Taking care of business

NAPOLEON had Talleyrand, Louis XIII had Cardinal Richelieu and France rugby coach Bernard Laporte has as his chief advisor and fixer, the flamboyant former international centre Jo Maso.

While Laporte shouldn’t have to worry about the 58-year-old conspiring behind his back, unlike the other two, Maso has proved to be quite a survivor in the politics of French rugby.

Although both of his managerial colleagues from the 1999 World Cup, Jean-Claude Skrela and Pierre Villepreux, are still involved with the French set-up in some form, it is Maso who is the more public face as manager.