England extended their winning run against France to 22 matches after a comfortable victory in Saturday's mid-season Test at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium; former national team boss Tony Smith told Sky Sports he wants more to be done to help the development of the French players
Monday 1 May 2023 09:40, UK
Tony Smith believes the game in this country needs to do more to support the growth of rugby league in France following England’s 64-0 win over their cross-Channel rivals in Saturday's mid-season Test.
The defeat for the visitors at the Halliwell Jones Stadium extended a now 22-match losing run against England which stretches back to 1981, having replaced the Combined Nations All Stars as mid-season opponents this year.
The result will likely raise questions again about whether France can provide Shaun Wane's side with the quality of opposition needed to prepare them for facing the might of traditional rivals Australia and New Zealand, and emerging Southern Hemisphere powers Samoa and Tonga.
But while Smith sympathises with that viewpoint, the former Great Britain and England head coach is in no doubt the answer lies with giving French players more opportunities and exposure to the international arena.
"I can understand that, and I make the point I think they need to do more to raise their level at some stage and they need to have some serious discussions about that themselves," Smith said while serving as one of Sky Sports' studio analysts for the match.
"But what are we going to do, leave them out in the cold? If we really want to have a Northern Hemisphere team we can compete with, this is the next one.
"We've got to nurture them; we've got to help them on. They've got [Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique] in the [British professional] competitions, but we've got to help them develop their young players.
If we really want to have a Northern Hemisphere team we can compete with, [France] is the next one. We've got to nurture them; we've got to help them on.
"Maybe we play at some younger levels earlier, give them exposure - they've got some fantastic athletes in their country developing. We just need to get them to the top level and give them more competition."
France have shown progress at age group level in recent years, winning the U19 European Championship in 2018 and then finishing as runners-up in last year's tournament with a narrow 14-12 loss to England in the final after leading 8-0 at half-time.
The rise of Catalans Dragons in the Betfred Super League and the news the country will be sole host of the Rugby League World Cup for the first time in 53 years in 2025 have also given the 13-a-side code in France further boosts.
Ten of the matchday 17 selected by head coach Laurent Frayssinous for the match against England are part of the Dragons' squad, but others in the national team like big-hitting prop Florian Vailhen of Elite 1 club Pia are only playing on a part-time basis in the French domestic league.
"Some players who play in the French competition, training part-time and twice a week, for some moments they had a go and were on the same page as the best players from the Super League competition," Frayssinous told Sky Sports.
"Not for too long, but for moments, so if these players keep on working hard and playing week in, week out in the best teams in the competition I think the future for France will be brilliant.
"The scoreboard is hard - it is what it is; we will learn from it, take our medicine, and keep on improving for the next game. We know where we are, and we will keep on working hard to be better for next time."
Ensuring more players have access to being in a full-time training and playing environment is an area where Smith feels French rugby league can improve itself.
Indeed, the Hull FC head coach acknowledges change must come from within too even with extra development support coming from these shores.
"They've got to help themselves," Smith said. "They've got to go away and say 'we've got to stop this from happening year after year'.
"Hopefully they'll get that message back there and invest in the development more and more. I know there are some good things happening, but they need to speed it up also."
