The Rise and Fall of French Rugby: A Historical Marker of the Top 14 Dominance

At the start of the 2010s, the French championship had become the El Dorado of world rugby: a sign of the unprecedented power of our clubs… and the announced decline of the French XV.

This is called a historical marker. In 2014, Toulon was crowned champion of France by beating Castres and in its starting XV, there were only three French people (center Mathieu Bastareaud, scrum half Sébastien Tillous-Borde and pillar Xavier Chiocci). In the winning final of the European Cup, a week earlier against Saracens, the proportion was exactly similar with the same French “survivors”. Twelve foreigners out of fifteen starters under the authority, it is true, of a very French coach, Bernard Laporte. The previous year, in 2013, Toulon was European champion against Clermont, this time with eleven foreign players. The four tricolors were called Mathieu Bastareaud, Sébastien Tillous-Borde (already), Alexis Palisson on the wing and Sébastien Bruno at the back. This situation materialized a historic phenomenon: the French championship had become the center, or let’s say the crossroads, of all the recognized talents of the oval planet.

The squads studded with internationals personified the insolent popular and financial success of the Top 14. French rugby had reached an important milestone in 2007, during the World Cup organized on its soil. The French XV only finished in fourth place, but the national passion for rugby increased tenfold, to the point of attracting over the months a new generation of investors: ambitious businessmen and generous, also helped by money from Canal +, the pay channel which had made the Top 14 one of its flagship products. It now paid a crazy sum each year (74 million euros) to ensure the exclusivity of its broadcasts in front of increasingly well-stocked stands. Thus, Toulon was able to “decentralize” certain posters at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille. The Stade français was a precursor to the Stade de France.

French rugby was now capable of attracting the best players; no longer just the Argentinians whose federation remained faithful to amateurism, but now the New Zealanders, South Africans, Australians and English. The reality was becoming blinding. Nationals of dominant nations went out of their way to reach France. We even saw players take the risk of being deprived of their international career, in return for a big contract with a Top 14 team.

New Zealand right prop Carl Hayman, for example, gave up a probable starting place with the All Blacks who were to play the 2011 World Cup on their soil. English international full-back Delon Armitage had chosen the same destiny, his arrival in Var in 2012 ending his career in the jersey of the Rose. These simple cases clearly illustrated the power of attraction of old French clubs, even if, it is true, Toulon was a slightly different case, undoubtedly extreme within a groundswell. Its president Mourad Boudjellal had unabashedly opted for a star policy as soon as he took office. While his club was still in the second division, in 2007, he was able to attract to Toulon Tana Umaga, center and captain of the All Blacks, Victor Matfield world champion the same year with the Springboks or George Gregan, crowned in 1999 with the Wallabies. It was just the beginning of an insane constellation of talent, culminating in the arrival of Jonny Wilkinson in 2009. At the start of the 2000s, no one would have imagined that the team’s iconic fly-half of England could one day play in France.

The XV of France pays the price

But the phenomenon did not only concern Toulon, we saw “big names” arriving all over France, in Toulouse, in Clermont at the Stade français but also in Pau. Dan Carter even came twice: in 2009 to Perpignan for a few months then in 2016, to Racing. Behind these icons, we also saw the arrival of a host of “good” foreign players, not international but capable of holding their own to maintain a team in the Top 14. In a few years, France became the El Dorado of all rugby players on the planet. , from Samoa to South Africa via Argentina. And due to the effects of the market, it was soon preferable for clubs to recruit an experienced foreigner than to trust a young Frenchman.

All this had a cost, obviously. The most painful thing was not financial but patriotic: the French XV began to nosedive, twelve years without a grand slam and without even a simple victory in the Tournament between 2010 and 2022, lackluster southern tours and a 2015 World Cup. really mediocre, concluded with a historic defeat against the All Blacks in the quarter-final (62-13). In the ranks of his executioners, ten players who would wear or had already worn the jersey of a French club.

In 2015, we saw a true sporting and commercial icon arrive in France. Daniel Carter, the All Blacks fly-half, joined Racing. He was then the most media player on the planet, world champion, record holder for points scored in international tests (1,598 points) and three times crowned best player on the planet. He was also served by a young premier plastic, with a series of advertisements bearing his image. The arrival of Dan Carter in Paris also marked a historic milestone. To put an end to all speculation, Jacky Lorenzetti’s Racing preferred to formalize its income, a very rare admission. Dan Carter was the first player in the Top 14 to earn one million euros per season for three years. A little more than half of this sum was paid to him in salaries, the rest was in image rights, partly linked to the promotion of the Paris-La Défense-Arena, the future indoor hall of the club then under construction. . His contract provides for between fifteen and twenty interventions with club partners each year.

The National Rugby League quickly took stock of the threat posed by the global attractiveness of the Top 14 and considered how to promote the presence of selectable players in the French team. In 2010, she imagined the status of Jiff, a player from training courses: a real revolution. At the helm were Pierre-Yves Revol, president of the LNR (former and future boss of Castres), and Thierry Perez, then president of Montpellier. The Jiff status concerned players who had spent at least three years in an approved training center or who had benefited from an FFR license, during the five years preceding the year they turned 21. The system made it possible to protect French training without falling into discrimination.
The objective of the LNR was to impose an increasingly large quota of Jiff within Top 14 and Pro D2 clubs, in the overall workforce and especially on the match sheets. Over the years, the obligation has become stricter. It started at 40% of the clubs’ total squad in 2010. At the time of writing, it is sixteen on average per match sheet. And the number of non-Jiffs authorized per club fell to 13. It was also enhanced with a system of sanctions and financial rewards, then sporting sanctions with the threat of points withdrawn. This resolutely protectionist policy, unique in French professional sport, was opposed at the start. Jacky Lorenzetti, president of Racing, had initiated proceedings before the European courts in the name of hindering free competition. Mourad Boudjellal from Toulon and René Bouscatel from Toulouse were clearly opposed to it. But ten or twelve years later, the measure found its legitimacy in mentalities. Few dispute the link that must exist between the French championship and the national team. And sportingly, the superb 2022 grand slam crowned the work and courage of the supporters of this not-so-easy-to-impose measure. “This is the reform of which I am undoubtedly most proud”confided Pierre-Yves Revol to Midi Olympique.

• The discomfiture of English clubs

When rugby became professional, there were only two countries whose elite was occupied by private clubs and not provinces: France and England. And after 1995, we believed that like in football, English clubs would absorb the best talents on the planet. We kind of forgot about it, but things were heading in that direction. At the start of the 2000s, there were around fifteen French internationals in England following in the footsteps of Thomas Castaignède at Saracens, Raphaël Ibanez at Wasps or Sébastien Chabal at Sale. It is fascinating to see how the balance of power has been reversed and how French clubs have largely taken the upper hand financially, to the point of seeing English clubs seriously sticking out their tongues, to the point of bankruptcy. They were unable to find a broadcaster as generous as Canal +, nor popular support comparable to that of the Top 14 clubs. More recent in historical terms, their championship did not have the strength of our quest for the Shield either. by Brennus.

2023-12-13 06:01:40
#years #history #Toulon #champion #twelve #foreigners