Everyone must love a free day! I’ve just got back after my morning in Antony and I feel I’ve earned my lunch. The French love art and the fact that there is a free gallery in Antony of quite a high standard says a lot. I know very little about art, as I explained to the little old women inside, but I was impressed. They were running a vote for the best piece in the gallery and this woman was keen to practice her English on me as I stood staring at my choice. I was impressed at how convincing my arty BS sounded.
I then took my seat at the Café de la Gare with a hot chocolate and some bread and butter and my Midi Olympique. This paper never fails to amaze me and I’m building up a nice pile of them in my room. Some interesting stories are as follows:
Bayonne have become the latest club in France to join the ranks of the nouveaux riches (spelling questionable). Their new sugar daddy has employed former French coach and Minister for Sport Bernard Laporte to act as an advisor to the President. With his connections in industry and commerce that he has garnered from his time in government, even more sponsorship is flowing into the ‘real’ Basque club (i.e., not Biarritz). So far they’ve bought Byron Kelleher and the outlawed New Zealand alcoholic Sione Lauki and came extremely close to prising Thierry Dusautoir away from Toulouse. The list will grow, I’m sure.
David Skrela has moved from Toulouse to Clermont Auvergne on a 3 year deal where he will earn an absolute packet. On the topic of Clermont, Coach Vern Cotter is about to return home to New Zealand for what seems to be a mid-season break. On his way back he is scheduled to fly to Suva, Fiji, in an effort to persuade the wonderfully named Napoleoni Nalaga to return to the club. He appears to have pulled a Caucau-like runner and is determined to stay in Fiji for some reason...
French rugby is becoming more and more crazy every week with an extreme amount of money changing hands with more about to flow into the game from a new Canal + TV deal. The league is extremely close and the final few months are going to be compulsive viewing. Only 9 points separate 2nd placed Clermont/Racing and 9th placed Stade Francais.
In amongst all this money and glamour and transfer talk and foreign mercenaries, it’s worth reflecting on the plight of Bourgoin. This immensely proud small town club are the victims of all the above and are almost certain to be relegated after getting themselves into some financial trouble for which they were docked points. I have never seen a stadium with so much character and remember writing that it looked to be one of the most intimidating places to play when the whole town would undoubtedly turn out to fill it with noise.
The face of rugby in this country has been changing for a few years now, and therefore rugby in Europe is changing, but I do get the impression that it is starting to be ramped up a few gears. Who knows where it will leave us.
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