Early on Friday morning Catalans Dragons beat Hull Kingston Rovers 28-10 and qualified for their first Super League grand final.
Already premiers, the Dragons will play St Helens for the championship at Manchester next weekend. It’ll be James Maloney’s last top-flight game and 78th grand final appearance.
On Sunday morning Toulouse Olympique, the ‘Spacers’ – Toulouse is a hub of France’s aerospace industry – beat Batley 51-12 and qualified for their own grand final, the ‘million-pound game’. in which they’ll play Featherstone for a spot in next year’s Super League.
Things haven’t looked this bright for rugby à treize (rugby 13) in 60 years.
Most rugby league supporters know something of the game’s tortured history in France.
Rugby league’s meteoric rise in the 1930s was followed by a forcible and acrimonious merger with rugby union and even a short-lived official ban during World War II.
Somehow the game emerged from the war in rude health. The national team won consecutive Test series away against Australia in 1951 and 1955.
But the damage done during the war years eventually took its toll. A new generation to replace the great team of the early 1950s never emerged, and rugby league didn’t recover. The top rugby league clubs became retirement villages for overseas players and the national team became whipping boys.
Now, after decades of decline, something’s afoot in rugby league, and it’s not just Catalans and Toulouse.
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has joined the national team as a coaching director. France looks certain to host the 2025 World Cup, and a new generation of local talent led by Catalans’ sensational young fullback Arthur Mourgue is finally emerging.
Given how far rugby league has fallen behind, the chances of a return to former glories are slim at best. But even with fierce competition for young talent from football and rugby union, a country of more than 65 million people should be more successful.
Next season Catalans Dragons could be the defending Super League champion and playing local derbies against Toulouse.
Catalans are starting to fulfil their mission of providing opportunities for local players to compete at the elite level. Mourgue, Fouad Yaha, Julian Bousquet, Ben Garcia, Benjamin Jullien and other locals are regular starters for the Dragons.
While Catalans still rely on overseas imports, it’s hard to imagine young French players not learning from the likes of James Maloney, Sam Tomkins, Greg Bird and Sam Moa.
One is concerned about what exactly they might be learning from Maloney, rugby league’s consummate agent provocateur. For all his pestilence, Maloney should leave a positive legacy, especially with the news he plans to play on with FC Lezignan next season.
Sam Tomkins is key for Catalans Dragons. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
Elsewhere, St Helens halfback Theo Fages is among the best in Super League. Morgan Escare is yet to live up to his considerable potential, primarily due to injury, but he’s still going around at Salford. The very talented but enigmatic Tony Gigot can’t seem to stay at any one club for more than five minutes but remains in demand.
The French national team isn’t about to do a Tonga and start knocking off Tier 1 nations. However, on paper – where else is international league played these days? – they’re not the hapless pushovers we’ve come to lament and who Australia haven’t even deigned to play outside a major tournament since 2005.
Beyond this, there are more questions than answers about the future of rugby league. Many of these questions revolve around Trent Robinson and Arthur Mourgue.
Does Robinson’s appointment to preside over national team head coach Laurent Frayssinous indicate a genuine commitment to renewal?
The Federation Francaise de Rugby a XIII appears a young, confident, professional and well-funded organisation invested and investing in rugby league’s future.
Earlier this year the federation hired the market research firm Institut Francais d’Opinion Publique (IFOP) to gauge public interest in rugby league and the 2025 World Cup. IFOP found that 31 per cent of French people aged 18 and over (more than 15 million people) were very interested or somewhat interested in rugby league, a level equivalent to that of football.
The data is based on a small sample and skewed toward rugby league’s heartlands in the south. It should be taken with several grains of salt.
But even if one assumes that the reported level of interest in rugby league is overestimated by 30 per cent or even 50 per cent, it’s still a healthy number.
While the data’s a bit sketchy, we could be talking about somewhere between 12 per cent and 16 per cent of the total population – a strong base to build on.
