Elima: France need more Super League clubs to improve

France captain Olivier Elima believes another Super League club would help to improve the national team, after they bowed out of the World Cup to England on Saturday.

The majority of Richard Agar’s squad was drawn up from the Catalan Dragons‘ first team squad, and even those not currently with the Dragons, had previously played in Super League for the club.

It is now eight years since Catalan were added to Super League, and Elima would like to see another professional club to help increase the French player pool.

He said: “It’s a story of how many Super League clubs we can choose players from. We’ve only got one club to choose players from, and that’s always going to make it hard for us, when Australia and England get to pick from 14 clubs.

“You can still good things with the Catalan players, but obviously it’s a lot better if you can get a few players from each club and get a good national.

“We’ve got a good club in Catalan, so if we can get another one in the near future to increase the pool of professional players, it reduces a lot of the pressure on the national team and Catalan.”

Elima’s views were echoed by coach Agar, although the current Wakefield boss said the inclusion of another French club must take careful consideration.

Agar said: “There’s some scope and potential for it. Catalan are well supported, but they weren’t just thrown in, they spent a few years beforehand making it established.”

France managed just three tries in the tournament, winning one game, 9-8 against Papua New Guinea.

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