France: Two weeks to go, still no agreement

In response to the pressures of international rugby, national club tournaments in many countries are being reformed - but none with such bitterness as currently exists in France.

We have covered the controversy on several occasions over the summer (the last article can be seenhere) but the good news is that at last this week - two months after their shock announcement - the FFR finally sat down with representatives of the Top 10 clubs.

While there was no agreement, there was at least some movement by the French Federation.

They remained firm on the principle that there cannot be any club rugby that interferes with preparations for internationals - at 15s or 7s. "Duplicates" - Top 10 championship rounds taking place on or around international weekends - would not be accepted, as the disruption caused by postponed games (when a club has more than two players in a national squad) was a significant factor in the current overloaded schedule.

However, they had listened to the problems of non-national players who in the new plan faced months without any rugby. A separate series of non-championship inter-club matches for players not in the national teams was proposed, though again with no prior notice meaning that the club representatives had to return to their clubs to discuss the implications.

The latest news is that the clubs appear to have rejected this compromise as the games would have nothing at stake (it is also possible that clubs with several internationals might even find fielding a viable team difficult without their star players - squads in French clubs as not as large as they are in England).

Instead they have made two counter-proposals. One of these - which proposes the revival the full 18-match Top 10, but without the play-offs - is likely to be rejected out of hand by the FFR.

The second, however, may be acceptable. This sees the retention of the FFR's first phase of two five-team pools, but instead of straight knockout rounds in the New year suggets a six-team championship pool, and a four-team relegation pool.

As results from the first phase would carry forward to the second, overall this would mean only one more round of club games than the FFR are currently proposing (assuming that there are no play-offs or Championship finals).

This plan was submitted to the FFR yesterday (Thursday) - and no reply has yet been received by the clubs.

The first round of the French Championship is due to take place on 15th September.