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Barbarians boss Eddie Jones has created a new position for Mathieu Bastareaud

Mathieu Basteraud (Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

Ahead of their encounter with Fiji this Saturday at Twickenham, Barbarians coach Eddie Jones has created a new position for Mathieu Bastareaud, calling the former France international a “utility” player. 

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Jones joined in an interview with the 54-cap Frenchman on Tuesday to describe him as a “back and forward” after the former Toulon centre’s recent pioneering positional change.  

The 31-year-old is likely to play at No8 for the BaaBaas this weekend against Fiji, a position where he has thrived so far this season for Top 14 leaders Lyon, who are five points clear at the top in the French league. 

He joined Pierre Mignoni’s side on a short loan this summer after being overlooked by France head coach Jacques Brunel for the World Cup in Japan.

His loan stint is now over and he is set to move to the United States to play for Rugby United New York in 2020. 

Saturday’s match at Twickenham will not only allow him to play before his move to New York, but it will give him the opportunity to further transition from the centre to the back row in a different environment. 

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It was an unprecedented positional change for a player of Bastareaud’s calibre, but one that could prolong his career. He has always had a physique that would suit a back row forward and it was inevitable that he would one day be unable to keep up with the outside backs. 

This has proven to be a sensible positional shift thus far and it looks to have received the backing of Jones. It could even see some more players follow in his footsteps. 

Such an announcement was originally seen as a bit of a joke, but Bastareaud has silenced many critics and will now have a chance this Saturday to exhibit his new positional change on the international stage. 

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N
NB 38 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Nice bit if revisioniusm but that's all it is JW.


For your further education, I found the following breakdown of one prominent club's finances in the Top 14 [Clermont].


For Clermont (budget of €29.5 million for 2021-2022) :

- 20% from ticket sales

- 17% from the LNR (includes TV Rights, compensation from producing french internationals and other minor stuff)

- 5% from public collectivities (so you're looking at funds from the city of Clermont, the department of Puy-De-Dôme and the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

- 4% from merchandising and events

- 3% from miscellaneous

- 51 % from sponsorships and partnerships. They've got 550 different partners. The main ones are CGI, Groupama, Limagrain/Jacquet, Omerin, Paprec, Renault and of course Michelin (not surprising since they're actually the founders of the club).


As you can see nothing comes from the FFR at all. The LNR is a separate entitiy to FFR and their aims frequently do not accord.


It is also why the European breakaway plotted by LNR and PR back in 2013 had nothing to do with the governing bodies of either England or France - and it most certainly did not have their blessing https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/15331030/jean-pierre-lux-anglo-french-cup-detrimental-european-rugby


And from the horse's mouth [ex AB skipper Sean Fitapatrick] about the comp between Top 14 and Super Rugby:


"The Top 14 in France is probably the best rugby competition in the world at the moment, purely for the week-in, week-out.”


“I think the quality of players. They are bigger, they are faster, they are stronger. Which then carries on into the international game.”

Take it from someone who knows JW😅

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