By comparison, Roy Morgan found that the number of people who watched the NRL in Australia during 2020 was a bit over 4.2 million, approximately 16.3 per cent of the total population.
The 2025 World Cup, likely to be hosted by France, should benefit the game, but as always, it’s hard to predict how and how much. There’s very little reliable information about the benefits of previous rugby league world cups in terms of participation and audience engagement.
Analysis by Deloitte following the 2007 rugby union world cup in France found, among other things, that there was a 28 per cent increase in the number of registered rugby players in France in the following year. Yes, it’s comparing different coloured apples, but it’s a tantalising figure.
The success of Catalans, Toulouse and French players elsewhere will benefit the national team. If they can get on the field against Tier 1 opponents between now and 2025 – there is a Test against England scheduled later this month – they might do well and win new admirers at France 2025. It doesn’t hurt to have somebody like Robinson around to apply extra polish.
Finally, what does Arthur Mourgue mean in the broader scheme of things?
One should be cautious with young talent. I’m trying. He’s not the new Puig Aubert. Yet.
Those who’ve seen Mourgue play might have been reminded of a young Ben Barba. He really does look that good.
Whether Mourgue is an indicator of improvement in talent identification, attraction and development remains to be seen. He’s probably a one-off, or maybe some of the most talented French kids are choosing rugby league over union and football.
Stranger things have happened. Like France going from nothing to the best team in the world in under two decades despite being ruthlessly sabotaged by Nazi collaborators and vengeful rugby union officials before fading into decades of decline, with a potential re-emergence foreshadowed by France’s top club winning the English Challenge Cup and maybe the English Super League.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Rugby is played all over the world but it is only the most popular form of football in one country, New Zealand. Rugby is a social game whereas League is serious. NZ is small and has less people than NSW but they can play Rugby League too.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
They're now completely different games. Union being a grappling game of phases dominated by rucks, mauls and scrums leading mostly to over valued field goals. League is a game of running, passing and kicking for tries. The running game is much better than the rucking game.
Paulie
Guest
I have been told the The All Blacks and France game sold out in Paris...
Pete
Guest
I doubt it maybe in your dreams rugby is to powerful in France too much money and support ...the French love the game
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Were other pro sports excluded from from the school system, had assets stolen & never compensated, were not allowed to use their name etc? I don't expect a simple person like yourself to acknowledge let alone understand this part of RL history You are not here for common sense.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Why are you using my ex partner's name you got from my Facebook? Grow up.
Redcap
Roar Guru
That's fine, Clipper. The document Deucer provided isn't at odds with my argument - we just happen to interpret it differently. And, again, I don't use it as an excuse. It's what actually happened and it had material consequences. I don't really understand how one can pretend it didn't - but whatever. Anyway, it's great to see the game moving forward.
clipper
Roar Rookie
Thank you for your explanations, but I have read the document duecer mentioned and agree with it. People forget over the years the hostility to Vichy and anything associated with it, even though a few of the culprits may have hung onto power. Therefore, league had an advantage over Rugby in the years after WW2. As long as grass roots support is there, the sport can come back with good administration - look at AFL - almost broke 30 years ago and a powerhouse now. I also don't know how long is this going to be used as an excuse - it's almost 80 years now - Soccer was banned by Henry the eighth, but they soon got over that.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
You do know Duecer many of Vichy's beauracracy remained in French govt. They were very apt at covering themselves. The game also remained banned in the French school system until only recently so I wouldn't say RL was entirely let free to go along like it did pre war.
