Why the big guys in the Top 14 are really interested in lending their kids

• Still marginal a few seasons ago, the practice of loaning players developed in professional rugby.
• The possibility of temporarily recovering an item loaned in Pro D2 when a Top 14 club is deprived of its French internationals further increases its interest.

Among the multitude of announcements made by Didier Lacroix to the press, Wednesday at Ernest-Wallon, the following sentence was not the most noticed. "We will use the loans a lot," launched the president of Stade Toulousain, with a view to the 2020-2021 season, the start of which is hoped for in early September.

However, it reflects a recent shift initiated by professional rugby. A few years ago, unlike football, loans in ovalism were as rare as a third half in flat water. And then, the practice gradually spread, encouraged by successes like the experience of Thomas Ramos. Party in Colomiers in 2016-2017, the Toulouse striker exploded in Pro D2, before returning to the fold to impose themselves and then discover the XV of France.

Finances, sports future ... Stade Toulousain sees the end of the tunnel https://t.co/JEVG81pk2v via @ 20minutes pic.twitter.com/VcTDmD8TBX

The principle is simple: send a young player barred by competition in the Top 14 to harden elsewhere, often a floor lower, rather than to bother the tasteless and uncompetitive Hopes championship. But a measure adopted on April 22 by the steering committee of the National Rugby League (LNR) has made it even more interesting: now, players loaned by a Top 14 club to a training of Pro D2 will have the opportunity to do the round trip between the two divisions during the period of “double” championship - matches of the French team, either during the autumn tours and then the VI Nations Tournament.

A measure for "the big suppliers of XV of France"

"There is now more flexibility for the benefit of the big suppliers of the XV of France, who will be thus less penalized", one explains on the side of the LNR. Hence the example chosen Wednesday by Didier Lacroix, that of the South African opener or rear Tristan Tedder (24 years old).

"A fabulous player, in whom we believe a lot", according to the boss of the Red and Black, but "who needs playing time". “If we have a lot of players selected for his position [Romain Ntamack, Thomas Ramos…], we can recover him during this period of duplicates. "

Loaned players will be able to return to their home club during duplicate periods. @didierlacroixx has just explained that the @StadeToulousain would use this new @LNRofficiel device in 2020-2021. # Top14 # ProD2 pic.twitter.com/92VWiwlmgC

A great craftsman of the rise of Bayonne in the Top 14 during his loan on the Basque coast in 2018-2019, Tedder should this time spin off to Béziers, still in Pro D2. The New Zealand center Jarrod Poï (26) is off to a good start in Hérault, while the pillar Hugo Pirlet (23) will continue at Colomiers. The opener Baptiste Mouchous (21 years old) and the half-fray Martin Page-Relo (21 years old) will go to harden in Carcassonne.

Cannot lend more than six players

In addition to these five players, a new loan is under consideration for the second line Alexandre Manukula (23 years old) and the third line Yohann Gbizié (23 years old), who are coming out of a season respectively in Colomiers and Carcassonne. It will be one or the other. Because, if it can accommodate six (in Top 14) or eight players (in Pro D2) in the form of a loan, a professional club cannot lend more than six players…

For the time being, this system of round trips between clubs during international periods is only valid for the coming season. But the NRL is already considering the possibility of perpetuating the experience, if the test is positive.

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