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Laporte issues letter following his release from police custody

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France rugby president Bernard Laporte has written another letter downplaying the recent investigation he was taken into police custody earlier this week over. 

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The 56-year-old was questioned alongside Montpellier owner Mohed Altrad about his links to the Altrad Group and the alleged preferential treatment he may have given to the Top 14 side when reducing a sanction against them in 2017. 

Altrad’s company is not only the shirt sponsor of the French national team, but the billionaire offered financial support in France’s successful bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup. 

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Former Top 14 star Steffon Armitage guests on the Le French Rugby podcast

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Former Top 14 star Steffon Armitage guests on the Le French Rugby podcast

Laporte wrote a letter on Facebook earlier this week saying there was a campaign against him in his bid to be re-elected as the president of France rugby in early October, and he has now written a follow-up letter saying that the case against him is “empty”. 

The French administrator, who also serves as vice-chairman of World Rugby alongside Bill Beaumont, showed his gratitude for the support he has received this week while dismissing the severity of the case. 

He said: “I approached these ‘talks’ with serenity. When you have nothing to be ashamed of, you have the strength of truth with you. Justice will do its work and I trust it. I know the truth of my actions and they are all in the best interests of our clubs, without ever being an exception to the rule.”

Laporte then turned his attention once again to the upcoming election, adding his ambition to win the women’s World Cup in 2021 and the men’s home campaign in 2023. 

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The Frenchman seems sure that this investigation will not derail his upcoming bid to secure another term at the head of French rugby, having also won the World Rugby election in May this year as Beaumont’s running mate. 

He has faced some criticism since then, largely because he was a member of the working group in the independent-led governance review.

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cnw 4 hours ago
France has conquered and reconquered Europe. Can it reach its Mount Everest?

It’s mind boggling that the best are not playing the best in July! Though the commercial reality bites here. On the B/C/D I think the issue is one of communicating ideas. You point out that in reality the majority of the players were third or fourth choice or perhaps worse. And the way you explained it as someone who clearly knows the French comp that makes sense. So I accept that it was perhaps a third or fourth choice team overall. I should be clear though I think that the quality of the team exceeded the sum of its parts. And I think a D grade is way too low. Their performance was too good to get such a grade. And I think that reflects that they are very good players who had a good chance to build combinations. Would the first choice players have played better - very likely. But that does not diminish the performance of the boys that played.

Put another way, I understand that the French team that played the Boks had a good number of first choice players in stark contrast to the teams that played in NZ. But they did not perform like an “A” team - clearly they had only got together just before that game. They started well but the lack of match readiness showed in the second half. In contrast the Boks had both their first choice team that was a battle hardened unit - and they played their A game, as they did against the ABs first choice team in Wellington. In contrast the first choice ABs beat the then first choice Boks in Auckland - it was the best performance all year by the ABs - it was an A grade performance (the Bok dominance in the forwards notwithstanding).



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