If England’s selection of Brad Shields and the accompanying controversy is a case study into the strained relationship between availability, eligibility and nationality in the modern game, spare a thought for the France full-back Scott Spedding.
The South Africa-born Spedding has 23 caps, he holds a French passport, has played in the country for a decade and was moved to tears live on camera when learning of his first call-up four years ago. He was not registered with the French federation for five years before the age of 23, however, nor did he spend three years in an academy, and is therefore not considered a JIFF (joueurs issus des filières de formation) – effectively a French-reared player.
As a result, he has been released by Clermont who did not want someone considered a foreign player – when there are ever-increasing limits on how many they can have – who, as part of France’s elite list, would be unavailable for parts of the season.
It is a bonkers situation because the whole point of the JIFF ruling is to strengthen the national team. The French league (LNR) has threatened punitive measures, including docking points, for teams who do not have an average of 60% JIFFs in their match-day squad across the season, which translates as an average of 14 per match. In February the LNR announced that number would rise to 15 next season, which led Spedding to take legal action, arguing it prevented him from “finding an employer”. Thankfully for Spedding, a happy ending of sorts was announced on Thursday and he will join Castres next season.
All of which brings us, in a roundabout way, to Racing 92, who contest a second Champions Cup final in three seasons on Saturday, against Leinster. They do so with Dan Carter in their squad – and it would be naive to dismiss the possibility he will seal the winning points before heading off to Japan – but Racing are no longer a destination for southern hemisphere players to arrive en masse and line their pockets.
They find themselves one win away from Europe’s top prize, having averaged the most JIFFs per match in the Top 14 this season. There is obvious sympathy for Spedding’s plight but Racing’s success can be considered evidence the LNR’s commitment to slow the influx of overseas imports is paying off.
Racing still have overseas players – Pat Lambie starts at fly-half, Leone Nakarawa and Donnacha Ryan make up an Irish-Fijian second row, while Finn Russell and Simon Zebo arrive next season – and it certainly helps to be bankrolled by someone as wealthy as Jacky Lorenzetti, but there has been a clear shift in attitude by their billionaire owner and les deux Laurents – Labit and Travers – their two coaches.
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To demonstrate, there were only six Frenchmen in the starting XV in the 2016 final against Saracens and that soon became five when Mike Phillips replaced Maxime Machenaud midway through the first half. Machenaud is again struck by misfortune – a knee injury rules him out – but Racing will attempt to claim the trophy Lorenzetti has coveted since he bought a majority stake in the club in 2006 with 12 French players in their side.
Machenaud’s absence will be keenly felt but in Teddy Thomas, Camille Chat, Wenceslas Lauret and Yannick Nyanga there is a core of French players who will put to the test the theory that Ireland, both domestically and internationally, are Europe’s dominant force this season. And the benefits for the French national team are obvious.
Whisper it quietly but at a time when their World Cup pool rivals are facing accusations of poaching All Black castoffs, there is a creeping sense France are belatedly getting their house in order. Victory for Racing on Saturday would only add to it.