France set to launch their third pro league

WHILE all the talk in England is of contraction and putting the financial squeeze on the Championship, the French Federation have now finalised plans for a THIRD professional League when the season recommences – Pro D3 – which will offer promotion into Pro D2 and who knows even the Top 14. That will see 46 professional clubs in the country. Mon dieu!

France are determined to kick on from RWC2023 in a way that England hoped for but fell some way short of in 2015. Bernard Laporte sees 2023 as the key date in the progression of French rugby and wants a fully operative professional Third Division in place and thriving when that tournament kicks off.

Sixteen teams drawn from last season’s Federale leagues have been confirmed and they include a mix of fallen giants, ambitious young thrusters and stalwarts of the French club scene who refuse to roll over and let professionalism pass them by.

All 16 by my reckoning also have grounds – many owned by the local municipality – that would pass the capacity criteria for our own Premiership which is food for thought.

Tarbes and Narbonne are both former two-time winners of the French Championship while Dax, a proper rugby town, are six times losing finalists. Within the professional era Bourgoin have been runners-up in the French Championship and won the European Challenge Cup so there is real pedigree and tradition among some of the clubs.

Meanwhile, RC Suresnes are an ambitious club in the Paris suburbs while Nice have always believed they could become a second super club on the Riviera alongside Toulon, especially if they could tap into some of the financial clout of nearby Monaco just along the coast.

USBPA want to fly the flag for northern Provence – or south west Grenoble depending on how you view it – while Blagnac on the outskirts of Toulouse have always been there or there abouts along with Dijon, Chambrey and Albi. An interesting season awaits.

Confirmed list of Pro D3 clubs: Albi, Massy, USBPA, Blagnac, UCS, Narbonne, Dijon, Dax, Tarbes, RC Suresnes, RC Aubenas, Bourgoin and Chambrey. Is there a future T14 winner lurking among that list?