Some Trends in England, France and Italy
In the world of professional rugby is it inevitable and profitable that the best players congregate in the fewest clubs?
France
Ben Greatorez (@greatorexbt) has posted a map of France indicating where the French World Cup squad came from. Rather like Rome in another millennium, nearly all roads lead to Toulouse, with its two mega-clubs, Stade Toulousain and Blagnac.
The deep south has always been the beating heart of French rugby, and les Bleus and les Bleues have thrived. Could standards be even higher if other regions were equally prominent?
The FFR is trying hard to counter this trend, but Greatorex’s map now shows blanks where Ovalie Caennaise (Normandy) and Lille Metropole Villeneuve-d’Ascq (LMRCV – Nord) used to flourish. Neither can boast a current member of Les Bleues.
Sounds familiar?
England
The same issue is tearing at the heartstrings of women’s rugby in England. The sad old japes about England ending at Watford (or Tring) – from the Londoners’ point of view – look totally unfunny when it comes to the future shape of the Premier 15s.
We anxiously await the final decisions of the selection committee, charged with reshaping the most admired league in women’s world rugby. Do we simply forget about large chunks of the nation and concentrate out attention on London, the West Country and odd corners of the Midlands?
The Red Roses squad in New Zealand contained four players from Yorkshire alone (Ellie Kildunne, Morwenna Talling, Tatyana Heard and Zoe Aldcroft), but Yorkshire (God’s own Country?) has never boasted a club in the Prem 15s. All four moved south.
The Red Roses won’t be able to work off their frustration on the people that matter most till they meet the Black Ferns in the WXV (as we can confidently expect). In the meantime their strong emotions will be vented on their 6 Nations opponents. Do they deserve that punishment? That astonishing unbeaten streak ran from 9 November 2019 to 12 November 2022.
The overall effect is to shrink the competition within the French (Elite 1) and English leagues.
Italy
Italy too needs to develop its league structures, widen and strengthen its player pool, attract more media attention. The disparity in financial backing between the men’s and women’s squads (Azzurri and Azzurre) must be addressed. The women produce the results; the men don’t. Player movements need to be reversed, fewer Italians moving abroad to improve their playing standards; more top-quality foreigners coming into Italy to enjoy the competition.
Andrea Di Giandomenico signed off after thirteen years’s service as head coach with the Azzurre flourishing as never before. They stand a proud fifth in world rankings, their highest ever, and became the first Italian team to reach the quarter-finals of a World Cup, male or female.
The distance they still have to travel is marked by two results against their closest rivals, France. In the second of two pre-RWC warm-ups they beat them 26-19. In the game that mattered, in New Zealand, they lost convincingly 39-3. But two other wins, 21-8 over Japan and especially 22-11 over the USA, stand as testimony to ADG’s prowess as a coach.
Giovanni Rainieri is a former international player himself (23 caps), with extensive experience in coaching at Under 18 level and beyond. It will be fascinating to see whether he can maintain this advance.
It will help him enormously if Italy can shake off its dependence on two or three major clubs. But that is the trend everywhere, to be reinforced by ever-increasing professional attitudes.
