France's Six Nations hopes have been undermined by the increase in foreigners in their domestic championship, says L'Equipe's Ian Borthwick writing in The Scotsman.
"One of Lièvremont's problems is the rising number of foreigners in the French championship. A raft of Fijian wingers, and Georgian props, countless South Africans in all manner of positions, plus Byron Kelleher at Toulouse, Juan Hernandez at Stade Français, Daniel Carter at Perpignan, Andy Goode at Brive, Manny Edmonds at Bayonne, the uncapped Aussie Brock James at Clermont… more and more clubs are resorting to recruiting etrangers in pivotal decision-making positions.
"And at a time when Chris Cusiter has wrong-footed everyone by opting to make the trip back to Glasgow, the prevalence of non-French nationals in le rugby Français is starting to reach crisis point. "As coach of France, I am directly concerned by the problem. The quality of our game is suffering because in certain key positions it is becoming increasingly difficult to find players of quality," admitted Lièvremont. "Having the odd international star in the Top-14 is a great thing, especially for the shop-window of French rugby. But it has gone too far, because in some French clubs we are now seeing some team lists with up to 80 or 90% foreigners.""
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