shambolique group of 30 players another mystifying production from Les Noggins de Paris avec costards (suits)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tony Manx]

Look upon it as a reality check and you know what they say...."a bad dress rehearsal and good opening night"!!!

I am beginning to get a little jealous of those clubs in the Top 14 now as we look forward to Agen on Friday!!!

 

[Big Ewis]

door's still open my dear Tony...be like me, become a disgusting scum of the universe coat-turner, it's amazing, you'll see ! Forget about all those clichés, Judas and what not, turning coat is a beautiful thing, you get to experience 'brand new' all the time, and if you're spineless enough, you can find you'll slip right into any body with ease !
There's no shame in being a disloyal, immoral, vile piece of crap....hmmm, wait, typing all that out fully kind of uhmm....hmmmm....

 

[FrenchFan]

Maybe Noves has done his time. But that's not the issue atm. People can't see the forest for the trees.

We can't perform in both competitions missing on average 5 up to 7 players. It is no longer possible.

If a new coach were to come in, he would be faced with exactly the same issue. Not much he can do with several of his key players missing at various stages.

interesting points made by Quesada about the impact of 6N on his team. Exactly what I've been saying about Toulouse. Same story. Why should it be any different for them? la convention les fait tous chier

http://www.lequipe.fr/Rugby/Actualites/Quesada-serrer-les-dents/489243


and if you think I exaggerate as a Toulouse fan, read the comment by Haoshi starting Mais quel club sera intéressé ... and his next comment

http://www.rugbyrama.fr/rugby/trans...le-flou-sur-son-avenir_sto4355395/story.shtml

I have heard same comment from countless fans here...this gives you a good idea of the mood atm. Looking forward to the league of course, its going to be a great year but for Toulouse I doubt it very much....

 

[FrenchFan]

Montpellier still on holiday mode they went down 26-19 to London Irish in Grenoble last night they were awful, "lights are on but nobody at home situation", if Mon Galthie was on the coach home (he may have driven) the atmosphere probably not good, when you see him speechless like last night and that very black look you know there could even be training this morning, could be a very tough week for the players in Montpellier. London Irish deserved their win and were far the better team, Montpellier went through the motions no more no less. Things are going to have to change before Racing next Sat. but then i am sure they will.and FTD will be able to play more than 19mins, in a total of game 3 preseason games, and between Fulence, Nico Mass, and FTD, they have played exactly 66 mins in total for all three some preparation before Sat TOP 14 game against Racing, Mass could have been slighty more but he came on for his 19 mins and got yellowed so he did exactly 9 mins total game time for this TOP 14 prep, thank you FFR, PSA, Blanco, and friends for there shambolique group of 30 players another mystifying production from Les Noggins de Paris avec costards (suits)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gaston does the agreement around the 30 Elite group (convention) also apply to friendlies? i didn't watch any of the friendlies so that one went past me.

 

[gaston le gaff]

yes certainly does!!!!! that is why our Internationals only played 19mins per match, as soon as you are on the park for 20 mins or more that constitutes one match played and obviously we are not going to do that with FTD Fu or Nico Mass. this just gets better and better for the clubs now the "Silly Suits in Saris" are telling what we can do with our own players who are payed by their clubs and not the FFR.

 

[FrenchFan]

WHAT?! 20 minutes!

this is far worse than i imagined. This is not what I had heard. No wonder Bouscatel has blown a gasket....

 

[Big Ewis]

please, it's not like the friendlies are the fkng remaining 6 playoffs...it's obviously the time to try out the new faces and the academy youngsters...WHAT ?! 20 MINUTES ?! NOOO !!!!! "far worse" lol, now you're just having fun.
But about what you said, yes, obviously clubs, the management and staff, would rather keep their players all year and play them as much or little as they please. Yes, it's those same clubs that pay the players. But we're just turning round and round and round and round. FrenchFan, you claim you don't want to see the end of the int'l game for France, although you do admit you want the legendary test match yearly series to entirely come to a halt (while every other nation, of course, would carry on being Rugby nations...). I'll ask again, I think for the 4th time (and obviously, still without a clear answer): the LNR-FFR convention sucks, okay. We've made that so clear "school like redundancy" is understating. What - would - you - have - do ?? What, would, you, have, do ? What ?

