If there is one lesson to emerge from this European club rugby season it is the importance of ambition. As recently as eight years ago both this weekend’s champion teams, La Rochelle and Lyon, were together in the second tier of French rugby with their noses pressed to the Top 14 glass. Without the incentive of promotion, they would still be on the outside looking in.
Along with Exeter Chiefs they offer hope to wannabes everywhere, living proof that rugby growth is about more than jealously guarding the status quo. The overall commercial gateau may be larger in France, where municipal ownership of stadiums is a significant factor, but the trend is increasingly pronounced. French rugby at all levels continues to boom while the domestic game in England and Wales battles to remain solvent.
