JAMES HARRINGTON
FRENCH COLUMN

Another of French rugby’s leading gamekeepers turned coach this week, as Top 14 referee Maxime Chalon put down his whistle and joined boyhood club Brive as a consultant - highlighting in the process a potential future brain drain problem that the French game needs to solve before it’s too late.
The good news is French rugby officials recognise it. The bad news is they have yet to find an answer.
After eight years taking charge of top-flight domestic games, former professional scrum-half Chalon will head to Brive’s Stade Amedee Domenech several times a week t...