Scubby Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 I'll get my bit in before it descends into a P&R slagathon. 20 French players will play SL this weekend. This is obviously a record for SL and something I couldn't have imagined 20 years ago when it was a novelty to see a single French player running around. There are also some quality French players who are out with injury like Bousquet, Yaha, Morgue and Jussaume etc. Hopefully this is a positive sign for the World Cup in France in 2025. 10 Toulouse, 9 Catalans, 1 Huddersfield* *Would have be 21 but Bevan French is still injured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Hopefully they'll put in a decent performance at the World Cup. It will be tough but the sport needs France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Kevin Sinfield Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 4 hours ago, Scubby said: I'll get my bit in before it descends into a P&R slagathon. 20 French players will play SL this weekend. This is obviously a record for SL and something I couldn't have imagined 20 years ago when it was a novelty to see a single French player running around. There are also some quality French players who are out with injury like Bousquet, Yaha, Morgue and Jussaume etc. Hopefully this is a positive sign for the World Cup in France in 2025. 10 Toulouse, 9 Catalans, 1 Huddersfield* *Would have be 21 but Bevan French is still injured That’s one of the benefits of having 2 French teams in Super League. Imagine what could happen with 3 French Super League teams. England v France could become a rivalry similar to state of origin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnh1 Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Escare played for Salford reserves today as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UTK Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Made a comment in the TO match thread before seeing this but I went back and counted and we're at 26 for the season (including Joe Chan). This number includes 7 SL debuts handed out by TO - Sangare, Puech, Bergal, Marion, Stefani, Marcon, Pezet. Very exciting numbers considering we're only at round 4 and have a few quality players who are yet to feature this season due to injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnyia Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Sangaré and Springer changed the game when they went on for Toulouse tonight they're two big athletic blokes!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RL Sonja Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 It really is great to see. The French saying “boldness always pays” is the way to go for France. They are the bravest of the brave when it comes to RL. "There has never been a Challenge Cup semifinal of 65,000 either individually or combined" - Damien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost crayfish Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 Catalans often seem to produce better and more spirited performances when injuries to their imports bring Frenchmen into the side. It's my one frustration with catalans. I think it's great they bring in class imports and English recruits to give them a genuine top 4 side, but to have superleague quality French players sidelined for average players like Tyrone May and Samisoni Langi is such a waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayCee Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 14 hours ago, NW10LDN said: Hopefully they'll put in a decent performance at the World Cup. It will be tough but the sport needs France. Forwards are where France needs strengthening. If they can put a competitive pack on the field they will do OK. My blog: https://rugbyl.blogspot.co.nz/ It takes wisdom to know when a discussion has run its course. It takes reasonableness to end that discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Blues Ox Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 So out of 34 spots in the 2 French SL teams and despite one of those teams been in SL for over 15 years, France can only muster 20 players deemed good enough to play at the highest level of the sport in Europe. I can't decide if that record is cause for celebration or cause for concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Gordon Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 2 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said: So out of 34 spots in the 2 French SL teams and despite one of those teams been in SL for over 15 years, France can only muster 20 players deemed good enough to play at the highest level of the sport in Europe. I can't decide if that record is cause for celebration or cause for concern. Celebration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommygilf Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 I've thought for a while now that English clubs should be encouraged to sign French players (and Welsh etc for that matter) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UTK Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 14 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said: So out of 34 spots in the 2 French SL teams and despite one of those teams been in SL for over 15 years, France can only muster 20 players deemed good enough to play at the highest level of the sport in Europe. I can't decide if that record is cause for celebration or cause for concern. There were 21 English players in the Wakefield-Leeds game and 23 in the Saints-KR game, those clubs have been around since the dawn of time and can only manage 1 and 3 more domestic players respectively than Catalan/TO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 Great news. More French players playing at the highest level can only help the French national team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yipyee Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said: So out of 34 spots in the 2 French SL teams and despite one of those teams been in SL for over 15 years, France can only muster 20 players deemed good enough to play at the highest level of the sport in Europe. I can't decide if that record is cause for celebration or cause for concern. Out of the 34 spots over 2 Hull teams playing, how many were Hull born and bread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubby Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said: So out of 34 spots in the 2 French SL teams and despite one of those teams been in SL for over 15 years, France can only muster 20 players deemed good enough to play at the highest level of the sport in Europe. I can't decide if that record is cause for celebration or cause for concern. So in the 127 years of professional RL ................... (you know the drill) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said: So out of 34 spots in the 2 French SL teams and despite one of those teams been in SL for over 15 years, France can only muster 20 players deemed good enough to play at the highest level of the sport in Europe. I can't decide if that record is cause for celebration or cause for concern. Surely the only important thing to do here is ask ourselves "how does the number of players that are French playing in super league now compare with twenty years ago" and look at the very positive trend for the wider game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowdesert Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 Difficult to get into the mindset that French players, playing in SL is an issue - even Hull teams dragged into it. FFS, only on this Forum eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnyia Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 It was enjoyable to watch Toulouse last night, French elite 1 players holding their own in a super League team ex French fringe super League players playing very well and getting game time in super League, Toulouse look like they're adapting to the speed and physical needs of super League, it's all good news for the French national team. Maybe I'm being too positive . Players with super League experience are now playing both in elite and super League, ex NRL players in elite too, The elite top 6 play offs will be very interesting this year and they'll be very tight physical games, top end RL is looking up in France we now need to work very hard on everything below the top 6 in elite, The French u19s have names a 60 player train on squad and will have players with super League first team experience like Cesar Rougé and Joe chan and players playing regular elite 1, so the tests v England could be very good to watch. Back to French bashing and negativity now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barley Mow Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 2 hours ago, yipyee said: Out of the 34 spots over 2 Hull teams playing, how many were Hull born and bread? I don't have an opinion on the number of French players who are playing in SL, but isn't your question the equivalent of asking how many of the Catalan and Toulouse players were born and bred in Perpignan and Toulouse rather than France as a whole? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubby Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 Let's try to keep this thread from derailing. The most exciting part for me is that France are finally beefing up in the middle. I see young hungry players in Goudemond, Sangare, Dezaria, Naverette, Chan etc. who can actually bend the line. Add that to Garcia, Julien and Bousquet and it is promising for sure. These guys need to get top line experience and they will become more consistent and durable attackers and defenders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubby Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 15 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said: Regular reminder that if you arent in favour of locking French teams in you have no leg to stand on when it comes to conplaining about Catalans and Toulouse lack of French players. Thanks. Toulouse had just 1 non-UK or French player in their 17 yesterday - including 10 French Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark S Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 If we could get a competitive France v England game we could play them over a 3 game series in Spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM2010 Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 Would be good to get a couple more French clubs into the Championship with a view to getting in SL. Aude and Avignon would be the best two options in my opinion. If they all ran full time academies then there would be a good conveyor belt of French talent filtering through. Underneath this Elite 1 could continue to develop with the traditional clubs keeping the game strong in these towns and villages and providing a good foundation for the clubs in the SL and Championship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
langpark Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 4 hours ago, Scubby said: Toulouse had just 1 non-UK or French player in their 17 yesterday - including 10 French And by far their best performance if the season! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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