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By Colin Spiro, 12 December
2008
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Ben Cohen: French connection
© Diarmid Courreges |
Ben Cohen talks to FRC about his move to Brive and
how having twins has changed his perspective on
life.
"I genuinely do think that French
rugby is behind – not necessarily on the pitch,
because they can go and beat anyone of their given
day – but I think behind the scenes they are" - Ben
Cohen
England World Cup winner Ben Cohen says he has no
regrets about joining French Top 14 side Brive,
where he is currently plying his trade with fellow
Brits Andy Goode, Steve Thompson and Barry Davies.
The 30-year-old
winger would love to still be playing for his
country but is resigned to life on the international
hard shoulder after deciding to up sticks and move
to France in 2007.
Up until then
Cohen had been a one-team man, racing in for more
than 100 tries for his beloved Northampton Saints
before the relationship broke down when he was
overlooked for the captaincy.
A brief break from
the game was followed by his transfer to Top 14 side
Brive - or
Club
Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin to give it its
full name -
with whom he is now enjoying his second season as
they fight for Heineken Cup qualification.
Read More... |
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09 December 2008
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Skeate: Eye on the ball
© RossSkeate.com 2008 |
"Structured
rugby has its place, but I wanted to be in the French league
that was full of flair and running sort of rugby" - Ross
Skeate
At 6ft
7ins Ross Skeate is used to making a big impression, but
Toulon’s new South African lock is hoping that it’s his game
– not just his frame – that sets tongues wagging in Top 14.
The
26-year-old joined Toulon from Western Province last month
and said he is already relishing the change of continents
and rugby styles as he begins to settle in to life in the
south of France.
“They
are a great bunch of guys and when I arrived they were
really easy to get along with and people like Jerry Collins
– who I played with for the Barbarians – have really helped
me find my feet. We are a very tight squad,” said the
imposing second row.
But how
did a talented South African - capped at school, under-19
and under-21 level – come to ply his trade down in the
harbour town of Toulon?
“Basically I found myself in a position where I didn’t want
to be, playing-wise and career-wise, and I thought something
fresh would challenge me. I needed a new obstacle and to
experience a new way of doing things,” he explained.
“That
was really the major reason for my decision – that I needed
a fresh challenge and I needed to get better as a player. I
wasn’t getting enough game time (in South Africa) so I
decided to come out here and face a new challenge.”
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by Johnny Lidgate 03 December 2008
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Free-wheeling: Stade Toulouse |
We at FRC
wanted to know just why French giants Stade Toulouse are
consistently regarded as the best team in Europe, so we sent
special correspondent Johnny Lidgate along to the
Ernest-Wallon to find out why. Here's what he thought...
One club stands above all
others in European rugby.
They are three-time
Heineken Cup champions - a record - and 17-time champions of
France, also a record.
They are the Rouges et
Noir from the Ville Rose and to the Anglophone ear even
their nickname has a certain cachet compared to the
sub-American monikers - Force, anyone? - of say, the Super
14.
I write, of course, of
French aristocrats Stade Toulousain.
The city of Toulouse
nestles in the heart of French rugby's heartland, the south
west of the country.
Read More... |
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by Colin Spiro 19 November 2008
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Lapasset: "I am a rugby
man first" |
Part III:
More than just a game
“In the finals of the last two world cups in
2003 and 2007 there has been just one try and people have
played for just not losing the game; we don’t play to win
the game with motion and creativity. We need that.”
In the third and concluding part of our
exclusive interview with Bernard Lapasset we found out what
makes the IRB chairman tick, how best to integrate
Argentina, why the ELVs are proving so contentious and where
he sees the future of his beloved game going.
Being chairman of an international sporting
body is an onerous task, especially in terms of the amount
of time spent travelling, meeting and greeting. There are
endless functions to attend, dignitaries to speak to and
issues to address, especially when trying to drive an
expansionist vision through what some perceive as an archaic
organisation.
The onset of open professionalism, the growth
in popularity of the Rugby World Cup and the push for
Olympic inclusion all mean that Lapasset has a full and
diverse diary which takes him constantly around the globe.
“I have no more house, no more family, no
more team, no more language. My language is different now,
it’s totally changed,” he laments jokingly when reflecting
on his hectic schedule.
Read More...
Bernard Lapasset Interview Part I:
My Olympic Dream
Bernard Lapasset Interview
Part 2: My Hopes and Fears For The Game |
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by Colin Spiro 29 October 2008
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Cash fears: Bernard Lapasset |
Part II: My
hopes and fears for the game
"The selector is the
agent. The agent is monitoring the game in the world and
that is crazy. We need to change that.”
In the second instalment of our exclusive three-part
interview with Bernard Lapasset the IRB chairman talks about
the Rugby World Cup, spreading the game globally and his
concerns about European money unbalancing the sport. (Bernard
Lapasset Interview Part I: My Olympic Dream)
Rugby union’s profile has never been higher. Players’
earning powers are continuing to soar, as is the income from
sponsors and television, but not everything about rugby’s
current status is pleasing the IRB chairman, and he is
particularly concerned about the financial strength of
British and French clubs.
“The problem of money is
difficult because the maximum money is concentrated in
Europe. There are a lot of players coming from the southern
hemisphere – from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand –
and we must be careful because we could destroy the value of
players in Europe.
“A lot of people say ‘Oh,
Bernard, but the money is in the north’, but the money is
not the true value of the game. The value of the game is
having players coming through and to promote good players
into the national side. We have the money but we don’t have
a good system for developing good players in rugby in the
north.”
