Seventh heaven for Castres after comeback at Clermont

Razor has shown already this year, that he sees this as a mistake. But even then there were some strange decisions for the 3rd French test. Bower in for Norris - Norris is the future, Bower is not. Dropping Proctor for ALB was also weird, given ALB hasnt played in 2 months and basically we know what he can and cant do. Proctor would have benefited from a 3rd straight game. Now I know some people will say ALB scored a try - 5 points. I would say, he also gave away two penalties, where the French scored 6 points.

Finally, the return of Sevu Reece - while I dont dispute at SR level he’s a star, and he really works to get involved. But unfortunately, he lacks the real speed to be an international winger - he was left behind by Jordan for his try, and I cant forget the French winger burning him for pace last November. OK I understand Clarke and Ioane were injured, and the seem not to like Narawa - but this says our winger stocks are pretty low if we have to rely on Sevu.

However, if the purpose of the tour was to build depth for the next WC, then no. As I indicated in my previous comment, I think Jalibert is a dead end, because of his poor defence; lack of compatibility with Dupont; lack of versatility, precluding the 7/1 bench, which is likely to be important v SA especially; because of his temperament - he hasn’t excelled in big matches, and in the last 2 seasons whenever he’s been 10 against international opposition capable of exploiting opponents’ weaknesses, France has had an uncharacteristically poor record; because he is strong in areas where France A are very strong already, but he weakens further those areas where that A team tends to be relatively weak.

So let’s hope Ntamack is fit in the 2027 WC to give France the best chance possible, but just in case, I would like to see a new back up to Ntamack and Ramos for WC fly half, one strong in at least the majority of the areas just listed where MJ falls short. Perhaps that was what FG was looking for, though I don’t think either 10 shone particularly brightly on this tour.

It was a smart move to allow Reihana to start at 10 for the Māori All Blacks vs Japan and Scotland instead of naming him to France squad and having him sit in the stands watching.

Will I need to convert my home into a brothel?

2) do these figures take into account direct revenue captured by parent companies where appropriate (eg for Bristol do these figures take into account Bristol Sport Limited who own both the club and the stadium)