THE troubled attempts to merge traditional archrivals Stade Francais and Racing 92 is fast developing into a farce that tarnishes the Top 14. It is not a great advertisement for the elite French club game that a city the size of Paris is unable to support two clubs – as London does with Harlequins and Saracens.
Players and fans from the clubs clearly share that viewpoint, because no sooner had the clandestine decision between Racing owner Jacky Lorenzetti and his Stade counterpart, Thomas Savare, to pool the resources of the two Paris clubs been made public, than it ran into trouble.
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