JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Oyonnax manager Joe El-Abd promised last week that his side would ‘fight to the end’ following their so-near-so-far 35-39 home defeat […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN France Under-20s coach Sebastien Calvet has emerged as favourite to replace Bernard Goutta on the conveyor-belt of managers at ProD2 side […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN The afternoon after the Friday-night chastening Six Nations defeat in Marseille before, a subdued French rugby audience tuned in to the […]
JAMES HARRINGTON In a league featuring the likes of Racing 92 and Toulouse, Toulon and La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Stade Francais, there’s a ‘big match’ […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN An email drop and social media flurry confirmed the line-up of France’s 34-player training squad for the Six Nations, which kicks […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Fabien Galthie will have a reduced training squad for the 2024 Six Nations after a player release agreement was reached between […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Australian hooker Tolu Latu went straight into La Rochelle’s matchday squad for pre-Christmas trip to Stade Francais, days after completing a […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN The new cycle of French senior men’s rugby starts here – a month-and-a-half after the 2023 Rugby World Cup ended, and […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN SWAPPING Dragons for a new challenge at Grenoble – and the lens of Welsh rugby for relative anonymity in southeast France […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN A week after ripping out their coaching set-up and employing an Etch-a-Sketch style reset to their season, Montpellier officially hit the […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN TIME was very firmly called on Richard Cockerill’s brief run as Montpellier manager six days ago, after just five months and […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Rugby – even thoroughly modern professional rugby – sometimes proves it still has at least a little room for a smidgeon […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN The Laurent Labit-Karim Ghezal era at Stade Francais officially starts here – and the talk around Stade Jean Bouin is of […]
JAMES HARRINGTON The pre-season period of summer 2021 was fairly humdrum in France. Not that most players, coaches, or journalists for that matter, minded much. […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN FRANCE could… Scotland need… Australia on the brink of… Fiji might … South Africa will… Wales already have… If Italy… There […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN THE Rugby World Cup party kicked off in France on Friday. Things have been simmering along with anticipation here for some […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Promoted ProD2 champions Oyonnax demonstrated – if there was still any doubt after last weekend’s impressive opening day home win over […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN A “heat dome” settled over France last weekend to send temperatures soaring as the new Top 14 season’s three-match pre-World Cup […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN FRANCE’S Top 14 kicks off on Friday evening, with Bayonne entertaining Toulouse in the season opener. Which means the time has […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN FRANCE U20 sensation Marko Gazzotti has swapped the Alps for the Atlantic and the ProD2 for the Top 14 after agreeing […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN TWO weeks ago, the long-awaited sale of ProD2 side Biarritz fell apart, affecting the immediate and longer-term futures of not just […]
JAMES HARRINGTON | FRENCH COLUMN What links 16 props, 12 hookers, 10 second rows, 15 back rowers, 13 scrum-halves, 11 wingers, eight centres, two full-backs, […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN By the time you read this, ProD2 side Biarritz were supposed to be under new management after a deal finally brought […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN The 2022/23 Top 14 season is done. Toulouse are champions for the 22nd time, after pipping ambitious La Rochelle to the […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Argentinian back-row Marcos Kremer’s last act for Stade Francais was to get sent off – for the third time this season […]
JAMES HARRINGTON Tonight, more than 24 hours after both the Premiership and URC celebrated their champions for the 2022/23 campaign, the Top 14 reaches its […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Top 14 coaches, pundits and fans have had the calculators, slide rules and computer modelling programmes out this weekend as they […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Top 14 coaches, pundits and fans have had the calculators, slide rules and computer modelling programmes out last weekend as they […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN THE Commission des Championnats professionnels de l’Autorité de régulation du rugby – the new name for the financial auditors of the […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Franck Azema is to end his coaching partnership with Pierre Mignoni at Toulon after just one season to return to his […]