A mouth-watering few weeks of rugby awaits fans of the club game.
Super Rugby suffers at the tail-end of its season because it has no structure for promotion and relegation. England, like France, does and as much as sport driving business may irritate a few people, it continues to be the ideal model, financial insecurity and all. Harlequins and Northampton have been relegated and bounced back stronger. Bristol is in better shape than they have been in for years. Relegation is not the end of the world it has occasionally been claimed to be.
Monopoly
And if a relegation does have severe repercussions because a team has been as badly run on and off the field as Biarritz, should these affluent owners who have pretty much all made their money from the ways and wiles of capitalism not suffer the failure that is the lot of any normal business? To ask for special treatment is to make a case for a monopoly system. And would any of these people want their corporate areas of expertise to have been monopolies before they had a chance to make their way in business life?
In France this weekend, Oyonnax play Toulouse at home. They are fighting for their Top 14 lives. If they stay up and win this match the end of their season will be one this relative newcomer club will never forget. Perpignan are deep in the woods; they face Toulon at home in a critical game while Grenoble and Bayonne - the other contenders for the second drop spot - meet each other.
The threat of relegation gives all these games oxygen. Sport is not just about winning. It is about surviving, sometimes not surviving, and someone else - if the system exists - having a shot at the big time. Anyone who tells you any different is plain wrong.
Stuart answers your emails...
Got a question for Stuart? Email him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com or use the feedback form below...
Hi Stuart, What have you made of Manu Tuilagi's return from injury - and how crucial is it for England to have him fit and firing come the World Cup next summer?
Steven
STUART REPLIES: Manu Tuilagi looks in good physical nick. His power makes him an important component in the England attacking armoury, although there remain many aspects of his game in need of improvement in the next year or so.
Stuart, what is your verdict on the refereeing in the Gloucester-Bath match? Did Tim Wigglesworth have any choice but to brandish his cards? And what about the uncontested scrums? It seemed to me he lost control of the situation when emotions were already running high in the derby atmosphere.
Benjamin
STUART REPLIES:Benjamin, I hope you don't think me a fence-sitter - I am many things but not that. Alas, I will not be watching the derby match until Thursday as I was taking a few days off last weekend. Hard to comment but I bet it was nothing like as brutal as these derbies were in the 80s and 90s, when television cameras were not around in the number they now are to put Gloucester or Bath off from committing some terrible deed before retiring to the bar to compare scars....
Stuart - who's your money on to bag that final play-off spot? Quins or Bath? I reckon now they're back to full strength Quins might just nick it. But it should be a great race to watch between now and the end of the season!
Mark
STUART REPLIES:Mark, with Bath having the points in the bag and Worcester at home while Harlequins have to beat in-form Leicester the money must be on Bath securing the spot before the two teams meet in what would be a great play-off play off. At the moment, though Bath are favourites to get there, the trip to Harlequins is where the odds will swing if my old team has to win there to qualify.
