Balance of power shifts in direction of France

Rugby: There could be trouble ahead. Apparently there were over 2,000 Toulouse supporters waiting for their Heineken European Cup conquerors when the squad returned home after 1.0 a.m. on Sunday, and 10,000 turned out for their civic reception and open-top bus ride through the city centre that day. Gerry Thornley reports

After years of insularity the signs are the French are going to start taking Europe altogether more seriously - which could be bad news for Europe.

In the wake of their slightly overdue triumph on Saturday, coach Guy Noves declined to make himself and Toulouse hostages to fortune when laughing off a question as to whether this victory might herald a spell of European dominance for his club. The competition, from England and the Irish provinces, was far too stiff for that, he suggested.

He might also have signposted the competition from within France. Agen await the European champions in Montpellier next weekend in a a reprise of last season's semi-final - which Agen won - while Stade Francais and Biarritz meet in the other semi-final. Whatever the make-up of Saturday week's final in Stade de France, an 80,000 capacity is assured.

Hence, France have already declared a very strong hand for next season's European Cup. Aside from Toulouse, Perpignan, Biarritz and Bourgoin all returning, Stade Francais will be back, as will be Agen, after their European ban.

So this all-French denouement to the cup and Toulouse victory might indeed herald "a shift in the balance of power" as another Frenchman, Arsene Wenger, dared to predict, though more likely from England to France as opposed to one club from another.

The thing about England's supposed "dominance" of the competition was that four wins out of four finals over the previous five years camouflaged a relative lack of strength in depth - Leicester being head and shoulders above the rest in England after Bath and Northampton each scraped home by a point. Once Leicester's powers waned this season's English return of two quarter-finalists and no semi-finalists was, in a sense, none too surprising. What's more, the initial short-term recruitment policies of the English clubs will see further pruning, even at runaway domestic kingpins Gloucester.

By contrast, the French clubs - with their municipally-owned stadiums and more secure long-term tenure - have sounder financial bases, all the more so since their championship has been reduced to a more streamlined 16 clubs. And the reduction in quantity has improved the quality.

Most clubs can be categorised as "the flag of the town", though none perhaps are on the scale of Toulouse, given it has a population of 800,000. Local businesses queued up to be a part of the club, so much so when Stade built 19 corporate boxes in their redesigned home at Stade Sept Deniers, they didn't bother putting them on public sale, because they knew they couldn't satisfy all their sponsors in allocating the boxes privately. The finest restaurants jostled for space and one of those in situ is a two-star Michelin restaurant.

However, crowds have increased everywhere this season and some, such as Perpignan, can be classed as nouveau riche. Not alone will their redeveloped and expanded, 15,000-capacity Stade Aime Giral be expected to generate more revenue next season, like Stade Francais they also have a president/benefactor in Marcel Dagrenet (a supermarket mogul) who is willing to furnish the Catalans' ambitions given Dan Luger, Danny Herbert, Scott Robertson and Mick O'Driscoll are all going there next season. That Justin Fitzpatrick (to Castres) and Mark Blair (to Narbonne) are also following the leads of Jeremy Davidson and Trevor Brennan in relocating to France will generate a fear in the IRFU that there will be a post-World Cup flight to the continent.

Even if the money isn't appreciably better, French tax rulings ensure the first year can be quite profitable for overseas' signings. For players with one last signing to a short professional career - who could blame them? The one note of caution in all of this would be that "foreigners" are judged more harshly than home-based players in France, more so if they are "name" players - witness Joe Roff's unhappy time at Biarritz. And the contrast at Toulouse between All Black centre Lee Stensness and Trevor Brennan illustrates the point.

Brennan is probably the archetypal type of player who is most likely to be embraced by French team-mates and supporters - willing to put his body on the line. Brennan and Toulouse still have the French championship to aim for over the next fortnight, the English finale is next weekend and everyone, Ireland included, are heading south for tours when rest would seem a more pressing requirement. But as May endeth the domestic season is, finally, over. A good season it was too. Collectively the best ever by the four provinces and the best in 18 years by Ireland,

Coach of the Season: Eddie O'Sullivan. Helped make an arduous season into a memorable one, taking some big scalps along the way.

Player of the Season: Malcolm O'Kelly. One of five ever-presents for Ireland, and missed only one Euro game for Leinster; a world-class primary ball winner with a huge heart and a huge talent.

Try of the Season: Peter Stringer - what's seldom is wonderful, all the more so at Welford Road. O'Gara's half-break from a scrum in Munster territory and offload to the supporting Henderson, Mullins and Quinlan taking it on for the scrumhalf to dot it down.

Club of the season: Clontarf.

Moments of the season: Ronan O'Gara. That conversion to complete the miracle match against Gloucester and that drop goal at the Millennium Stadium when he made a lot of touts very happy.

Quote of the season: "None of us had a clue 27 points was the difference." - O'Gara after his conversion had sealed the 27-point win over Gloucester.

gthornley@irish-times.ie