What’s that you hear? A thirty-footed blue monster rumbling down the rugby world, with a ferocious grin, silky hands and a Gargantuan appetite?
After a decade of mediocrity, losing limply to almost every opponent regardless of their quality, France seem back on track to be a serious contender, so let’s try to look at what has made a difference.
As much as it pains me to say, bloody Bernard Laporte played a major part in it, either by implementing what was already in place, or by some radical changes.
As soon as he was elected in December 2016, he cancelled the construction of the giant stadium the FFR did not have the means to build anyway, fired Novès under a false – and ultimately costly – pretext in favour of Galthié, snatched the organisation of the 2023 RWC from South Africa, and signed a new five-year agreement between the professional clubs (LNR) and the federation (FFR), to be revised in … 2023. The FFR also reorganized the academies and the training of the coaches. And they implemented the JIFF project, which started in 2010.
Let’s start from the top. The RWC in France in 2023 means enough is enough: can’t repeat the disastrous 2015 or 2019, especially at home. So even the constantly infighting Gauls had to agree on some basics.
No more giant stadium means healthier finances. Some of that goes to pay Novès after a court found that he was unfairly fired. The rest goes mostly to the clubs, either as a result of the JIFF policy or the new convention.
JIFF basically means France-qualified. It actually stands for : Jeunes issus des filières de formation. Either the youngsters have spent three years in FFR-endorsed academies, or they’ve been registered players with the FFR for at least five years before they turn 23. Nationality does not matter. Professional clubs from both T-14 and ProD2 must play with a minimum number of JIFF players; it has gone from twelve in 2011 to seventeen now.
Stick: Points can be deducted if the clubs use fewer (hasn’t happened yet AFAIK).
Carrot: the clubs can get paid up to 300.000 euros if they achieve the minimum number required.
Two consequences: the mediocre JIFFs first got paid disproportionately high salaries, even on the bench, as they brought more money than say a Georgian or an old Kiwi. Secondly, the good ones got more game time, as there have been fewer imports since, including at key positions.
Most T-14 and ProD2 clubs now turn up with about 75% JIFFs in their squads, usually around seventeen players, the lowest being Toulon with 59% (which could be very costly in terms of relegation) and the maximum being Clermont with 80%.
(For more info, check out the very interesting site [only in French, I’m afraid] www.allrugby.com and look for “ stats Jiff”. The site covers many other subjects – a gold mine for TomP. See also: www.ffr.fr and look for “filière d’accession au haut niveau”.)
Now the agreement:
The clubs agreed to leave 42 players at Galthié’s disposal for the entire duration of the 6N, with only fourteen players released to their clubs a few days before the actual games. At least five clubs must provide one to three players, thus making sure most clubs are involved. During the fallow weeks, 23 players are ‘protected’ and not allowed to play with their clubs; the same applies to the autumn tests. In exchange, the clubs get serious money and also bonuses according to France’s results. Don’t ask me the exact amount, it’s classified.
So not only does Galthié have access to the best players available with time on his hands, but in the meantime – because the T-14 never stops, right? – the younger players get game time while the big boys are in camp.
Then we get a competent set of coaches.
Galthié, the brain. His pet subject and true area of expertise is how quickly a team goes from defence to attack and vice versa. He’s a rugby nerd.
Ibanez, man management, as FG is notoriously bad at it.
Labit (attack), Edwards (defence), Ghezal (lineout), Servat (scrum): the technicians know their stuff, as does Giroud, who’s in charge of the physical preparation.
Finally, France seem to have unearthed quite a few excellent players; some of them could arguably claim a spot in a world XV.
But there is also an unusual strength in depth. Why?
Because rugby is rapidly expanding, both geographically and, more importantly, socially.
There are 245 000 registered players in the country , +6% since before Covid. There are 239 rugby schools (from 6 to U14), including about 60 where historically rugby was not played (Normandy, Brittany, the North East). This is the end of the PE teacher or the well-meaning dad improvising as a coach: these schools have more professional coaches, trained by the FFR, who spot the better players and offer them study, coupled with rugby practice, in 25 high-quality schools (age 15 to 18), partially paid by the FFR. Again, in various parts of the country, including New Caledonia or inner cities around Paris.
There are 44 pro clubs – possibly more if you include faux amateurs all the way down to Fédérale 1, which is the fourth level – most of them with raucous crowds in quite often sold-out stadia.
There is also more exposure: all T-14 and ProD2 games are shown on Canal + (40 euros a month). That money is evenly distributed among the lower leagues.
Big cities (Lyon, Bordeaux, Paris, Montpellier, etc.) are quickly replacing the erstwhile bastions of rugby (50K-pop cities like Dax, Bayonne, Bourgoin, …), bringing in richer sponsors but also attracting – and this is the big novelty – kids from the inner cities, Blacks and Arabs who were only into football before. France has always had players from ex-colonies and from Caribbean islands, Bourgarel, Bennazzi, Blanco, Betsen etc., but they were only a few; nowadays, about a third of the France squad are the sons of recent immigrants. Their success story, through feeder clubs like Massy or Sarcelles (in the Paris area), in turn brings in new kids.
