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Top 14 clubs fire warning ahead of World Rugby regulation 9 player release vote

By Online Editors
(Photo by Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)

Ligue Nationale de Rugby, the governing body of the Top 14 clubs in France, have stated that they are unhappy with the length of the Test window revealed by World Rugby on Wednesday. 

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World Rugby officials stated that the Test calendar in Europe would run from October 24 to December 5 to accommodate the postponed Six Nations matches at the end of October, a rest weekend on November 7 and then a programme of international matches involving the Six Nations and invited teams hosted in Europe from November 14 through to December 5.

A World Rugby vote is due to take place on July 30 regarding the temporary amendment of regulation 9 to cover the release of players for international duty during this amended temporary window.

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However, the plan has drawn the ire of clubs in France who claim it is longer than what they were prepared to agree and they fear the staging of a sixth French match.

An LNR statement read: “If this extension of the international window covered by rule 9 is adopted for the fall of 2020 by the World Rugby council on July 30, it will be a unilateral and unbalanced decision, taken against the position of the professional leagues, and in particular of the LNR which expressed on several occasions its disagreement with World Rugby during the last weeks.

“The LNR and TOP 14 clubs have made a very important effort showing their solidarity with the FFR and the federations in this particular context resulting from the health crisis by proposing, on an exceptional basis, that the French team can play up to five international matches (including the postponed match of the Six Nations) instead of the three provided for in the calendar and in the FFR-LNR agreement.

“The NRL notes, however, that the northern hemisphere international match schedule will be announced ‘in due course by the respective federations and the organisers of international competitions’ and that World Rugby does not impose a predefined number of matches.

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“We, therefore, hope that an agreement can be reached quickly with the FFR on the programme of the France team and on the number of days of availability of players within this international window while respecting the number of matches (five) that the LNR and the TOP 14 clubs have indicated to be ready to validate despite the extremely difficult situation they are facing after a stoppage of the championship for six months.”

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M
Mzilikazi 5 minutes ago
How England reverse-engineered unlikely attacking change

Thanks, Nick, not only for this fine article, but for all the others during 6N 2024. I really enjoyed this 2024 tournament, and felt it was one of the best for many years. That final match in Lyons was really good. England were certainly unlucky when that speculative hack by Ramos lead to a French try. It could just so easily have landed in English hand.s, and they score at the other end. I did think though that the French played some great rugby, and some of their driving play in the forwards was just fearsome. I watched Meafou with interest, and he has a good start to his career. It is interesting to compare him with Will Skelton. Lot of similarities, though so far Meafou has not shown any offloading threat. All credit to Borthwick for being prepared to change, and what great result, even if that last game was lost at the death. I feel they are a real chance to cause the AB’s problems this winter/summer. Finally a comment on Ireland. I thought their last game was their worst, and they did not look like the world’s No 2 side at all. What really worries me is that the loss to England was, in my view, down to poor decision making by the coaching group, and ofc Andy Farrell wears that. It was a big mistake to move JGP away from scrum half. Murray should have been the one to go to the wing. And the “finishers” should have been on the field earlier. And this is the second time this has happened. The RWC Qf against the AB’s, and not getting Crowley onto the field was a huge mistake. Finally, finally, watching Italy play was a joy. How wonderful that they are no longer the punchbag of the 6 N.

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