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French rugby Updates : Le café du Rugby.
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its rugby lads, but not as ye know it................Yeah I know, whats the story?? etc etc
You just can't apply Irish logic to French rugby. Some rivers run deep.
Honestly, I'm over here 20 years but I don't know where to start...........
Affelou is just bad news, but the problems in the club predate him........
I know there are many of you just screaming at the keyboard " well if its broke, lets fix it"
French rugby does not work that way.
Yeah, I hear ye, whats that ****e? doesn't work that way?? my arse etc etc
Well thats the way it does work,
Thomond 2006 has some expérience of méditerranéen rugby, Algerian, Tunisian, or Morroccan down Toulon way. But not of home grown french rugby.
As of now the president of the league is threatning to feck off, leaving the league in the hands of a few fly by nights...........I'll stop there.
Whinge about the IRFU all you want but at the least they put the national XV first
I'm French. I'm following rugby for ~20 years. I'm not sure I understand what you mean and what you're talking about
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You can't take examples of bad management and/or huge investment in French rugby as a general rule.
SF had their years of glory recently but they were unable to renew the early 00ies winning team and messed up with their coaches. Tehy slowly but surely went down. Racing & Toulon wanted to grow super fast. It almost worked. But now they both understood (well I think) that building a team around a mid-term project is the key to success. Bayonne failed for the same reasons in the end (even though they don't have the same financial power). Perpignan fcuked up because of internal dysfunctioning. The president is probably heavily responsible for their current situation. They really really badly managed their title 2 and half years ago.
Clermont, Castres, Montpellier are good examples of the way to succeed. Give time to time. Build a good formation centre. Build a project around a certain consistent way of playing etc... Naturally Toulouse is the ultimate everlasting example.
Of course, it's impossible to compare with Ireland. Your provincial system by definition demand a different functioning. In the end that helps the Irish players to play together in the country. With that system you built up 2 european giants (Leinster & Munster). Ulster seems to become more and more competitive too recently. It's also good for your national team.
Imagine a provincial system in France. What about the SW French team ? (you'd have to mix up Clermont, Toulouse, Castres, Biarritz, Perpignan, Montpellier, Brives, Bayonne, Begles-Bordeaux, half the Pro D2 teams etc...). Basically, 1 or 2 players aside, it'll be the French team
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I still don't quite understand what you mean by "Whinge about the IRFU all you want but at the least they put the national XV first". Do you mean it's not the case in France?
Then, of course there are problems in French rugby. Especially at the top. The recent buzz made by Mourad Boudjelal stigmatises that. But he didn't use the right method. Rugby has evolved like no other sports in France in the last 15-20 years adapting itself to professionalism. Yes there are more and more money into it now. But to me it still has its values. Its respect. I feel sometimes people are idealising the way amateur rugby used to be. At least in France. I can tell you it was nowhere near perfect or ideal.0 -
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Another victory for Montpellier tonight (4th in a row
) after a quite ugly game. The "derby" with Perpignan. We were quickly ahead 2 tries to nil and started to be self-indulgent. As a result we put USAP back in the game and had a pretty bad second period. We couldn't grab the WBP which seemed gettable after 20 min... Hopefully this point won't be critical at the end of the season for a home QF...
Toulouse secured a WBP victory in Biarritz. Second half was weird with some strange refereeing decisions (the ref changed his interpretation in the second half and started to over-penalise Toulouse which resulted in Biarritz not only getting the LBP but also being in contention for a victory until the very last play). In the end, despite defeat it's a precious point for the Basque. But the second half won't help Blanco's club reputation...
Anyway even without the majority of their starting team, Toulouse is flying : they are 11 points ahead of Clermont and 20 ahead of Toulon, respectively 2nd & 3rd of the Top 14 (OK with a game in hand but still that's impressive and it's been quite some time since a team dominated the championship like that).
Next week tonight's 2 "losers" will meet in Aimé Giral for a critical priceless USAP - BO. Damn the loser !0 -
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Yeah. Importantissimissimus victory for USAP tonight. Deserved win too. USAP were strong on the basics and exploited well the Basque YC (stupid one too: how come he was hoping to get away with taking the ball at the back of a progressing maul while the ref had warned them on the multiplication of their fouls?). Biarritz lacked almost everything tonight. So many mistakes (knock-on, line-out not found, possession lost), a lack of intensity/agressivity, no stand-out leader on the pitch. Their only hope is that their list of fixtures is not so bad with 5 home game sout of the last 8. But in fairness they don't deserve to stay in Top 14 this season...
Last week, Bayonne won a critical game against Stade Francais. Could have been a turning point in the season.
And tomorrow, Bayonne, Brive & Lyon play at home. If they all get something out of their games, it'll be another blow on Biarritz sore heads ...
Surprised iroced, you didn't mention the 'refs homer 0 -
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Lapsed Catholic wrote: »Imagine the bragging rights in the Basque country if Biarritz go down? Bayonne were once the kingpins only to be usurped by Biarritz. Will the wheel turn again? Not much sympathy for Serge if it happens.
Biarritz Olympique Pas Basque 0 -
Surprised iroced, you didn't mention the 'refs homer
Well, true that the first catalan try shouldn't have been allowed (there's a "obstruction" (is that the correct word?) from a catalan player on a basque defender).
But the score was already 15-6 and USAP was within their numerical superiority advantage period. I don't think it would have changed the game a lot. The second try is valid and in the last 10 min with the numerical advantage on their side Biarritz didn't do anything right so being down 25-6 or 20-6 would have been the same thing I believe.
What I found really cheeky is Lagisquet reaction at the end putting quite some important blame about the result on the referee. When you think about the amount of times Biarritz benefitted from clear home advantage (recently remember the Basque derby)... there's a good expression in French for that "c'est l'hôpital qui se fout de la charité" (is it the equivalent of "the pot calling the kettle black" ?)
I'm not sure I get what you're talking about...:oYou mean stumbled across the line despite dominating
I just meant that a Biarritz defeat combined with a Bayonne victory could see a trend reversal between the progression/ranking of both teams
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Biarritz Olympique Pas Basque
Not sure what that refers to but BOPB were founded in 1913 after the merger of Biarritz Stade and Biarritz Sporting Club rugby teams.
Aviron Bayonnais were founded in 1904.
Without getting involved in local squabbles I was told that the Basque has 2 favourite places San Sebastian (Donostia) and Bayonne (Baiona) with Biarritz only arriving as a town in 1854 after Napoleon III built a palace.
Bayonne have long begrudged the upstarts from nextdoor their sucess.0 -
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