I’m not sure France will get a GS, though I expect them to win the 6N, and I’m not sure either that they’ll win the RWC next year (tough draw in particular), but I certainly expect them to finally remain among the top 3 teams for the years to come. Then of course, a new cycle will begin and the Gauls will to go back to their favorite sport: infighting.
As ably explained by Flair99.
Onna telly this week
Friday 4th March
| Ulster 48 – 12 Cardiff | 19:35 | RTÉ2 / BBC2 NI/Wales / Premier Sports 2 |
| Edinburgh 56 – 8 Connacht | 19:35 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Harlequins 24 – 10 Newcastle | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 5th March
| Treviso v Leinster | 12:55 | RTÉ2 / Premier Sports 2 |
| Saracens v Leicester | 15:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Scarlets v Glasgow | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Munster v Dragons | 17:15 | S4C / TG4 / Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 6th March
| Ospreys v Zebre | 14:00 | Premier Sports 1 | ||
| Exeter v Sale | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Thursday 10th March
| Wales v France (U20s) | 20:00 | BBC2 Wales / iPlayer |
Ovally Balls 
iirc, Mark Bennett played in France under the Jiff rule, there was some concern that he would declare for France but it didn’t happen
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Just watched the highlights from the Edinburgh game. The number of times Edinburgh just seemed to walk (or run) through the middle of the Connacht defence was just ridiculous.
Sorry Claw…
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Excellent article Flair….
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ticht, I think it’s a bit overstated at the moment. Of the starting XV Woki and Ntamack played in 2018 alongside Bamba and Gros the replacement props. Arthur Vincent’s got caps and probably a couple of others two .That’s still a pretty good effort at bringing players through so fast, mind. And some of the others’ll make it soon.
Of the England team they played in the final Marcus Smith is in the current XV. Hill’s got a cap I think and so has Ben Curry.
Gabriel Ibitoye was one of the stars of that England team and he’s currently playing for Tel Aviv Heat alongside Josh Strauss and Nic Groom. He is going back to England, to Bristol, next year but I was very surprised to see him in their squad the other day.
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Edinburgh gave Munster a heap of trouble – I’m not surprised they beat Connacht.
Unfortunately, Connacht seem to turn it up when playing the other Irish provinces but deliver nothing like the same impact against other opposition.
(Not to take anything away from Edinburgh – and I’ve only read running commentaries on the game)
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Yes, very good ATL Flair. Got to be pleased Castres are still flying the flag for the smaller places though…
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Connacht had a game against Scarlets maybe at the back end of last season (?) where they were perhaps 25 points up and then defended a bit like that to lose about 40-30. Was great entertainment, but they must frustrate their supporters.
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They can overwhelm teams with that fast support game that looks nice but both Scottish teams seem to have worked them out this season. Their league position is probably a bit better than it’ll end up as they’ve played at least 2 more than the teams just behind them and 5 more than Cardiff and Scarlets – who’ve both played 8 league games in 5 months.
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@TomP – what’s the story of Tel Aviv Heat? I see they have a lot of Saffers (and Josh Strauss).
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CMW, Dunno really. Some 3rd level competition put together by someone or other. They’re playing some club sides in Pretoria this month to warm up for the knock-outs of the competition. There were a couple of Russian sides that’ve been in the notAmlin, a Portugese, a Spanish, a Dutch and a couple of other teams in the tournament. Nice idea but not sure if it’ll last much longer.
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Once Edinburgh stopped dropping the ball in contact and missing tackles it turned into a one way street.
They said after the game that Edinburgh were missing 14 international forwards, I had a look and I make it 13, but only three Scotland backs, which shows where the strength lies for Edinburgh, or so you’d think, their best displays have been about the broken field games and backs making breaks and scoring tries.
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Had a look at that competition on Wiki. I guess the Russian sides will be out of it now. The Black Lion have the best name and are not part of the worldwide Saffer-poaching conspiracy so I guess I’d support them.
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Superb explanation of the French resurgence. Thank you Flair.
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Excellent ATL Flair! And the additions by Thauma, I’m assuming.
CMW – The Black Lion is a wonderful little manufacturing jewellery shop in Addis Ababa where you buy silver products by the weight, no matter the level of intricacy in their design or manufacture. Worthy of support!
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Thanks for the kind words, and thanks to Thauma who cleaned the language and found so quickly the pictures.
Ticht, about the excellent U20 generation, what Tomp said is true. It shouldn’t be overstated, which is even more scary when you think about it. Only a handful have made the cut yet, but there will be more. Jordan Joseph, Laporte, Coville spring to mind.
The simple fact that young players find game time in the T14 and the very demanding ProD2 and National makes a whole difference. For instance that’s where Jaminet and Villière come from, Perpignan and Rouen, the former in ProD2, the latter were at level 3 (Fédérale 1 then).
