nico wrote:
Why aren't Catalans snapping these lads?
I suspect mainly because the kids need to be tested in a more competitive environment. So I think Benjamin Jullien has been playing rugby in Oz, and of course we took Jouffret from Catalans last year in our own U19's. This year Catalans have only just really got their U19's team playing competitively in the UK ( although they did organise a mini tournament against Wigan and Leeds last year) and are playing friendlies against several of the SL clubs this year. I guess they will enter a full team next year.
With the news about Toulouse trying to enter SL / Championship plus all these new kids, it looks as though French rugby is really starting to take off. Hopefully Catalans will at some point start to ditch their Aussie imports and field their own home grown players, and in future France v England could be a much tougher game than in the past. That has to be good news for the game in general.
