JAMES HARRINGTON

FRENCH COLUMN

No deal: Agen remain keen to sign Harlequins wing Gabriel Ibitoye
PICTURE: Getty Images

It’s taken several weeks, and several twists, but the Beziers afternoon soap opera is running down for the summer. The Emirati buyout collapsed in a mire of acrimony and finger-pointing on Monday, after French rugby’s financial police, the DNACG, refused to give their blessing. What paperwork had been handed over was not enough to convince the watchdog that the deal on the table was on a sound footing.
The buyers blamed the DNACG. Beziers’ owners blam...