What now for the French national team?

[Gerrumonside ref]

Any ideas?

Edited May 8, 2023 by Gerrumonside ref

[ELBOWSEYE]

Just persevere, they need Tolouse and Catalans to be in SL. They will get more players playing at higher levels. You can flip that question to what now for England when we talk about the kangaroos we seem further back than in the 80s and 90s. 

[THE RED ROOSTER]

There will never be any improvement in the French national side until at least a dozen players are in the NRL.  Super League just doers not cut it.

[Madrileño]

18 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Any ideas?

There's a post on the match thread saying "it's not our job to improve them".

I think the fact that people like that still exist in the fanbase suggests that France really are up against it.

On OOYL last week, they were discussing how Catalans are not involved in the vote regarding IMGs involvement.  Only RFL member clubs are involved in the decision making process.

So... the future of the game in Europe is being decided by Keighley and Rochdale (as per the dockhouse podcast thread on here...) and not by the Catalan Dragons, who are genuine contenders for the Super League title. 

I would laugh, but I can't bring myself to type the emoji. The governance of the game is beyond shambolic. 

[The Future is League]

26 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Any ideas?

Well what about England only playing them in France for the foreseeable future and perhaps they will give a bit more effort in front of their home fans, and give England a bigger test.

[gingerjon]

37 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Any ideas?

Switch it off and back on again?

[welshmagpie]

Bousquet, Da Costa, Garcia, Yaha, Fages.

If those players alone were available today things would’ve been far closer and competitive. If anything today just exposed France’s depth and proved the need for 2 French clubs in Super League. 
 

Persevere 

[Oxford]

34 minutes ago, Madrileño said:

There's a post on the match thread saying "it's not our job to improve them".

This is far too common, sadly.

52 minutes ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

Just persevere, they need Tolouse and Catalans to be in SL.

Absolutely but in some ways that's a minimum.

The French side have some very useful players and just like England for many years they need all their best players on the paddock at the same time.

Laurent was   spot on with his comments.

Our divided sport probably means all this will carry on in much the same way.

Plenty seem to prefer it like that.

[JM2010]

3 minutes ago, welshmagpie said:

Bousquet, Da Costa, Garcia, Yaha, Fages.

If those players alone were available today things would’ve been far closer and competitive. If anything today just exposed France’s depth and proved the need for 2 French clubs in Super League. 
 

Persevere 

I don’t think just having 2 French teams in SL is enough but it’s a good start. Having more French players at other SL clubs as well as 2 French clubs would be better. 
Also, French Polynesian players coming through in the NRL would be a big boost 

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

We need

1. Two French sides in SuperLeague 

2. Two tests per year against England, at least one of them played in France 

3. A Test every autumn in France against whoever is over from the southern hemisphere (or France to tour down under)

4. Regular internationals at the younger key age groups 

5. Some time 

[Oxford]

1 hour ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:

There will never be any improvement in the French national side until at least a dozen players are in the NRL.  Super League just doers not cut it.

YTSH!

[Jughead]

13 minutes ago, welshmagpie said:

Bousquet, Da Costa, Garcia, Yaha, Fages.

If those players alone were available today things would’ve been far closer and competitive. If anything today just exposed France’s depth and proved the need for 2 French clubs in Super League. 
 

Persevere 

Fages hasn’t played for France for years,  using the Fages card has long since sailed. 

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

24 minutes ago, welshmagpie said:

Bousquet, Da Costa, Garcia, Yaha, Fages.

If those players alone were available today things would’ve been far closer and competitive. If anything today just exposed France’s depth and proved the need for 2 French clubs in Super League. 
 

Persevere 

Yaha?  Catalans have two English guys as their first choice wingers. 

[Jughead]

1 minute ago, Wollo Wollo Wayoo said:

Yaha?  Catalans have two English guys as their first choice wingers. 

They’re well within their rights to do so, as are Cas with Fonua and Faraimo on their wings. 

[welshmagpie]

1 minute ago, Wollo Wollo Wayoo said:

Yaha?  Catalans have two English guys as their first choice wingers. 

Yes, Yaha. A huge upgrade on Romano and Marcon.

[Futtocks]

27 minutes ago, Oxford said:

Our divided sport probably means all this will carry on in much the same way.

Plenty seem to prefer it like that.

There are Rugby Union trolls, and there are the kind of Rugby League fans who just want everything to be like it was in the "good old days".

Their most heartfelt desires for the future of our sport are very hard to tell apart.

[THE RED ROOSTER]

1 hour ago, Oxford said:

YTSH!

Thank you for your considred response - Could you repeat that in English.

[Jparrish]

France have some good players but lack depth which was exposed at the weekend.

I'd like us to play them in France next year mid season and hope we would see a more competitive game. I'd also like to see them face off with Tonga on their tour but will that clash with the Euro qualifiers ? 

[Pulga]

How about a regular series against Wales?

Closer competition I'd think and would help Wales.

[WN83]

Had Toulouse been given time to grow and we had 2 top flight French teams, I think we could’ve seen major improvements over the next decade but as it stands, we have one top fight club, who fill it with English and Aussie/Kiwi players and the other is playing in the second tier. Catalans have played more French players than usual this season but ultimately it’s because they’ve had injury problems and when they clear, it’ll be back to have a side made up of 70%+ non French players.
 

I’m not sure why things have never been tightened up around how many non French players they’re allowed. It feels like they’re still treated as a team who are new to the professional game and haven’t had time to build a team based on a solid footing of local players. This is their 18th season in the top flight and there is a solid amateur and semi pro scene in the South of France, that they have first dibs on. They should be able to cope now, after 17 years of playing in Superleague, with only having a max of 7 non French players, just as all the English clubs have to do with non Fed trained players. Unless that is forced upon them, I don’t see things changing and that’s before we move on to asking why so many players were seemingly blocked from turning out for France (and England for that matter, in the shape of Davies, Johnstone, McMeekan etc) today. 

[Sports Prophet]

It is an absolute priority they enter a side into Franchise RL to lift the standard  

It’s going to be a hard slog. I don’t see any improvement to the talent gap between England and France for the last 20 years.

I think the French should look at an investment in an elite Australian coach to run a 50 man elite squad training camp for six weeks at the end of the season and again at the end of next season.

[Guest]

We will never know until they put out a full side and stop ducking the fixture. That's the travesty. 

You can argue player pools and depth, but that's the minimum starting point required. 

Although I also would say it would unfair on Catalans to lose half a side whilst the other SL sides get a week off. 

Whether or not it has been forced by injury, I think there are signs Catalans have a deeper french contingent this season. 

I like the look of Zenon. 

[tim2]

Saying "Catalans in SL was supposed to improve France but hasn't" doesn't really cut it.

Cats are a commercial enterprise that has to get foreign players to compete, given that they could be relegated (at the moment).

It would be fairer in that scenario to match France against a team composed of English players only from St Helens and Featherstone.

[Eddie]

I like @sentoffagain2’s idea of them playing English club sides in a tour, and they could also play Cumbria. Playing teams around the same or a slightly higher standard than them would help them improve, whereas yesterday will have sent them backwards if anything. It might also get decent crowds. 

[Archie Gordon]

1 hour ago, Leonard said:

We will never know until they put out a full side and stop ducking the fixture. That's the travesty. 

You can argue player pools and depth, but that's the minimum starting point required. 

...

This is the main issue. FFR XIII, Catalans, TO - and I include the players - need to take their responsibilities seriously. If they don't, there really is no point setting up more games for them to just go through the motions. It's in their hands.