.
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Jordan Joseph was an incredible player at Under 20s. Really hope he makes the step up.
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Joseph plays #8. Initially with Racing, and barred by some serious competition, including by another excellent young player, Yoan Tanga, who was called with the big boys, Joseph has been on loan with Pau and he’s played so well since that he’s one of the 42 called to prepare for Wales. So are Lavaut, Vanverberghe, Tao, Barassi, all with the U20 two years ago.
Also watch for Azagoh, Diallo, Coly and Haddad. They’ll be there or thereabout.
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“Thauma who cleaned the language”
Doesn’t sound like Thaum.
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How fuckin’ rude.
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Thaum, I sent you a short mail wrt the atl. Thanks again.
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Leinster struggling to get the bonus point before half time in Treviso.
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Or not. Some good direct running and support play combined with lousy defence and they’re in. 3-28 and still three minutes to the break.
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There has been a small amendment to the first paragraph…!
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Bloody hell, that’s not something you often see happen. Lewington dives over in the corner and during the scoring, Murimurivalu drops the shoulder/arm into him. This is actually noticed by the officials and results in a yellow card and penalty restart.
And Lozowski kicks 3 points from the restart.
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Wassa score, Refit? The channel here allegedly showing it is showing golf replays instead. Arseholes.
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22-13. Old Treacle-Toes himself on the score sheet for Sarries. Bit of a tetchy match all round – lots of leaning on people and shirt pulling happening, from both teams.
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🍻
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Cheetahs scoring a point a minute against an abject Lions team in the Currie Cup. Four try bonus point after 22 minutes. They even went off for 25 minutes because of lightning, but didn’t help the Lions.
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31-7 after 35 minutes. Lions scored a lovely try to get back into contention. Or something.
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38-7 at HT. Gonna be difficult to deny the Cheetahs here.
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Munster are making Dragon purée.
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64-3 at FT.
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Pfft! Even the Lions did better than that! Just…
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Scarlets v Glasgow
Glasgow looked to be cruising early on, everything was under control but Scarlets did look like they had a punchers chance because they do have some good moves on them.
There was an exchange of tries and a penalty took Glasgow in with a 7-10 lead at the break.
A big turning point was when Ryan Wilson obstructed Blade Thompson in the lead up to what otherwise looked like a very good Glasgow score. It was rightly chalked off and Scarlets marked their own seven pointer from the resulting penalty – a 14 point swing.
From there Scarlets never looked back and cut through Glasgow, winning 35 – 10 in the end.
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Ryan Wilson doing something daft on the rugby pitch!?
I’m shocked!
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BB, even for him it was a beezer, for no reason at all he spread his arms wide and stopped Thompson from making a tackle.
To be honest, Thompson was never making the tackle on a full back at full pelt running away from him, Wilson didn’t have to do anything, but he made it very easy for the try to be chalked off.
Stupid, plain stupid.
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I hear Duhan vdM got a red card today.
That will rule him out for the Italy and Ireland games in all probability.
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This Six Nations just gets better and better for us, doesn’t it…….
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Well, to be fair it’s always about more than the 23 any team can take to the stadium at any one time, Scotland have been operating at nearly our best 30 players competing for the 23 places, I don’t think our injuries and now other reasons for non-availability are worse than the other teams’, quite the reverse probably.
Our main problem is shiteness, well that’s overstating it, it’s about having a wining mentality and we just don’t have that.
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wining or winning?
wining and dining?
Having a wining mentality would be having a wino mentality, which is pretty much what I have right now – bottle of red down as I am.
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The incident that led to vdM’s red card, I really hope they decide that the card is enough, but they won’t, there is no chance of the defender being hurt here, none.
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Now hearing that Glasgow were affected by a vomit-inducing bug.
Has anyone seen Suzie in the last couple of weeks?
Three Glasgow players had to be taken off during the match.
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Jeez Ticht, you lot pinching our mythical waitress-agents now too? Mind you, Kebble, Schoeman, Nel etc al probably need some ‘assistance’ with their diets given the irresistible lure of deep fried pizza and Mars bars!
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Deebs, Boan Venter and s turning into a brilliant loosehead for us now too
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All relative, Ticht!
Anybody got the score in the Zebre match?
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17-16 to Ospreys. Think that’s Zebre’s second point of the season.
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Blog either shocked by Zebre getting a(nother) point, or by the fact that they performed better than a Scottish side in Wales.
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Caught Munster vs Dragons on a catch up service. Can’t say if Dragons were poor – they gave Leinster a tough match earlier in the season.
I guess this is the way we’d want Munster to play every match – Kleyn tends to be important to Munster getting sufficient go forward ball to allow the backs to do their stuff. Casey played well – snappy service and quick thinking brought 2 tries.
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#Worldle #45 2/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
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The Cuttitta Cup will be contested for the first time this weekend
https://www.scottishrugby.org/news/the-cuttitta-cup-is-unveiled
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