I, too, am perplexed that this game is being played in the capital. Maybe they think there'll be a few Aussies in town. Certainly the venue does not seem to have been selected to benefit the majority of French followers of the game. One other thing, I'm interested in what has been spent on propping up RL in France over the past 30 years, and by whom. You make statements like this, you should back them up with some details.

You are kidding yourself if you expected France to be competitive in their first year in the 4 nations. France were included in the 4 nations as a long term project. In the past 10 years or so, there has been many positives in the french game including a new team in super league, another in a lower english comp. They have managed to improve their local TV deal and are playing a lot more international games. France's value to the international game is worth more than all the pacific islands combined because as we all know the major source of income today is via TV, and France being a 'first world' nation has the potential to generate a lot more revenue for the game than all the islands nations combined (That doesn't mean that we should ignore the pacific islands, but criticism of the french at this stage is certainly not warranted. If you ask me Great Britain have been far more dissapointing on the internations scene over the past 30 years.

Jeff, no conspiracy theories here with choice of Paris & ARL junkets. The FFR13 have previously stated it needs to host tests in Paris for exposure to the greater French media & funding from the government for projects around the capital. Plain & simple. It was a French choice to have this game in Paris.

Jeff: Quite harsh & backward thinking in nature. How do you expect them to do well when they were raped and pillages by the FRU? The same sort of thinking could be applied to Melbourne if it weren't performing?

Before Les Catalans you were right . Now you are wrong. If Toulose can enter Super League in the next few years then anything can happen. Against England they were leading at half time. Against NZ they were down by 4 into the second half. By the way they had half the side out. A second team in Super League would make a huge difference.

A bit harsh mate. A competitive team in the super league is not a bad start. I can only see it improving.

A bit harsh mate. A competitive team in the super league is not a bad start. I can only see it improving.

Not a particularly intelligent article this one. You totally fail to address any of the reasons for the slide, which go back as far as the Vichy government banning Rugby League and stealing it's assets in the Second World War. Decades more of discrimination for the Rugby Union backed establishment haven't helped, particularly the trait of rugby League ground booking disappearing a month or so out from big events, forcing the organisers to move to another venue. Not that the people running French Rugby League have done a particularly good job themselves, but I hate seeing such negative articles making it look like there is something wrong with the sport of Rugby League. The French slide has been due to forces outside our control, and you also must remember that the Pacific Nations you mention are mostly relying of Australian or NZ raised expats. Anyway, the major positive to come out of France recently is the professional Catalan Dragons. Whilst their position high up the Super League ladder has a lot to do with some quality imports from Aus, at least there are a few decent full-time professional French players in the team such as Thomas Bosc, David Ferriol and Jean-Phillipe Baille.This is a big improvement on a decade ago when France was lucky to have 1 or 2 full-time pros. The next step is to undoubtedly to admit the strong industrial city of Toulouse into Super League, hence potentially doubling the pool of professional French players to pick a national team from.

This attitude shows why international league has suffered greatly over the years. So the french are not as competitive as we would like but they aren't going to get any better unless they start playing in comps such as the 4 nations. If you think about it, France is more important to rugby league than all the pacific nations combined, It is (first world) nation with 60 million people and has the potential to increase the game's revenue significantly (certainly a competitive france is much better for the game than a competitive cooks islands, samoa, tonga etc. now don't get me wrong I am not saying to forget about the pacific islands, I am just saying that you have to give france some time. no one seriously expects France to be competitive in their 1st year of the 4 nations. It is a long term project. the IRL has been doing a good job in recent times to help france. They now have a team in the superleague, have another one in the english lower competiton (hopefully will be promoted to super league soon). The French have recently managed to improve their TV Deal (not by much but an improvement nonetheless) and they have included them in the 4 nations, so a lot of positive steps have been taken to support the game in france and it should continue. So let's not be negative, let's be supportive of the international game and be patient. Frankly to my way of thinking England has been far more dissapointing on the international stage than France has been.

From your remarks it's easy to see why you're no longer a development officer. In the global game of chess being played out between RL and RU, the Pacific island nations have the value of pawns. By comparison, France has the value of a bishop or a rook. Even as weak as they are now, France is still drawing better crowds than any country in the Pacific Cup except for PNG. The potential income from TV, sponsorhips etc. in France drawfs what exists in all 5 Pacific countries combined. No matter how good they might get to be, they'll never be a draw for people in London, Manchester, Birmingham or any other English city. They're too small, too poor and too out of the way for that ever to happen. All those people know where France is though.

From your remarks it's easy to see why you're no longer a development officer. In the global game of chess being played out between RL and RU, the Pacific island nations have the value of pawns. By comparison, France has the value of a bishop or a rook. Even as weak as they are now, France is still drawing better crowds than any country in the Pacific Cup except for PNG. The potential income from TV, sponsorhips etc. in France drawfs what exists in all 5 Pacific countries combined. No matter how good they might get to be, they'll never be a draw for people in London, Manchester, Birmingham or any other English city. They're too small, too poor and too out of the way for that ever to happen. All those people know where France is though.

This is not news. France has been at the bottom of the barrel for a long time and many were very criticle (including me) of their inclusion in the four nations. Now, i actually like the idea of having France play in the Four Nations, because it's only going to happen once every 2 years or less (for those years when the four nations is not played). It gives the french officials a view of how far they have to come and will promote a sense of ownership of the problem they face which should encourage them to pull out all stops in aid of enhanceing the ranks of the French Rugby League.

Dear Jeff, I think you're being a bit harsh with your article on the french. I doubt there would be many other countries that have had the obstacles placed in front of it to sabotage rugby league. Sure their results have been very poor in internationals (against all countries, not just Australia). However, don't forget, England, where the game was born, has been consistently beaten by australia for the last 3 decades. On numerous occassions they have been thrashed by over 50 points. I think that in time, with another French team in the ESL, and more regular consistent internationals, France will improve - and as the cliche goes, rugby league will be the winner.