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The Stuart Lancaster verdict on Camille Chat's sudden Racing exit
By Liam Heagney
Stuart Lancaster has given his verdict on this week’s Racing 92 decision to part company with Camille Chat with immediate effect. The long-serving hooker fell foul of the club last month when he allegedly turned up drunk at their training centre a few days after he had started the Investec Champions Cup loss at Sale Sharks.
The front-rower was apparently still the worse for wear following a club social that weekend along with fellow hooker Janick Tarrit, who didn’t show up for training at all. Both players were suspended.
However, while Tarrit has returned to the first team squad and was a starter in last Saturday’s Top 14 loss at Toulon, there was no reprieve for Chat and a brief club statement on Tuesday evening confirmed they had released the 29-year-old even though there is still a dozen regular season Top 14 fixtures remaining this season as well as two Champions Cup pool matches this month.
Chat posted a farewell message to social media, claiming that his 12 years at the club “were an incomparable human and sporting adventure. Every moment, every match, every training session, every victory or defeat has shaped not only my journey but also a part of my life”.
Director of rugby Lancaster then took up the thread on Wednesday at the media briefing Racing had scheduled ahead of this Friday’s Champions Cup trip to Glasgow.
He told reporters: "It's a shame but I understand the club's position. I have already experienced this type of moment in my career. In this type of story, there is no winner: the club is the loser and so is Camille.
“I am nevertheless certain that Camille will quickly find a new club and that he will be able to relaunch his career. Our medical joker, the Australian Feleti Kaitu'u, will stay with us until the end of the season at least."
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Latest Comments
i) fair
ii) a) That's not the point. Tom Willis has been out of the frame for a while, but could start in the six nations. That's churn. Hill and Ben Curry could easily come into a similar vein of form, so Borthwick should try to keep them in the squad as much as possible so that he's maximising opportunities to promote from within, rather than disrupting the set up by bringing guys into the matchday 23 who haven't previously trained with the squad.
ii) b) Doesn't a development player take another players spot? Marcus Smith took another player's spot in 2018, as did Orlando Bailey in 2022 and Fin Smith in 2023. England will have a finite amount to spend on player wages, so can't just add young players to the squad for free. Unless you're arguing that Pollock should be in the u20s squad, and should just spend a bit of time with the seniors in the fallow weeks, in which case I'd agree with you.
iii) because I'm unconvincedthat he's quite at the level required yet. Hence why Dowson won't pick him in the most important fixtures.
Go to commentsI am getting Nigel vibes from your use of the alt-right term 'woke' a favourite far-right slur against ALL progressive positions now sadly transformed into common parlance.
Hitler's rationale included the retaking of "German" suddetenland, "German" areas of France and Poland. Sound familiar? Poland is on Putin's list. Hungary? Austria? You OK with that? Maybe the cold war with Russia wasn't enough for you? Because its a hot war coming.
If you think the authoritarians Putin and Netenyahu are on different sides then I have some beanstalk beans to sell you.
Settler colonialism? What exactly do you think the plans are? Crimea?
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