The Bordeaux staff thought until Wednesday that they would be able to integrate into their preparation their five internationals not retained by the XV of France for this Friday's test against Argentina. If Pierre Bochaton, Temo Matiu and Romain Buros apply for the trip to Brittany, this is not the case for Maxime Lucu and Maxime Lamothe.
The National Rugby League has in fact relied on the agreement with the French Federation which provides that during international match weeks, the 28 players are “kept by the FFR until Sunday.“Which does not apply this week in this case since the five reservists (Lamothe, Lucu, Montagne, Alldritt, Berdeu) were released by the coach.
“There are clubs which put pressure on the League and the League listened to these clubs”
What is also not accepted at the CEVA campus is the evocation of a “risk of unfairness between the clubs concerned” due to the different programming times of the 10th day of Top 14.
“The problem with the League is that it is made up mainly of people who are involved in the clubsplagues UBB defense coach Christophe Laussucq. I find it a bit strong to talk about a lack of fairness knowing that we are still heavily impacted by these duplicates. There was an opportunity to limit this lack of fairness a little and the opposite is happening. And clubs apparently dare to complain… It's the world turned upside down. We just don't have the right to play players who are employed by us even though the French team has released them. There are clubs which put pressure on the League and the League listened to these clubs. How does having Max Lucu and Max Lamothe play with us penalize the French team? This is completely absurd. There are still things at the NRL that work and prove that the NRL is not a completely independent body that makes its decisions like a big boy.“
France
