Hostile to duplicates, Didier Lacroix offers an elite to twelve clubs

Didier Lacroix, the president of Stade Toulousain, on June 3, 2020 at the Ernest-Wallon stadium.

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While the players of the Stade Toulousain, like Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack or Julien Marchand have fun within the XV of France, their club looks grim.

On Saturday, the team of president Didier Lacroix will play big when Castres receives the Top 14, after two consecutive failures against Lyon (7-16) then in Paris at the Stade Français (48-14), without its best players retained in Blue.

Also, the boss of the Red and Black is stepping up to the plate.

In

, Didier Lacroix admits experiencing "a great deal of frustration".

And not just because the closed door imposed by the Covid-19 crisis threatens the existence of professional rugby in its current functioning.

“We can't go on like this.

It is not just for the Stade Toulousain, but also for Racing 92, Clermont, Toulon… There should be no relation of opposition with the XV of France.

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The English example

The boss of the most successful club in the country wants to take inspiration from the English Premiership, and move from the current Top 14 to "an elite with twelve clubs" which "would release four or five dates".

The XV of France would thus be "sacred", and instead of the current duplicates, the international windows could be occupied according to Lacroix by resuscitated competitions, "like the Coupe de France or the Challenge Yves-du-Manoir".

If this project sees the light of day, the clubs would certainly be deprived of their top names, but not for an event as important as the championship.

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