It seems to me his lawyer knows more about the Code du Travail (Labour Law) in France than Lorenzetti cared to verify. In France, there are two types of contract: CDD (Contrat à Durée Déterminée) which are contracts agreed upon for a given period of time in months or years which in essence is exactly what rugbymen sign for (3 years contract or whatever) and the CDI (Contrat à Durée Indéterminée) which is basically a contract that does not have an expiry date. You are hired until you resign, until you retire or until you are made redundant.

Now, anyone in France can legally end a CDD when being proposed a CDI. To me, it sounds like Goosen was made aware of this. And the funny part is that in France like in South Africa I am sure, CDI usually have a trial period (3/6/12 months usually) and I bet Goosen’s trial period will be particularly short. Of course, the outcome of such trial period would be quite predictable.

Goosen is taking a risk if Racing 92 decides to investigate and finds out that Goosen’s new boss is a friend of his and the CDI contract is in fact bogus. It is not easy to prove though and a legal procedure would be long. However if Lorenzetti decides to launch a procedure, the player will have to remain available whenever the French Court decides to require his presence. This could hamper is availability in South Africa. No one wins.

All in all, it shows Lorenzetti and other clubs exactly why they should not do their shopping in other under 20 national teams. Goosen is a good Top 14 player, and I would be surprised he does not show up in one of the SA Super Rugby franchises in the year to come. Either way, it is a lost cause for Racing. Racing 92 like Toulon are not bad at developing players (the scrum-half Chauveau is one of them) they just suck at giving French hopefuls a chance.

La Rochelle showed that there is a reservoir of talented players not only in the Top 14 but in the lower divisions as well. I suspect Stade Francais will be heading this way too after they lost so many of their hopefuls for the next season. La Rochelle has been way more exciting to watch than Racing 92 this season so why not give a chance to all these French players for once?

eh, eh, il giochetto stava proprio lì. Il nostro a casa in SA a fare il direttore del supermercato e questo a mettere i rigoni verdi anzichè celesti. Eh, l’avevamo studiata bene, sai!

fatti bastare il goosen che hai a disposizione…
o fai direttamente a cambio…

Giusto Alberto.