French clubs chasing Carter

Interesting that you mention Bourgoin. They have developed a good number of French players like Chabal, Parra, etc and will probably be a feeder side for Clermont and Lyon if they go further down the leagues due to poor finances. Looks like Oyannax who have a tiny budget and are based in that region will get promotion to the Top 14 next season with Lyon possibly missing out. ''The crowds and general attitude to both Super Rugby'' You could argue that the Super Rugby crowds in NZ bar the Chiefs who had poor attendances where bigger in the Super 12 days.

A lot of young Fijian players go to France to join the academies thus qualifying as JIFF (French developed) even though they will probably play for Fiji. They have got a better chance to play out a long career in France then crack the limited spots in Super Rugby. The Fijians at the Brumbies are eligible for the Wallabies including Speight. Speight is good enough to play for Fiji but he could lose his contract if he chose to play for them. That's the dilemma Fijian players have if they wish to stay in Australia and is hurting their test side. Samo would have had to leave after winning a Super 12 title in 2004 if he decided to play for Fiji rather then Australia even though he had been living in Canberra for a long time. Jerry Yanuyanuwata had to leave the Brumbies as he became a foreign player after accepting Fiji selection. You cannot blame these lads from going to places like France so they can play for their country.

Imanol Harinordoquy age 32 Thierry Dusautoir age 31 Nicolas Mas 32 Lets put it this way. How many foreigners play in the French league who is still around 20 to 25 excluding the players of Argentina and other countries where there is no professional league?

Happy Christmas Justin!

Try scoring isn't the only factor in determining a good winger though. Cory Jane has only scored 16 tries in 43 tests and I don't think anyone would argue he's not a world class winger (in fact, many would say he'd be a current World XV selection along with Habana).

Adelaide, great country town...

Yeah I get the feeling from a lot of articles that the general feeling is that Canal are getting a great deal off the back of the increased rugby exposure. But one thing you have to say about the LNR, is that they know how to market themselves and I imagine TV rights will be bread and butter for them. Especially with so many wealthy and well connected businessmen backing the clubs individually. It's a little sad to see the likes of Bourgoin and Narbonne out of the top flight these days, but places like Perpegnan and Lyon are a stones throw up the road from these places and have far more financial clout in a pro rugby era. I think France is an interesting case study for Rugby growth. It had history and heritage, but a very amateur ethos not so long ago. But on the back of the 2007 World Cup rush they've built a large following and now have both FTA and PTV television rights, meaning large scale exposure and also large scale income. The NZRU has also seen strong benefits from RWC2011 in the new AIG deal and increased brand exposure for the game. The crowds and general attitude to both Super Rugby and the AB's has never been higher domestically or internationally. And the huge sponsorship deals have also meant that the AB's no longer have to flog themselves quite so much to increase revenues. This makes me really excited about what England can do with RWC2015. If they can emulate the French in particular then a large jump in market share should lead to jumps in participation and viewership across England. And then it gets really interesting with Japan 2019. Will this event finally convince the Companies running Top League teams to create a proper competition with full time professionals across the board and a decent marketing and academy system. It might just prove the catalyst to bring domestic Asian rugby in-line with the traditional model (and pave the way to a higher level of competition in Japan). One thing is for sure though, France has done VERY well off the back of their 2007 WC hosting.

You have to be in Wales to get domestic coverage of Rugby as S4C and BBC Wales televise Pro 12 and club Rugby. The French pay a tv licence so it isn't like Aus FTA. BT Vision are coming up with an interesting package but it won't be as comprehensive as Sky or Virgin.

It looks like they are in for the ERC rights. The LNR no doubt will want a bidding war as Canal didn't put in a good deal last time as they said that they have reached as far as they could with the take up for Rugby subscriptions. In other words people who sign up for Rugby will also watch Football. Rugby is going in to the metropolitan markets in the Top 14 as they have the most money at the expensive of the south west Rugby town teams that are mostly in the Pro D2 these days.

The LFR contract is reported to be worth around €39-46M per season with Canal+, so less than 1/10th of what the football deal is. Although the Football contract was very fortunate to only suffer a 10% pay drop, thanks to the late emergence of Al-Jazeera. The Canal+ component for Rugby and Football are now actually pretty similar, with Al-Jazeera now the major player in the French Football TV market. They've stated that they've taken a punt on the Ligue 1 and will reassess after 5 years. It will be interesting to see their response if the Rugby viewership figures continue to close on the Football ones.

I've noticed that outside of pay TV in the UK that there is next to zero coverage of domestic rugby (I know because I don't have pay TV and have to go to the pub to watch anything). In France there are matches on France 2, which I believe is FTA. So it seems they have the enviable position of both a lucrative PayTV contract and an exposure generating FTA component. And given the current ratings it won't be shock to see a huge increase in Canal+ rights when it comes up for renewal.

The Football TV deal,is worth around $700m per season...what is the Rugby TV deal worth?

''Living in London for the past 6 months (and travelling to the south of France for work a lot) there is certainly a big difference in the amount of television coverage for Rugby in the two countries. Very often in France you can sit down and there will be a handful of matches on across various TV channels, especially of late with the Heineken Cup on.'' The Rugby coverage is pretty good in the UK. The premiership might not get many live games but there is always Pro 12 games, Top 14 (it was better when Eurosport were televising them), Super Rugby, Currie Cup, 4 Nations, Under 20s RWC, Rugby Club, Six Nations, majority of HEC matches live, 7s, NPC on the box. In Ireland they also televise schools Rugby, under 20s internationals, club amateur internationals on top of the stuff from the UK channels.

Don't forget that there are a dearth of quality hookers around at the moment. Moore and Bismarck du Plessis are two of the best amongst an average crop and I rate them far above Strauss.

Strauss was selected as hooker by the New Zealand Herald in the 2012 world 15. I have no doubt that 15 teams with 90% of the 3 highest ranked nations in world rugbys best players is still the highest level of comp in the world. However in 10-15 years it wont be imo. Its just a matter of time.

Ioane's test try scoring strike rate is pretty poor for a so called world class winger. 11 tries in 34 tests is a mediocre return for a winger that plays in a top 3 side.

I still wouldn't put Cruden in the top players category. As for Spies he has been a passenger in the Boks pack for a long time. His work rate at test level is not high enough. Fair enough he did play some good stuff against an inexperienced English pack but that doesn't make up for all the poor games he has played at test level. Strauss is John Smit mark 2. Good at set piece, jury is out on his general play around the park (ball carrying, hitting rucks, etc). SBW is no longer a Rugby player (we will see if he does come back in 2014) so shouldn't enter this discussion.

The likes of Tim Visser are taking over Clerc. I suggest you look at his strike rate over the past 3 seasons.

Johnno, wouldn't it be great (though in dreams rather than reality) if rugby invaded Melbourne and tried to take over from AFL? We always mention the battle with league, but AFL has laid claim to half the country. Already there are Super teams in Perth and Melbourne, and as we know there should be one in Adelaide, but wouldn't it be great to split Melbourne in 3 and have 5 teams (Perth, Adelaide, 3 Melbourne) and make a huge effort to conquer that half of the country? Of course it is fantastical and hard to conceive in reality, but wouldn't that be wonderful?

Hightiackle agreed. Plus when Englandchanges it's business model too. Plus Russia, Geermanu,Ukraine, Spain,Portugal, when the European Heknikan cup champions league expands, and these places get bigger Galactoco super style clubs eg like the barcelona's and real madrids, which some clubs in europe rugby will semi be like within 10 years. All rugby roads lead to Europe, sorry SANZAR.