Blanco backs Premiership stance

French club rugby boss Serge Blanco has applauded the decision by England’s Guinness Premiership clubs to pull out of next season’s Heineken Cup if French teams press ahead with their expected boycott of the tournament.

Premier Rugby, the umbrella organisation of the 12 English top-flight teams, yesterday confirmed the clubs had voted unanimously to withdraw in the event of a French boycott, insisting a European Cup without leading French clubs is “not a genuine competition”.

A dispute with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) is behind the decision.

Premier Rugby want English clubs to have a greater say in how the European Cup is run, but the RFU appear unwilling to split its shares and voting rights - unlike its counterpart in France.

Blanco, president of France’s Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Premier Rugby’s French equivalent – is a fierce opponent of the RFU’s stance.

And he is happy to see English clubs follow their French counterparts’ lead.

“I find it regrettable that a competition as great as this is being sacrificed and that the RFU is not making the effort as what we are demanding makes sense,” he said in L’Equipe.

“I led the fight to preserve the future of the French clubs, but I appreciate that there has been the same conscious effort by the English clubs.”

France’s clubs make a final decision on whether they will boycott the tournament next season on Thursday.

They are expected to stick to their guns – if that is the case, the Heineken Cup would comprise teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy only.

“We are going to spend a year without European competition,” Blanco added.

“Then we will try to think up something else.”

French clubs have turned their back on Europe’s leading competition because of the stance of the RFU and the fact that they believe the country’s domestic championship is being undermined.

They are unhappy about the effect the World Cup – which begins in September - will have on its domestic programme.

Matches in the Top 14, France’s domestic league, will be played throughout the duration of the World Cup, but the Heineken Cup will only begin when the showpiece finishes.

“A good organisation should make as its priority its league rugby, their championships,” Blanco has said.

“But at the moment, the pyramid is inversed.”