The spirit of French rugby

[Bruce Ross]

I'm not sure why one of our resident Francophiles hasn't alerted us to this highlights package - a classic exposition of free flowing French rugby. It occurred when Bayonne visited Perpignan for a Top 14 clash last month. The visitors were welcomed with a chorus of jeers and boos as they took the field, but after that gesture of conviviality things went downhill.

French rugby seems to have cleaned up its act somewhat as the clip shows no sign of any slipper work but there were abundant examples of les coups du roi [my literal translation of king hits]. I also noted a Gallic version of the Liverpool or Glasgow kiss.

Five players were suspended and both clubs received hefty fines. The main protagonists were Perpignan's Gregory Le Corvec and Bayonne's Remy Martin.

[video=youtube;iu30Va5gZtM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu30Va5gZtM&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

That's classic! I recall Fitzy said when he played at Brive that French rugby could be absolutely filthy at times. I guess nothing has changed.

 

[barbarian]

4:23 is where it all happens. That is your classic cheap shot.

 

[drewprint]

Saw this awhile back (I check out rugbydump fairly regularly). And yep, that last fracas is started by one of the most gutless things I've ever seen.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Another couple of examples:

[video=youtube;yIBTGv1_XcQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIBTGv1_XcQ&feature=player_embedded[/video]

[video=youtube;bQDSHRdC-Wg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQDSHRdC-Wg&feature=player_embedded[/video]

No wonder the national team tossed it in after 50 minutes against the Wallabies. They're not used to playing a full game of rugby.

 

[Cutter]

I've had a few mates play in France. One, a lock, was king hit by a winger in one of his early games when a brawl started and he stepped back to let it play out. The ref saw it and said: "Welcome to french rugby Aussie." That was at least 10 years ago now and I'm sure things have changed.

 

[Gooch]

I have no knowledge of the French language, but I have found through searches over the years of French rugby, that bagarre, means brawl or fight.The there are so many videos out there of this sort of stuff in French rugby, it's crazy

 

[sudrugby]

When the crowd welcome the opponent booing its in Perpignan... awesome crowd for cheering behind their team but they never learned anything about fair play.
And Le Corvec has many problems with lots of players in the Top 14 like Jamie Cudmore and Remy Martin.
There are not often fights like this but when they occur it is always like this!

I've played in the Subbies in Sydney and it is far less violent than amateur rugby in France. That is why I stopped playing when I came back from Oz.

French rugby is boring nowadays anyway

 

[Ash]

Very few Subbies lower grade games I've played have been violent, apart from a few very rare ones, including one where our club made sure the ref left unmolested in a game we even lost. All of those games the violence came from those who played rugby to run over / flatten people, and came from the usual suspect clubs with, sadly, teams of a certain make up (and not all teams of the same make up are violent, far from it).

 

[Scarfman]

Yeah Ash, I know what you mean. I'd love it if Jury or another guy of Pcific origin could set me straight, but I've never met a people so lovely most of the time, but so quick to see the red mist if something small goes wrong.

I use to play a regular game of touch in Glebe with a bunch of ex-cons from Long Bay. Really sweet guys ... and then POW!

 

[maxdacat]

What's French for "I went to the fights and a game of rugby broke out"

 

[maxdacat]

and what's with those stade francais jersies....looks like someone left a red pen in the washing machine.

 

[sudrugby]

What's French for "I went to the fights and a game of rugby broke out"

Those kind of fights are juste names "LA GENERALE"

 

[Gagger]

I use to play a regular game of touch in Glebe with a bunch of ex-cons from Long Bay. Really sweet guys ... and then POW!

You drop the soap Scarfie?