“When I started with the XV of France, in 2002, we were already talking about it.” For the originality of the subject, we will go back, therefore. And Vincent Clerc is right, doubloons are like seasonal vegetables. They come and go, from autumn to winter, always accompanied by their kilometers of discussion. In the middle of the Six Nations Tournament, the French Championship continues, as is customary in other sports. Two competitions with the same players at the same time, here is the duplicate.
This is how, on Saturday February 26, while the XV of France will try to win a third victory in a row in the Tournament against Scotland, the current affairs of the Top 14 will not stop there. A divisive subject, and regularly denounced by the vox populiwhich nevertheless does the business of some, like Jacky Lorenzetti, the president of Racing 92.
“I find that rather virtuous and I don’t does not report defects in the system. Afterwards, I’m like everyone else, sometimes I complain and I cry, like my coach, because we want to keep everyone.” begins the one who has chaired the Hauts-de-Seine club since 2006.
To justify his posture as the (rare) defender of duplicates, Jacky Lorenzetti first highlights their exceptional character. Three were originally planned at the start of the season. Finally, because of the postponements of matches linked to the Covid, it will be double. “The first part of the Championship is played over 26 matches, there is almost never any injustice at the level of the six qualified, does he think. This season, for example, if we look at the ranking, Montpellier, which has a few players selected with the XV of France, is at the top of the ranking, like UBB. There is only one case that could pose a problem, and that is Toulouse. But I bet you what you want, at the end of the qualifying phases, Toulouse will be well in the top six.”
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With @randstad_france discover the 23 Racingmen who will defend the Ciel & Blanc colors tomorrow against UBB in Chaban!#UBBR92 #RacingFamily @GroupRandstadEN pic.twitter.com/I1DQEz0JjW — Racing 92 (@racing92) February 19, 2022
Still amputated by nine players selected with the Blues on Saturday against Scotland, Stade Toulouse is the team that pays the heaviest price for these duplicates, and which denounces them the most, too. However, in Haute-Garonne as elsewhere, many young players know their first game sheet on the occasion of duplicates.
Since the start of the Six Nations Tournament, Racing 92 has launched three players from its training. The promising third-line Anthime Hemery (21) notably chained the match sheets. “Today, all our players are prepared from the academy. We do not send them to play if we know that they are not mature or that their state of health does not correspond to the requirements of the highest level, so many n “don’t wait for international periods to play young players. It allows them to play but it’s not a trigger”, develops the man with the eternal sky and white scarf.
In fact, the absence of internationals, replaced by players usually substitutes or downright off the match sheets, can make it possible to “regulate” the Championship, according to the president of the 2016 French champion. more modest to be able to hold the house against the big arms of the Top 14.
“It makes the matches even more sparkling because the biggest teams are deprived of some of their players, develops Lorenzetti. When there is a Brive-Clermont, as was the case not long ago, it is certain that the Brivistes were a little better equipped because Clermont had several players in the national team (only Damian Penaud for the XV of France).”
Depriving the strong to help the weak: what if, in the end, the creator of the duplicates was none other than Robin Hood? This is a new debate to fuel the next ten, twenty years.