Your rugby morning headlines for Wednesday, September 7.
Bernard Laporte due in court
French rugby powerbroker Bernard Laporte is due in court today to answer allegations of corruption.
The former senior team boss has been accused of favouring billionaire Mohed Altrad, who has been a backer of French rugby for years in his position as Montpellier President. Altrad's company also support the senior national team and became their first ever front-of- shirt sponsor in 2017.
Prosecutors allege that Laporte was paid by Altrad for services that he never supplied, including appearing at company conferences, and that the FFR president has also interfered in disciplinary proceedings as a €70,000 fine intended for Altrad was reduced to €20,000.
Laporte's dealings with Claude Atcher, who was recently suspended from his role as general manager of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, are also under scrutiny.
Atcher's company, Sport XV, won contracts mainly related to the World Cup but prosecutors claim that some payments made to his company were for work that was never carried out.
According to a report by AFP, Laporte’s lawyer, Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi, believes his client will be exonerated: “The grievances made against Bernard Laporte are perfectly artificial, in particular because the acts performed were all in the interest of the federation."
Roberts' message to Vakatawa
Former Wales centre Jamie Roberts has sent Virimi Vakatawa his best wishes after the France star was forced to end his rugby career in the country due to a medical condition.
Vakatawa yesterday held a press conference to confirm the reason for his announcement, which came earlier this week.
During the media briefing on Tuesday, it was revealed that a "cardiac anomaly" had been spotted in the player ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
His condition has now been described by Racing 92 as "a pathology likely to put him in danger within the framework of a sports practice at high intensity".
Following the broadcast, Roberts, who also played for Racing during an illustrious career, wrote on Twitter: "Sorry to hear your news mec @vvakatawa @racing92. Awesome career. Unplayable at your best"
Rowlands looks ahead to big year
Wales lock Will Rowlands says he's been building for years towards this next season, that should see him play at a Rugby World Cup for the first time in his career.
The towering lock has been something of a revelation for Wales boss Wayne Pivac this year, taking his game to new levels and forming a strong partnership with Adam Beard.
"It's been building towards this for the last couple of years for me," he said.
"I'd like to keep putting my best foot forward, both for the Dragons and hopefully getting picked for Wales with that World Cup in mind at the end of the year.
"It was probably my most fulfilling season to date last year playing internationally. I felt I could consistently put together the performances that I know I have been capable of.
"It was rewarding and enjoyable."
Rowlands is also enjoying working with new Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan after Dean Ryan was moved up to a Director of Rugby role during the off-season.
"Dai brings an impressive amount of emotional intelligence to his role as a coach," said Rowlands.
"He is going to be fantastic for managing those player relationships and starting to put in place good processes to develop some of the guys moving forward. I am excited about the season ahead with him.”
URC chief's denial
URC chief Martin Anayi says Leinster and Munster won't be playing their fixture in the United States anytime soon.
Reports emerged earlier this week suggesting Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group are trying to bring the Irish derby to America in the coming seasons.
But Anayi poured cold water over the rumours.
“These teams, these derby games, are the life-blood of the Irish clubs as they are all of our teams,” Anayi said.
“The derby games over Christmas, which we weren’t able to put on last year because of Covid restrictions, that hurt our attendance numbers.
“If you don’t play those games at home, your attendance numbers fall off in a season. All our other metrics are through the roof, the only one that isn’t is attendance and the reason is that we weren’t able to play those derby games at Christmas.
“That shows the crown jewel for the clubs is those Christmas derbies, at home in front of full crowds. To take any of those games away from traditional slots . . . the clubs have got to really want to do it and I wonder whether it needs to be outside of the regular season.
“It’s a bit of a struggle to see us, in the current format, taking a regular-season derby match to the US. But, again, is that something for the Champions Cup to do – to become more expansive? If we added more rounds back into URC, perhaps that gives us an opportunity to take games further afield.”
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