The floor is yours, and please, a nice, clear cut, concise, punchy answer; no twisting fallacious logic and no literature either, thank you, I prefer Maupassant over TRF if I'm going to actually do some *reading*.

 

[gaston le gaff]

i'm pretty sure the no is 34 matches allowed, take 3 Autumn Internationals, 5, 6 nations games + min 6 EEC pool games thats in total, 15, not counting 3 phase final EEC, AND 3 phase final TOP 14 that's another 6) i know no players will play in all 15 but if they did that would leave, 19 TOP 14 games, so in this seasons TOP 14 find me 7 games where you could possibly leave out a FTD or the other French Internationalsin the team !!!!!!!!!!!! fu*****Stupid.

 

[FrenchFan]

please, it's not like the friendlies are the fkng remaining 6 playoffs...it's obviously the time to try out the new faces and the academy youngsters...WHAT ?! 20 MINUTES ?! NOOO !!!!! "far worse" lol, now you're just having fun.
But about what you said, yes, obviously clubs, the management and staff, would rather keep their players all year and play them as much or little as they please. Yes, it's those same clubs that pay the players. But we're just turning round and round and round and round. FrenchFan, you claim you don't want to see the end of the int'l game for France, although you do admit you want the legendary test match yearly series to entirely come to a halt (while every other nation, of course, would carry on being Rugby nations...). I'll ask again, I think for the 4th time (and obviously, still without a clear answer): the LNR-FFR convention sucks, okay. We've made that so clear "school like redundancy" is understating. What - would - you - have - do ?? What, would, you, have, do ? What ?

The floor is yours, and please, a nice, clear cut, concise, punchy answer; no twisting fallacious logic and no literature either, thank you, I prefer Maupassant over TRF if I'm going to actually do some *reading*.

I've already answered your question. There's enough posts out there. Read again. Your problem is you don't like my answer. I never said I want the end of the Intl game for les Bleus. Don't caricature plse.
The debate here is about the lame-duck agreement and its impact on the clubs now with the season kickoff around the corner.

 

[FrenchFan]

The floor is yours, and please, a nice, clear cut, concise, punchy answer; no twisting fallacious logic and no literature either, thank you, I prefer Maupassant over TRF if I'm going to actually do some *reading*.

the only 'twisting fallacious logic' i see is that of LNR-FFR here. As Gaston said the clubs should have the right to use their players as they see fit considering they're paying them.

 

[Big Ewis]

okay, because I'm slow and have stage 5 Alzheimer's and have a mental block about your past answers, just for the sake of all that, could you give me a reply again (since you don't seem to mind repeating things anyways ! ) about the length of your previous post. Super short., summarized, but with the essential in there.

What should be done so those Top 14 coaches don't have to suffer losing players to int'l Rugby ?

 

[gaston le gaff]

1 Stop playing Internationals probably not
2 FFR give the teams loads of spondoolies to buy bigger better squads so they can have their International play for France.
3 Sack all the SILLY SUITS IN SARIS and start again......................probably not.
4 Cancell the Autumn Internationals money making and jollies for the SILLY SUITS IN SARIS again probably not
5 Promote Bernie the dingue Laporte to Preisdent and let him sort it out with Galthie...........definately not..........
6 Change the TOP 14 TO THE TOP 12 thats a possibility.......... but unlikely
7 RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS MAY START SAYING SOMETHING SILLY................. DISTINCT POSSIBILITY!!!!!!!!!! THATS ENOUGH FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Big Ewis]

I'm not even asking for actual, precise conditions. Just a general direction of thought.
The one I keep giving is this: Six Nations, summer and November tests, and RWC, out of the question to remove. Always been there, if they're under peril then it means something else has increased. Top 14 has become enormous, smallest team is a handful at home, and even Pro D2 is tough as nails, along with H Cup, fill up the entire calendar.
Find a balance so that the Top 14 season doesn't take up as much space, compensation for the French int'ls, for they need to play for their country goddamn it. There are two. Two entities. Not one. Not JUST Top 14. And not JUST int'l Rugby. Find a way to balance it out between the two.
Our Frenchmen need to be fresh and have time together, so that was very nice in the group of 30 deal, but that same deal had loads of negative repercussions also.

