Sometimes you just have to step back and take note of what is really happening out there, especially as the new enlarged 24-team World Cup looms large, the reality is there is no conceivable way rugby can stage a global World Cup without the largesse, generosity and scope of professional rugby in France.

French rugby is the driver of the global game and has been for a while now with the actual administrators for the sport – the laughably named World Rugby – reduced to impotent passengers.
Consider these facts, and I am indebted to the splendid Tier 2 website and its X account for them.
At the...