Camille Lopez was all set to play for France this weekend against England, before being pulled from the team by his club, Clermont Auvergne, France coach Philippe Saint-André angrily revealed after a press conference on Thursday.
The fly-half was taken off at half time of France’s 29-0 win over Italy after suffering an injury to his knee, but Saint-André revealed that he has been taking a full part in training this week.
“He trained on Wednesday without any problems, without strapping or discomfort,” France’s head coach told RugbyRama. “He even kicked at goal with great success. He has been fine mentally. The medical staff decided he was ready.”
But it would seem medical staff from Clermont disagreed, something which has hugely angered Saint-André.
“Clermont decreed that he needed to rest for four to six weeks,” Saint-André said. “Clermont’s doctor decided this without having examined him, from images we sent him, because we are transparent with the clubs.
“I spoke to Camille at the end of the day [Wednesday] and he was doubtful. I need players without any doubts to be ready for the battle at Twickenham for 80 minutes. Camille had no worries Wednesday morning, but by the evening he was troubled.”
Could these doubts have been been lodged by the Clermont staff?
“That’s not for me to say,” Saint-André replied. “First and foremost his employer is Clermont. I’ve been saying it for three and half years, there needs to be a clearer position for international rugby players.”
Saint-André went on to claim that French rugby places more importance on the club game than the national team, barely pulling any punches.
“Today, what’s serious is that a quarter-final of the Champions Cup is more important than France vs England,” the coach said. “We’ll see if Camille is on the pitch against Northampton.”
Clermont’s response was quick and similarly withering. Sporting director Jean-Marc Lhermet told RMC that the club had no bearing on Lopez’s withdrawal, and went as far to accuse the national set-up of blocking details of the fly-half’s injury.
“Does it not seem like an aberration to say that? I’m surprised by Philippe Saint-André’s statements. It’s not the reality,” he said.
“The clubs have no power of the national teams. If France want to play a player, whether the club likes it or not, the player will play. The medical staff at Clermont don’t decide anything over whether a player plays for France or not. Camille is injured, that’s why he isn’t playing.
“We had a lot of trouble getting access to Camille Lopez’s medical file. We’ve only received a few shots yesterday, but we’d been trying since Monday to find out what our player was suffering from.
“It’s surprising because we’ve been trying since Monday to find out what state our player is in. There was a form of obstruction to give us the scans taken by the French medical staff.”
Dimitri Yachvili was speaking exclusively at a QBE Rugby event
Whatever the real story is, these murky details only add to the image that all is seriously not well within French rugby. Earlier in the season, following an injury to star player Wesley Fofana, Clermont coach Frank Azema branded the national set-up “amateurish”.
It is not stretching the imagination too far to suggest that the decision to pull Lopez has been somewhat informed by the recent injuries suffered by Fofana and Morgan Parra while on France duty.
But for one of the top clubs and the national set-up to be so obviously at loggerheads is almost unprecedented, and is darkly reminiscent of the many battles between Premier League clubs and the England football team down the years. England fans can be hugely grateful that the RFU and Premiership Rugby get on so swimmingly by comparison.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images