But there needs to be France, the Tier 1 nation. And there needs to be the Top 14, a very strong championship but nothing more. One should not eat up the other, and that's exactly what's happening, and I don't stand for it. Others may, FrenchFan does, I don't. Stop the test matches ??? excuse me, why ?? If the Top 14 has grown out of its shell because, you know, MONEY - then that's its problem. Test matches have always been there, should always be there.
I don't want my country to be the only one *IN THE WORLD* with fkng league federation problems. Sort it out, but I want both club and country to work normally. Work it out, I don't care how. It was working just fine all of about 3 years ago back to the beginning of the 20th century. This problem is only this current decade old (even if its premises are ulterior to that).

 

[FrenchFan]

I'm not even asking for actual, precise conditions. Just a general direction of thought.
The one I keep giving is this: Six Nations, summer and November tests, and RWC, out of the question to remove. Always been there, if they're under peril then it means something else has increased. Top 14 has become enormous, smallest team is a handful at home, and even Pro D2 is tough as nails, along with H Cup, fill up the entire calendar.
Find a balance so that the Top 14 season doesn't take up as much space, compensation for the French int'ls, for they need to play for their country goddamn it. There are two. Two entities. Not one. Not JUST Top 14. And not JUST int'l Rugby. Find a way to balance it out between the two.
Our Frenchmen need to be fresh and have time together, so that was very nice in the group of 30 deal, but that same deal had loads of negative repercussions also.

But there needs to be France, the Tier 1 nation. And there needs to be the Top 14, a very strong championship but nothing more. One should not eat up the other, and that's exactly what's happening, and I don't stand for it. Others may, FrenchFan does, I don't. Stop the test matches ??? excuse me, why ?? If the Top 14 has grown out of its shell because, you know, MONEY - then that's its problem. Test matches have always been there, should always be there.
I don't want my country to be the only one *IN THE WORLD* with fkng league federation problems. Sort it out, but I want both club and country to work normally. Work it out, I don't care how. It was working just fine all of about 3 years ago back to the beginning of the 20th century. This problem is only this current decade old (even if its premises are ulterior to that).

short and sweet: the most radical solution would be for FFR to directly contract the internationals.

 

[Big Ewis]

short and sweet: the most radical solution would be for FFR to directly contract the internationals.

yeah. That's actually something that could work. Some kind of a contract sharing thing the players would sign beforehand at the start of a season for the regulars, Picamoles, Dulin, Fofana, Basta...; and then for the rest as soon as they're called up, work some form of an instant compensation to the club for however many games they need him for. It would limit trying out the entire Top 14 among our ranks, and have PSA settle for a group, a real group, an actual team. You know, how all the other countries are doing !
Makes sense: players play for both club and country, they should perceive from both and be looked after by both.
But then again that's never (I think ?) the way it's been and the FFR aren't going to all of a sudden start paying its players. Unless the Top 14 pressures them enough into doing it somehow.

I dunno; bottom line:
our guys need time together, like a team (they should be), and be fresh (this is a real problem). FFR, LNR, work it out fellas. We need both the Top 14 and int'l game. No reason not to have both, was working just fine some time ago, and look at other countries they're doing just fine; JUST FINE; including England which is very similar to us.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

So Toulon could potentially have a backrow crisis ... how true is this? Surely they will buy another?

 

[Big Ewis]

So Toulon could potentially have a backrow crisis ... how true is this? Surely they will buy another?

I dunno what you mean dude, the whole Armitage playing Sevens thing ? Lobbe playing for Argentina and Juan Smith for S.A. currently ?

I'll tell you who's got a backrow issue. Picamoles out till mid-Sept. and Dusautoir still very shaky, after that same injury early in the year...

 

[TRF_Cymro]

I dunno what you mean dude, the whole Armitage playing Sevens thing ? Lobbe playing for Argentina and Juan Smith for S.A. currently ?

I'll tell you who's got a backrow issue. Picamoles out till mid-Sept. and Dusautoir still very shaky, after that same injury early in the year...

God done his ligaments in.
Armitage and Bruni hobbled off.
Juan and Lobbe are off for their internationals. Surely they must be struggling.

 

[gaston le gaff]

They still have Masoe, Suta and Taofiftenva, both have played there, and then there are another 6 players who are in the Esopoirs who are available and can be blooded at any moment so they are still a long way from being desperate. If it gets worse they just get a medical joker for the one of the injured, plus they reckon Gorgodze is not that serious but time will tell on that. Mamuka is very good at hiding injuries he did that at Montpellier many times!!!!!!