Paris (AFP)

The National Rugby League and the French Federation were to discuss again Wednesday evening after a first meeting during which negotiations "advanced" concerning the duration of the provision of internationals, we learned from a source close to the matter.

The meeting originally scheduled for Thursday morning was brought forward to 7:30 p.m. to find a solution to the dispute between the LNR and the FFR on the number of matches for which the internationals must be released by their club between the end of October and the beginning of December, this source said.

"It's progressing, the exchanges were more peaceful" between the two bodies of French rugby, this source told AFP after the meeting on Wednesday morning.

The two parties discussed over a period in weeks of provision of players for the XV of France and on the number of players mobilized for each week, namely 31 or 42.

The representatives of the LNR then discussed with the coaches of Top 14 clubs the terms of a possible agreement and then with the club presidents at the end of the afternoon, we learned from the source close to the file. .

Wednesday's meeting, which was attended by FFR President Bernard Laporte, his LNR counterpart Paul Goze and club representatives, was to help prepare common ground.

- Wider international window -

The FFR, responsible for the national selection, has scheduled six matches from October 24 to the weekend of December 5-6 as part of the international autumn window extended by World Rugby due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The clubs, employers of the players, and the LNR, which oversees the professional championships, had agreed to make the internationals available for a maximum of five matches.

They usually compete in three during the same period.

On Saturday, the boss of the FFR, Bernard Laporte, wrote to these presidents to let them know that the internationals who would not respond to their summons against the XV of Wales on October 24, the first of the six scheduled matches, could not play in a club , based on a point in the World Rugby regulations.

Friday, the Council of State, seized by the League, had returned the two bodies back to back, considering that a modification of the number of meetings of the XV of France could not be done without the common agreement of the two parties but also, and above all, only after modification of an agreement binding them.

The Blues are supposed to meet in Marcoussis (Essonne) from Monday, October 19 to prepare for the meeting against the Welsh.

© 2020 AFP