The emerging north-south
divide is something that concerns Lapasset greatly, and one
he says needs urgent addressing.
“We are not the same
calendar in the north and the south, so we could destroy
totally the competition in the south. We must think all the
time how we are going to promote the game because we are not
the best against the bet at the moment,” he warned.
Read More... |
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by Colin Spiro 21 October 2008
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Holding Court: Bernard Lapasset |
Part I:
My Olympic dream
“I think the Olympics
needs rugby. We have the possibility to extend the value of
the Olympic movement in the world.”
Big crowds, big money, big television audiences and even
bigger television revenues. The world economy may be
experiencing ‘le credit crunch’ but these are boom times for
rugby union as it seeks to establish itself as a truly
global sport.
Rugby has seemingly never
been in ruder health, but for one man that is not enough.
There are a series of vast challenges that lay ahead,
demanding his full-time attention and an almost missionary
zeal as he seeks to spread the good word around the world.
His name is Bernard
Lapasset, the current chairman of the International Rugby
Board – presently in his second three-year term - and the
man widely responsible for ensuring the last Rugby World
Cup, hosted by his native France, was deemed such a success.
Not satisfied with having
already laid a sufficient legacy for most normal men
Lapasset is now steering the IRB through a maze of other
ventures designed to cherish, nurture and develop his
beloved sport – a role that requires him to jet-set around
the world in search of new markets, new methods and new
alliances.
Here, in an exclusive
three-part interview with French Rugby Club, Lapasset talks
about rugby’s continuing push to be included in the Olympic
Games, why Russia and Brazil are getting him excited, the
ongoing confusion over ELVs, the expanding north-south
monetary divide and how the IRB is planning to integrate
Argentina more fully into the top-level of international
rugby. Oh, and why he also had three breakfasts a day when
he was in Beijing recently.
Read More... |
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10 September 2008
 Patience,
it seems, may not be a word that flows freely from
the loquacious tongue of Toulon’s wealthy but
demanding president Mourad Boudjellal.
Having successfully bank-rolled the
club back into Top 14 the comic book magnate – that
is he made his fortunes in the industry, not that he
is cartoon like – is apparently now seething that
his superstar team isn’t flying high at the head of
the league playing free-flowing rugby for fans to
drool over.
Okay, that might be a slight
exaggeration but it has been widely reported in the
French press this week that Boudjellal has had
“talks” with coach Tana Umaga following the club’s
first defeat of the season, 18-25 away to fellow
newcomers Mont-de-Marsan. That’s right, FIRST defeat
of the season. Next thing you know, Umaga will be
getting the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’.
Now, it is true that the new Top 14
season is only three games old, so that’s a loss
rate of 33.33% - unacceptably high for an ambitious
club - but it’s also true that Toulon began with an
excellent home win against championship aspirants
Clermont (22-16) and followed up with a draw (3-3)
against big-spenders Brive.
Read More... |
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By Colin Spiro 29th August 2008
There are many reasons I started
this website but the main one is a growing love of
the French club rugby scene ever since moving down
to the Pyrenees two years ago.
As a kid I idolised Jean-Pierre
Rives with his unkempt hair and Serge Blanco with
his unparalleled flair, but it wasn’t until actually
living in France that I began to appreciate the true
passion for the game, especially down here in ‘Le
Sud’.
It’s the colour that gets you
first, then the noise as the team and supporters
entwine in L’espirit de clocher.
You can admire the free running
and the willingness to entertain, or you can relish
‘Le combat’, with its potential for ‘bagarres
generales’ (all-in brawls) to explode at any moment.
Whatever it is that draws you in,
and it could just be the burgeoning numbers of
etrangieres, it is impossible to deny that French
club rugby is a vibrant amalgam of pride, skill and
fervent parochialism – as all the best sports are.
That’s what I want to share with
you and here in this section I’ll be picking out
favourite clips from You Tube to help illustrate
that belief. They are, of course, all personal
selections, but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless.
Read
More... |
Money
Talks: The Sonny 'Bill' Williams transfer saga
By Colin Spiro 19th August 2008
His name
conjures images of the Wild West and until recently his
rugby prowess was largely unknown within the Union world,
but Toulon's protracted and controversial signing of
Australia's National Rugby League star Sonny 'Bill' Williams
could have a seismic effect on the future of rugby - Union
and League - both here and in the southern hemisphere.
Firstly, now that it
has been resolved, the transfer is a massive coup for the
newly promoted Top14 club currently trying to build a squad
fit for survival under the tutelage of coach and Tana Umaga.
The former
Canterbury Bulldogs player not only continues the drift of
code-switchers from southern hemisphere rugby league -
following the signings of such players as Craig Gower (by
Bayonne last year) and Mark Gasnier (by Stade Francais this
year) - but also confirms both the draw of the Euro and the
lure of playing club rugby in France.
Read
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11 August 2008
 It’s been a frantic
off-season of transfer activity in France with the
cash-happy Top14 clubs busier than a rum-soaked stag on a
night out in Ibiza.
There’s been the
usual plethora of ageing internationals heading down to the
‘Le Sud’ for a sunshine swansong in the land of good living,
but the arrival of southern hemisphere giants like Dan
Carter, Jerry Collins, Mark Gasnier and of course the
controversial Sonny ‘Bill’ Williams has stirred up some
something of a hornets nest down under. Here in France it’s
produced nothing more than the archetypal Gallic shrug –
‘your loss is our gain’ type of thing – with the likely
knock-on effect of increased crowds, revenue, television
interest and, guess what, even more power in next year’s
transfer market.
Read More...
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