Carqueiranne (France) (AFP)
The president of the French Rugby Federation Bernard Laporte, candidate for re-election, wants to "find solutions" in the conflict between the Top 14 clubs and the FFR around the fall calendar of the XV of France, he said. Wednesday.
"It is not us who decide, it is World Rugby. If I do not do what World Rugby decides, they cut me the subsidies: 125 countries voted for this decision", assured Laporte during his first meeting campaign in Carqueiranne (Var).
World Rugby has extended the international fall window to seven weeks, including one off, weekends from October 24 to December 5, instead of the usual three.
A decision "unacceptable" for the French clubs which deplore being deprived of their French and foreign internationals for a month and a half and estimate to have agreed to "a very important effort" by offering five international matches instead of three initially.
Laporte had hypothesized a ceiling of matches per player, but coach Fabien Galthié opposed it in an interview with Sud-Ouest, considering that the interest of the selection was not to proceed to rotations workforce.
"Fabien Galthié agrees. He does not agree with the fact that we shoot constantly but he agrees that we find agreements. He is not stupid, he understands well 'impact on the clubs so we have to find common ground. We have to find solutions, "added Laporte, also vice-president of World Rugby.
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