Wants change: Saint-André
National coach Philippe Saint-André has urged French rugby to follow the example set by England when it comes to looking after their players.
The 45-year-old, who spent over eight years coaching in England, said that the lack of time allowed for giving the top players time to develop their skills had hindered and would continue to hinder the national side.
Saint-André acknowledges that his task of landing the Six Nations title this season is already difficult with three-away games.
However, he claimed that he would be more comforted had he felt that the players were arriving relatively fresh.
"We are going into the Six Nations on the back of four successive wins (the three November tests plus a win over Argentina on their summer tour)," said the 69-times capped former France wing and captain, who coached France to a fourth-placed finish in his first Six Nations last year.
"However, the players were fresh then. I don't know in what state I will have them now after Top 14 games and the European Cup pool matches."
Saint-André, whose side begin their campaign against Italy in Rome next Sunday, said that there could be light at the end of the tunnel with important talks set to take place at the end of the season.
"We should do the same as in England as I know from working there," said the former Sale and Gloucester coach and sporting director.
"There they play between tests and club rugby about 30-32 matches. Here we play around 40. There are some very very important negotiations regarding this problem due in June between the league authorities, the federation and the players.
"We need to look after the players. It's not so much about rest as development. In England they have five weeks off, four for holiday and one for development. In France our guys have four weeks holidays and then it is straight back into friendly matches and then the Top 14 starts."
Saint-André, who also coached two French sides in Bourgoin and Toulon, admitted to being angry when he met with his fellow Six Nations coaches at the tournament launch last Wednesday because they already knew the state of play regarding their players whilst he had to wait till after Friday's Top 14 games to know who was fit.
As a result of that he lost both promising full-back Brice Dulin and leading try-scorer Vincent Clerc to injury.
"I have the impression that when we prepare for tournaments, others are competing in the 100 metres and we are in the 110m hurdles," he said.
"We are the only country involved in the tournament who had a league programme on Friday and Thursday whilst the English have been together since last Sunday like the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish and even the Italians."
Saint-André, fondly known as 'Le Goret' (piglet) since being called that by friends for his style in playing tennis with his head down to the ground as a boy, added, though, he wasn't advocating French rugby become totally anglicised.
"I may have learnt about coaching from my days in England, and have spent over eight of the 12 years I have been a coach in English rugby but I am still French!!"
Comments
ArmchairGeneral says...
@kiwi rouster: keep posting. Good stuff. I guess you are a French Kiwi based in france, can read French press and inform us English illiterates.?.
Posted 23:14 28th January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
@Froggie: I mean France are complaining but Wales have it harder with their players going to France plus injuries. My point being its not PSA that should be feeling hard done by and making the pre tournament excuses.
Posted 23:08 28th January 2013
KiwiRooster says...
@froggy73 it is not the FFR that decides whether introducing 2 extra clubs into the Top 14, it is the LNR (Ligue Nationale de Rugby).
FFR = France Internationals
LNR = Top 14 clubs
Having said that, it is possible that FFR has been guilty of complacency for the last decade. Their President is already talking about building a stadium dedicated to the French national team, but he has yet to sort out that long lasting dilema which is the availability of international French players.
Lièvremont once mentionned the possibility of compensating (financially speaking) the clubs to make all international players unavailable to play Top 14 for 5 weeks before the 6 Nations. I believe this is the agreement PSA is talking about where each Premiership club is being compensated by the RFU for the loss of their internationals. In a nutshell, I guess the RFU pays for the players salary for the time needed. I am not sure how it works, I might be wrong on that one.
If Pierre Camou is ready to spend millions on a brand new rugby arena, the FFR surely can pay the salaries the way the RFU does. It should be their priority.
It is difficult to know whether the opposition comes from the FFR or the clubs themselves. Maybe they are not ready to lose the best players just yet even. Hard to tell. Or maybe they have not agreed on the amount of the compensation. Paying the salaries no more no less would seem acceptable to me, but some of the French clubs might be a little be more greedy, who knows.
Last but not least, let's not forget that the LNR (Top 14 clubs) are also bound to a contract with TV broadcaster Canal+. The channel that broadcasts the Top 14 games has no interest whatsoever in international rugby. Their interest is to grow the Top 14 regardless of the players safety or game quality. It is down to the LNR and FFR to balance popularity versus sustainability of the game.
Posted 15:12 28th January 2013
sigzegv says...
But... when summer tour begins, everyone says "players are tired after a looong season", and here st andré is telling us player were fresh ? Is rugby logic telling players are tired when a team don't play well, and telling they were fresh when they win everything ?
Posted 15:01 28th January 2013
froggy73 says...
@ArmchairGeneral: how you manage to link the poor form of Wales with France' lack of preparation is beyond my comprehension. Or did I misunderstand what you meant then ??
Posted 13:52 28th January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
@Froggie: C'est la vie. I Don't see Welsh fans feeling too sorry for you.
Posted 13:03 28th January 2013
exlondonfrog says...
I really believe that things will evolve positively for france. Am I too naive? Maybe, but PSA's struggle is the calendar and he is fighting energetically to change things. Fingers crossed!
Posted 11:22 28th January 2013
froggy73 says...
@ArmchairGeneral: PSA in right. Whatever the squad he has, a lack of preparation is a road to failure. Unfortunately, we have a rubbish FFR who wants always more money (14 teams and these muppets are talking about even 16 in a near future) and then cannot understand why we lose games we shouldn't lose.
But this has been an issue for ages for France. Nobody seems to care in the FFR.
Posted 10:47 28th January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
The other side of this coin is that his wealthy clubs not releasing his players are what keep all his French players in France, whereas others have lost players to France which undermines their national efforts also. IE get over it and stop the excuses. With a squad like that you should win grand slam.
Posted 08:43 28th January 2013