It all comes down to the role of FFR.
They are in charge of the national team.
Les Bleus poor results are the direct consequence of decades of mismanagment of the national team by FFR and the current communication breakdown with the big clubs. The clubs have gone fully Pro since 1995. FFR has Not. After the WC in South Africa FFR had the opportunity to directly contract the internationals which is what they should have done. In the end they did nothing. The clubs didn't waste time. They structure themsleves, got money and took charge of their own affairs.
Now FFR and Saint André like to blame the clubs for decisions they should have made.
LNR as the professional arm of FFR are the same bunch of apes with a different name tag. LNR officially represent the clubs but they certainly do not speak for them. Toulouse since last season no longer seat at LNR. Our president has walked out. The system is completely dysfunctional. But that's FFR for you and they can take the blame. THEY created LNR in an attempt to reign in the big clubs. They have failed at that too.
The 3-year residency makes it now possible for foreign born players to be elligible. These ADD to the talent pool not take away. Kockott Leroux Atonio Spedding Claassen are a NET GAIN to us.
The foreign internationals who are not elligible is much less than the total number of homegrown players+ elligible imports. The foreign presence is just a bad excuse FFR have been peddling around. Many of these players don't make it and go home (incl. Lions test player like Lydiate). If you look at the top fly-halves in the league
Francois Trin Dhuc, Camille Lopez and
Pierre Bernard have all been out of the squad during the last 3 years of Saint Andre's time. FTD has always been out of favour with Saint André. Lopez was injured most of 2013-2014 and is only getting back into the squad. Pierre Bernard who was the best scorer in the league last season has yet to be capped! But hey let's blame the foreigners on that one as well.........
This season younger French players have displaced foreign stars such as
Jules Plisson over Morné Steyn (who has played one single Top 14 in which he got red carded) at Stade Français,
Max Machenaud over Mike Phillips at Racing. Yet both Plisson and Machenaud have been left ouf of any of the various 30 players lists we've seen.
When he was coaching Toulon, Saint André recruited 70% of the foreigners that make up the league of nations called Toulon. He had a dream team on paper, yet never got going in the league. When he got the France job after struggling at Toulon, he started blaming the numberr of foreigners in the league. Typical FFR communication. In those same 3 years he was busy running Fra into the ground, Laporte at Toulon won 2 HCup and 1 Bouclier.
Spot the difference. But of course, the revolution Laporte brought to Toulon wouldn't have anything to do with his coaching ability...
All above players are regular team starters.
There's more than enough first-starters to have a competitive squad. At the end of the day they only need a group of 30. But that takes a modicum of good communication with the clubs who provide the players, at the very least a working relationship with their head coach, a clear selectorial policy, an actual game plan, leadership, a plan to develop players, a work and team ethics that any pro players should expect etc...and oh boy this is where Philippe's problems really start. They have none of the above in stock at FFR.
Sevens rugby and Womens rugby over here are examples of FFR's work. I have spoken with people involved with both. All said they cannot get the funding they need from FFR. Of course you won't hear too much of that in the media, that would kind of rock the boat. No media would ever dare publish any interview about those problems because FFR would come down on them like a ton of brick.
Why is the France Sevens rugby so pathetic? They are managed by FFR. There's plenty of young players raring to play Sevens over here. They come to the club here at Toulouse asking about playing Sevens. No shortage here.
NZ and Eng ladies have gone pro after the last WC. The French women haven't. No money. FFR think it's much better to shell out 600 M euros for a new stadium this country doesn't need. This is where their priorities are. The talk of "ah look at all the money in Top 14 blah blah" is laughable.
There is no budget in Top 14 today that comes anywhere close to 600 M euros.
This is more than double the entire budget of all Top 14 clubs Yet Sevens and Womens national teams cannot get a dime.
Without the support & cooperation from clubs and head coaches the national coach is effed from the beginning. Doesn't matter how many foreigners are in the league. You could fire all the foreigners in Top 14 tomorrow. None of the above issues would go away because the same dysfunctional system would still be in place. Don't count on FFR to reform itself.
Sure they could shorten the number of league games, impose foreigners quota, curfew after 10 pm blah blah.
LNR have it all in their power to decide all these things tomorrow. Managing the league is what they're supposed to do. Are they doing anything to tackle these issues? Of course not. And the clubs are not at fault for LNR not doing their job.
The end result of all this is clubs and national team are moving out into separate galaxies. They don't speak the same rugby language. After the WC they will need an interpreter...
More on FFR's sterling work with the league
http://www.therugbyforum.com/thread...-is-it-working?p=682586&viewfull=1#post682586
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