Watch Leinster do a Marseille number on Toulon

The Top 14’s financial watchdog this week released a report showing France’s top 30 clubs have an accumulated debt of almost €34 million — yet nobody here batted an eyelid, writes Ronan O’Gara.

That figure is the highest it’s ever been and, according to the DNACG, “confirms the loss-making management of professional rugby”. But in typical French fashion, it just wasn’t mentioned this week. There wasn’t a single conversation over lunch about it.

The angle the French media took missed the point completely. They praised the good boys — Toulon and Brive — as they were the only clubs in the black, as opposed to highlighting the problems of some other clubs.