u/WilkinsonDG2003

There isn't a TV deal for third tier rugby in France but these are very good figures. Soon Nationale will expand to 16 clubs and introduce JIFF quotas as it moves towards full professionalism.

Bristol's humiliation was not a one off with Newcastle taking 70+ and Sale 80+. For comparison NZ only put about 70 past Namibia at the WC. In other leagues like the URC or ProD2 it's rarer to have such huge scores even with a lot more games.

English club rugby has done a lot of silly things, but one of the worst was selling off 27% of the Prem revenues to CVC private equity for £200M. French clubs sensibly didn't do this and so don't lose upwards of 1/4 of their turnover to venture capitalists every year, with some clubs like Vannes and Pau being profitable or at least breaking even. If English clubs still had that 27% they might be in a similar position and we may not have seen so many of them go bust.