THESE might be concerning times for France at international level, with the country’s bid to host the World Cup in 2025 having collapsed and no guarantee of Les Tricolores being present when the tournament takes place at a yet-to-be-confirmed venue in the Southern Hemisphere the year after.
But Catalans Dragons lead the way in Super League, while Toulouse Olympique are attempting to once again thwart Featherstone Rovers in the race to win promotion to the top-flight, just as they did back in 2021.
In addition, the French domestic competition remains resilient, and while it receives little press coverage – League Express excepted, of course – the 2023 Elite 1 campaign reached a colourful conclusion in May.
Limoux beat Carcassonne in the Grand Final, with red and black flares lighting up the Narbonne sky as Grizzlies supporters in a 7,000 crowd partied.
The showpiece, in which former South Sydney Rabbitohs and Warrington Wolves loose-forward Jason Clark shone for the victors, followed play-offs that involved six of the ten top-flight teams.
And since those play-offs finished, a number of players have crossed the Channel to add their experience and skills to the Championship, which has six rounds remaining before the final top sextet slug it out for a Super League spot in 2024.
Promotion favourites Featherstone, of course, have their own French influence, even if the coaching reins have now been handed to James Ford after Sean Long, having been among Laurent Frayssinous’ Tricolores assistants at last year’s World Cup, parted company with the club in an unexpected development.
Rovers’ close-season signings included forward Mathieu Cozza from Catalans, who has since become a France international, featuring in the 64-0 defeat by England at Warrington in April, and halfback Thomas Lacans, who came through the Dragons’ development ranks before playing for Lézignan.
They joined prop Gadwin Springer – capped seven times by Les Tricolores, including two World Cup appearances – at the Millennium Stadium, where former France and Toulouse fullback Mark Kheirallah is a key player.
Featherstone currently have an eight-point lead over Toulouse, who are four above Sheffield Eagles and Batley Bulldogs and five ahead of Bradford Bulls, who have been bolstered by the mid-season arrival of former Catalans forward Jason Baitieri, who has 21 France Tests on his CV, and Papua New Guinea and ex-NRL and Leeds Rhinos hooker James Segeyaro.
The duo joined after helping Lézignan make the Elite 1 play-off semi-finals, and played big roles as Bradford won 42-6 at Batley last time out.
Halifax Panthers are in sixth (two points behind Bradford), with the help of Louis Jouffret, the lively halfback signed from Whitehaven ahead of last season and who played for Frayssinous’ side against England in April.
Jouffret helped Halifax claim an eye-catching 25-22 home victory over one of his former clubs Featherstone in round 21 (of 27), while London Broncos won 26-6 at Barrow Raiders, and along with Widnes Vikings, are only a point behind Halifax and pushing to make the play-offs cut.
It was a fifth success in six league matches for Mike Eccles’ Broncos, and Barrow’s seasoned coach Paul Crarey, whose relegation-threatened side are undoubtedly missing five-times-capped France and ex-Hull and Toronto Wolfpack back Hakim Miloudi, who switched to Albi for the Elite 1 campaign, noted the impact of former New Zealand, Penrith Panthers and Catalans centre Dean Whare and former Queensland, NRL and Toulouse halfback Corey Norman.
The pair joined London from Pia, who lost to Albi in the first stage of the play-offs, and Lézignan respectively in May.
“I thought Whare and Norman were really good,” said Crarey.
“With their help, the Broncos played some really sweet football, even at the back end of the game.”
While competition for a place in the Championship play-offs is both intense and intriguing, there is also an interesting debate to be had over how the loss of the World Cup will affect domestic Rugby League in France.
Some claim it was the anticipated financial trickle-down from the planned 2025 tournament that led to the wave of high-profile signings ahead of the 2023 season as clubs, traditionally funded by a mixture of wealthy owners, sponsors, state benefits and local government, jostled for supremacy.
Now that windfall won’t materialise, will it lead to a decline in the standard of Elite 1, or will the talent produced by junior development systems get more of a chance to feature and flourish and, in the long term, improve the national team?
