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<blockquote data-quote="M Two One" data-source="post: 431596" data-attributes="member: 29650">The whole idea that big cities will take over Top 14 is ridiculous.&nbsp; Southern and especially southwestern towns are still the heart of the&nbsp; sport in France and some of these towns are developing very well too.&nbsp; This helps growth and interest continue for their rugby clubs.Bayonne, Biarritz and Castres have smaller populations than Brive-la-Gaillarde, but they&#039;re doing well financially. Brive have simply been making poor financial decisions for years now and things are catching up to them. They have little money left to spend on players and due to their hefty player contracts if they were to drop they would probably go bankrupt causing further collapse into the amateur divisions.At first I was honestly surprised this did not happen to Bourgoin-Jallieu, but they managed to keep things together in hope that they can bounce back in a few years. They understood their fate years before the inevitable.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="M Two One, post: 431596, member: 29650"] The whole idea that big cities will take over Top 14 is ridiculous. Southern and especially southwestern towns are still the heart of the sport in France and some of these towns are developing very well too. This helps growth and interest continue for their rugby clubs. Bayonne, Biarritz and Castres have smaller populations than Brive-la-Gaillarde, but they're doing well financially. Brive have simply been making poor financial decisions for years now and things are catching up to them. They have little money left to spend on players and due to their hefty player contracts if they were to drop they would probably go bankrupt causing further collapse into the amateur divisions. At first I was honestly surprised this did not happen to Bourgoin-Jallieu, but they managed to keep things together in hope that they can bounce back in a few years. They understood their fate years before the inevitable. [/QUOTE]

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