BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Exclusive: A row has erupted after France was allowed to switch their squad and bring in full-time players right before their World Cup European qualifier against Wales, which they won convincingly 48-6 to move closer to booking a spot at the 2026 World Cup.
Questions have been asked and eyebrows raised when the French swapped several semi-professional players for a clutch of full-time professionals right before they played the Welsh at the Saint Esteve Municipality Stadium last weekend.
On October 16 Serbia, Ukraine, Wales and France all publicly named squads for the RLWC2026 European qualifiers.
Each country was allowed to name up to 22 players, under the specific tournament rules, with Serbia and Ukraine doing so, Wales naming just 20 players but hosts France named 31 players in total.
After France smashed Ukraine 74-0 in Carcassonne on October 23, in a line-up that featured several players from Elite 1 clubs, les Chanticleers made several key player changes.
The likes of Louis Jouffret, Nittim Pedrero, Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet, Tanguy Zenon, Clement Martin, Lucas Albert, Thomas Lacans, Nolan Lopez-Buttingol, Florian Vailhen, Jayson Goffin, Hnaloan Budden and Hugo Salabio made way with Cesar Rouge, Hakim Miloudi, Arthur Romano, Mathieu Laguerre, Romain Franco, Ugo Tison, Theo Fages, Lambert Belmas, Alrix Da Costa, Maxime Stefani, Mathieu Cozza and Anthony Marion all featuring against Wales.
According to sources, this left the Dragons’ players, staff and officials shocked and angry, with serious questions raised about fairness and transparency that France was allowed to make so many important and vital changes so late in the tournament.
It is believed this was a decision approved by the European Rugby League (ERL), to let France to change their squad at a later change, and was allowed under International Rugby League (IRL) rules.
The ERL has not responded to requests for comment, while the IRL referred all requests to the ERL.
France coach Laurent Frayssinous told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads: “You have to contact the ERL and they will give you all the responses you need… all the changes made have been approved by the ERL and for a reason not for the sake of making changes.”
One source involved in the match said: “What France has done is exploited maybe a loophole in the rules. There’s an IRL rule that basically says something around seven days after a player has last played for their clubs until they’re eligible to play and go on international duty, unless the players choose to play or the players are released by their clubs to go and do that.
“So Eloi Peloissier was an example, and he played for Toulouse in that Championship final against Wakefield, and then played again on the Tuesday [against Ukraine]. But they sort of said there were other players within that group who technically weren’t available, and Toulouse had to make them available until seven days after their last outing with their club, because the clubs play the wages and the clubs get precedent over the availability of their players.
“So there was that aspect of it. The other aspect of it, it was players from the Elite 1 clubs because the French league season is still ongoing. They were made available for the Tuesday having played for their club the weekend before, and then called back into their club squad for the weekend when Wales played France.
“So that meant that France needed to call in others and had the option to call in new players, and they called in full-time players from Catalans Dragons.
“By the rule book I don’t think they’ve done anything wrong. It was just unethical. It made a hard job for Wales even harder.”
It is believed Wales had heard rumours that France were planning to effectively play a very different team against them in their qualifier last Saturday, but only had confirmation on the Friday before the game when the matchday team was announced and therefore could do little to stop it.
Another individual who was involved with the match told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads: “We can’t change what’s happened but hopefully we can highlight the lack of transparency, definitely, and fairness, and maybe that’ll change it for the future.
“This is not about about the French players. This is about the competition and fairness.
“The weight of responsibility lies firmly with the ERL and IRL because they’re running these competitions.
“And the reason you have rules is that they’re transparent, and then that they’re used properly and not bent.
“There are definitely lessons to be learned here.”
It is unclear at this stage whether Wales will make a further presentation to the IRL over the issue.
Both Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII and Wales Rugby League have been contacted for comment.
rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads has also contacted several board members of the ERL for comment.
