Moffett Cocerned About Foreign Legion

Welsh Rugby Union chief executive David
Moffett is worried big-spending French clubs could poach all their best players and will raise the issue at the next Six Nations meeting.

“France are artificially inflating the transfer market. I
don’t think it’s
sustainable, but they have benefactors with deep pockets,”
Moffett told BBC
TV.

“I will make my concerns known to the French Union, but I’m
not sure if
they can do anything to stop it.”

Stephen Jones, Gareth Thomas and Shane Williams are targets for
French
clubs.

Moffett has fears about what the financial domination of France
and England
in the northern hemisphere will do to the game.
“It could end up like football’s Premiership, where only two
or three teams
can compete,” he said.

“It’s not just Wales. If France target, say, Brian O’Driscoll
they’ll get
him because they have the financial muscle.

“They don’t have any salary caps and seem to be a law unto
themselves. Ultimately it will affect the world game. England and France
are cash rich
and real rugby powerhouses, but it won’t do them much good if they
have no-one
to play.”

Llanelli Scarlets chief executive Stuart Gallacher believes he is
likely to
lose outside-half Stephen Jones to English or French clubs.
“He has been offered double his current salary by teams from
both those
countries, and we simply can’t compete,” Gallacher said.

And he said Gareth Thomas was tempted by the idea of playing for
a team
like Toulouse.

AFP – 2004.