René Bouscatel is elected new president of the LNR

In another style, the turnaround is almost worthy of the crazy comeback of the XV of France against the Welsh during the recent match of the Six Nations Tournament. At 74, René Bouscatel became the new president of the National Rugby League (LNR), the fourth in the short history of this association, after Serge Blanco (1998-2008), Pierre-Yves Revol (2008-2012) and Paul Goze (2012-2020).

However, when this lawyer by profession announced his candidacy on February 17, the game seemed to be over, and the presidency promised to Vincent Merling, the president of the Stade Rochelais. But in the space of a month and a half, the former president of Stade Toulouse (1992-2007) has caught up again.

Presented as the candidate of the Pro D2 clubs (where La Rochelle has played for a long time), Vincent Merling (70), former third line, nevertheless benefited from the support of the outgoing president, Paul Goze, and the recent rallying of the third man in this election , Alain Tingaud. Worse still, Mr. Merling was not elected to the college of representatives of the Top 14.

Unlike his rival, presented in spite of himself as the candidate of the clubs against the French Rugby Federation (FFR), Mr. Bouscatel has focused his campaign on a warming of relations between the two bodies. “Instead of starting from what separates us, I would prefer that we start from what brings us together. I would like us to seek our common interests together and then find solutions that can bring both ”, he pleaded in an interview with AFP.

A president now hostile to a Top 12

When he ran the Toulouse Stadium, the man nevertheless had the opportunity to fight against the FFR on the subject of the eternal points of contention in French rugby: the calendar and the provision of internationals by the clubs. But the man with the nine titles of champion of France (with Guy Novès as manager) knew how to lead a skilful campaign, to sell his project to his former fellow presidents of the Top 14, where the most austere, Merling, is not. managed to split the armor.

This return has something to surprise for the one who had been gently pushed towards the exit in Toulouse (where he was a salaried president) and had tried last summer to take over another monument of French rugby, AS Béziers. “Retirement, I don’t really know what that means”, confided the person concerned to La Dépêche du Midi just after leaving the ‘Stadium’.

Two years away from a World Cup organized in France, the Toulousain has inherited two delicate missions: to calm relations between the LNR, the Top 14 clubs and the FFR, but also to manage the consequences of the closed doors imposed by the situation. sanitary.

Just elected, he has already announced his desire to maintain an elite at 14 clubs. “The Top14 is a balance that has been found over time. Our competitions are attractive ”, declared the one who was for a long time a defender of the Top 12. But that was before being a candidate for the presidency of the NRL.

The World with AFP

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