Saints and Bath shape up to face the French

AS THE Premiership hacks through the undergrowth to find a path to sustainability, envious glances are directed at France where the Top 14, underpinned by a strong second division, is commercially vibrant and generates considerable interest, club rugby's Shangri-La.

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French sides lose money, but they have more of it to throw around than their English counterparts with several second division clubs enjoying generous budgets. There is an elite in the French game, but no cartel: a club's fortune hinges on results, as long as it remains within the spending bounds it sets out at the start of a season, and there is no reprieve for failure.

With three rounds of the Top 14 to go, Stade Francais, aristocrats of the French game, are 13th in the table, one place above Vannes and three behind Perpignan, who defeated them last weekend. If they remain there, they will have a play-off with the second placed club in ProD2 but if they end up on the bottom, they will go straight down with no entry criteria to act as a life jacket.

Stade have two home fixtures remaining, Vannes one. Perpignan have to go to Clermont Auvergne and La Rochelle before welcoming Toulouse on the final weekend. Bat-tling to come up are clubs who are used to the top flight including Grenoble, Brive, Colomiers and Beziers, although the likes of Biarritz, Dan, Agen and Oyonnax, relegated a year ago, are out of contention.

Next weekend sees Cardiff host the Challenge and Champions Cup finals, both Anglo-French affairs. Bath meet Lyon on Friday night before Northampton tango with Bor-deaux Begles the following day, 14 years after their last appearance in the final, also in Cardiff, when a 22-8 interval lead over Leinster evaporat-ed in the second half heat.

Bordeaux Begles will become the 19th French club to compete in a European final (not forgetting the latter day presence of South Africa). Seven of them are no longer in the Top 14 with two, Narbonne and Bourgoin, the latter past winners of the Challenge Cup and twice losing finalists, languishing in the third tier.