Another lesson from the French

CHRIS HEWETT

Now that Vannes have made it into the top tier of French rugby and the people running things across the water are preparing to open up Brittany as a significant new market for the game – the major population centres of Nantes and Rennes are a shortish train ride away – it is a good moment to remind ourselves of the chalk-and-fromage differences between this union country and that one.

ProD2, as the second division is known and, more importantly, cherished on the far side of Channel, is playing its usual blinder. Half of the 16 clubs who participated in last season’s league – that’s right, 50 per cent on the nose – have played in the Heineken Cup. Of those, Brive were crowned European champions and went within a gnat’s crotchet of defending their title, while Biarritz and Colomiers made it to three finals between them.

We can run through the others in alphabetical order: Agen, Beziers, Dax, Grenoble, Montauban. Quite the list. And it will be the same numerical story next season, on account of the fact that Grenoble and Montpellier (champions of France two years ago) are involved in a promotion-relegation decider this very afternoon.

Which is how it should be. A blindingly obvious thing to say, but worth saying anyway. Some of this French success is rooted in a century and more of domestic league tribalism, and England’s inability to match that history is not the fault of its governing body. But there are other factors involved – active interest and support from municipal authorities, strict financial regulation, an iron commitment to the “seamless” league structure – that could, with sufficient will, imagination and generosity of spirit, be emulated here.

Sadly, it is not the mood of the moment at Twickenham. The mood in Brittany? That’s a different thing entirely.