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SAINT AFFRIQUE - The rugby World Cup kicks off its six-week extravaganza on Friday, with 20 teams from around the world descending on France to show off their playing skills.
But away from the spotlight of international competition, a group of unemployed rugby players are trying hard to get picked up by a team in one of France's two professional divisions, the Top-14 and the Pro D2.
Without a current contract they may be, but a team representing the unemployed professional rugby men recently performed well in a game against the full-timers of division two (Pro D2) side Agen, going down 10-7.
"This type of match shows clubs that we are physically ready if they ever need us," said hooker Christophe Laurent, released by Top-14 side Bayonne at the end of last season.
The friendly match was the brainchild of Provale, the trade union of professional rugby union players in France, to attract attention to more than 40 players left by the wayside with the start of the 2007-8 season just weeks away.
"This year, there are 41 players officially listed without a club, twice the number we had at this point last season," said Provale general secretary Gael Arandiga, a former Bordeaux player who retired in June and whose career highlight was a French championship with Perpignan in 1998.
"There's no typical profile for a player without a club," Arandiga said. "Some come from the Top 14, most from Pro D2. Six of them will take part in the World Cup and find themselves with nothing afterwards."
Former Bayonne duo Ramiro Pez and Jose Maria Nunez-Piossek will be turning out for Italy and Argentina when the World Cup kicks off on September 7.
Ex-Bordeaux utility back Gabriel Brezoianu, former Racing Metro-Paris prop Mamuka Magrakvelidze, ex-Tarbes winger Jone Dunivucu and former Montpellier full-back Federico Todeschini have been named in the squads of Romania, Georgia, Fiji and Argentina respectively.
Other known names on the list of those seeking work include former Argentinian kicking machine Gonzalo Quesada, Samoan journeyman full-back Roger Warren and rugby league convert Pascal Bomati.
Former Bayonne hooker Laurent said he was still bitter about the way he was ousted from the Basque club.
"When you play rugby for more than 10 years and then suddenly have to fill in forms for unemployment benefit, it's not an easy thing to do, believe me," said the 31-year-old.
"They promised me that were the club to stay up I would be kept on. I started the final matches of the season, we stayed up and the next day they informed me that they no longer needed me.
"Before, a handshake or a gentleman's agreement validated all contracts. But today clubs are run like a business and I don't trust them."
Scrum-half Mathieu Siro, 26, had a similar experience after being set to join ProD2 team Pau from Lyon for this season.
"Everything was settled, they promised me that I would join the squad this summer and at the last moment they betrayed me," the former France U-21 international said.
Provale's Arandiga said that increased unemployment figures were a direct result of the market being flooded by growing numbers of professional rugby players.
"The mass arrival of foreign players, along with increasing numbers of youngsters being trained by clubs, mean there's an ever-increasing workforce, and it is because of this that there are players without clubs," he said.
However, Arandiga added that many French players "who refused to lower their salary are now much more expensive than, for example, the South Africans".
Provale has obtained an extension to the transfer period until September 14 but most clubs have long finished their off-season recruitment and are already well into pre-season training.
The only hope for many is to be picked up outside the transfer window as a back-up player on medical grounds.
Former Castres and France scrum-half Christophe Laussucq, 34, has just signed a contract with English giants Leicester to provide cover until January, but time is ticking for the rest.
- AFP