Redcap
Roar Guru
If only there was a Pierre V'landys. :)
Redcap
Roar Guru
Thanks - I'll check it out. What you've described doesn't seem like a rebuttal, though. The ban was revoked, of course. The game recovered and had its golden age in the early '50's. But the revocation of the ban didn't mean rugby 13 regained its lost finances and assets. It didn't mean rugby union became better disposed to rugby 13 and stopped its attempts at sabotage.
deucer
Roar Rookie
There's always two sides. I suggest you read the publication 'unlucky 13 - amateurism as a weapon of war in Vichy France' by Melissa McMahon The conclusion was: The Vichy ban on rugby league was revoked along with all other legislation under what was declared an illegitimate govt. with the liberation and the sport enjoyed great success and popularity in the decade following the war, possibly bolstered by it's status as the anti Vichy sport in a country keen to distance itself from that period. It conducted a triumphant tour of Aust and NZ in 1951 and led the initiative to hold the first RLWC in 1954'
Redcap
Roar Guru
Hi Clipper, "it would have given league credence to fight against this adversity" It did - that's exactly what happened - see the world-beating performances of the early 1950's and the still pretty good ones of the late '50's and early '60's. But, it wasn't enough to overcome the material losses (mentioned above) of the war years. Public disdain toward Vichy didn't return lost assets and it didn't ameliorate the hostility of rugby union. That hostility was still there as late as the 1990's, primarily through rugby union officials attempting to deny league access to stadia - often successfully. Refer chapter 15: https://www.amazon.com.au/Forbidden-Game-Untold-French-League/dp/1901347052 It was very nice to see the Toulouse rugby union club allow Toulouse Olympique to use its stadium on Sunday, though.
clipper
Roar Rookie
In Brief and Duecer expand on this below. This is a tired excuse - if anything, it may have spurred league on, as Vichey was hated towards the end (1944) and therefore all actions it took were viewed with disregard - it would have given league credence to fight against this adversity. I would side with other reasons, as other countries went into decline as well. Wales is just about kaput nowadays, but was strong earlier on.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Hi Adam, "French RL was at its peak 20 years after Vichy" Except it wasn't. It was already in decline by the early 1960's. The peak was the early 1950's. I don't offer the actions of Pétain, Ybarnegaray and their Vichy colleagues are excuses - there are other reasons. But, you can't understand where rugby 13 is at today without reference to the forced merger, the ban and the confiscation of financial and physical assets in 1940. Mike Rylance's work is well worth a look. It might not accord with your views, but it's an amazing story. Highly recommended. https://www.amazon.com.au/Forbidden-Game-Untold-French-League/dp/1901347052 https://www.amazon.com.au/Struggle-Daring-remaking-French-league/dp/199933390X
Redcap
Roar Guru
Hi Deucer, There are, of course, other reasons - administrative inertia and incompetence, not investing in the 'grass roots, etc. To some extent these stem from the primary causes: the forcible merger with union, the ban and the confiscation of money and physical assets in 1940. Don't take my word for it. Have a read of Mike Rylance: https://www.amazon.com.au/Forbidden-Game-Untold-French-League/dp/1901347052 https://www.amazon.com.au/Struggle-Daring-remaking-French-league/dp/199933390X
deucer
Roar Rookie
I have to side with inbrief on this point. France were very competitive in the 50's and 60's - so therefore there were many new players introduced after the Vichy ban. It also negates the bitterness towards Vichy after the war - many sports thrive from adversity, especially when governments try to close them down. If England had thrived and boomed from the 70's then the Vichy effect could be used, but both countries have been in decline and other reasons need to be found. The one huge improvement that would benefit France would be to do away with ex pat sides like Lebanon in the world cup. To have a traditional RL nation like France bundled out of the WC in the group stages by a team that mostly have never been to the country does French ambitions no favours at all.
Sam Drew
Roar Guru
On paper – where else is international league played these days? Très Drôle The game in France is certainly in ruder health than it has been in a long-time. Just a shame it coincides with a relative decline of English fortunes. I'll be at Old Trafford cheering them on this Saturday, and just hope to God our English authorities can capitalise - more internationals, easier pathways for player, referee and staff swaps, etc But what's the saying? RL never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity
Sam Drew
Roar Guru
Grand Final this weekend between Saints and Dragons. Cue confused Kogarah onlookers.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
All you’ll needed was a Peter V’landys. :laughing: