By PHIL CAPLAN
HE’LL be one of the guests of honour when Catalans Dragons take on Wigan at the Stade Jean-Bouin in the French capital on Saturday, June 6 and, theoretically, heritage number one.
Laurent Lucchese, now 53, played fullback for Paris St Germain on the opening night of Super League 30 years ago, as the Parisians beat Sheffield Eagles 30-24 in the Stade Sébastien Charléty to kick start the competition in front of 17,000 inquisitively excited fans.
The round 13 Super League clash this time commemorates that memorable night in the city and the 20th anniversary of the Dragons coming into the competition, when late tries by Ian Hindmarsh and Justin Murphy snatched a thrilling, last-gasp 38-30 win over the Warriors in front of 11,000 people at Stade Aimé Giral in Perpignan.
“I had played for a season at Sheffield and had to go back to do my compulsory national military service,” he remembers, having originally come over as a youngster to join Huddersfield.
“It was a wonderful night 30 years ago. Even as players we were very surprised with the event, there was a hope that people would turn up but we couldn’t have expected the number and what it would look and feel like, it was so exciting. PSG was a a wonderful opportunity for French rugby league.”
Unfortunately, that turned out to be something of a high point for them but, in many ways, they were set up to fail, a familiar expansion story in the Northern Hemisphere.
“We were playing teams that were already well organised, had just come off a winter season and we were new to everything,” notes Lucchese, who made 18 appearances in that debut campaign, scoring tries against Oldham and Warrington.
“They had everything organised and for us, at the start of the season, we were still playing in the French competition at the same time.
“All the time we were travelling, playing for our own clubs in the south of France, catching a plane to go to Paris or England so it was very hard for team spirit to see each other just for a few days and then, hours after a game, go back to our French clubs.
“We had no infrastructure, organisation or continuity even though it was brand new venture, so it was pretty hard.
“We were close to power but too far from our foundations. It could have been made easier, but we would not have attracted the initial interest without it being in Paris.
“After the first win, we got invited by PSG Omnisport, which also covered judo and basketball, into the heart of the organisation, which showed how strong this family was.
“But when we started to lose a run of games, we got isolated again. In the second season there were only three French players and even though there were some class overseas signings coming in, it was hard working from a hotel and to keep focussed on performance.”
Moving on 10 years and the introduction of Catalans Dragons, Lucchese was an advocate of their inclusion.
“It was vital Super League coming back into France and the Dragons worked so hard to be accepted as the side, they had to prove that they were bringing together the best possible team in France with the merger of XIII Catalan and AS Saint-Estève to form UTC.”
For the second time, after a single season in 2022, there are two French sides in Super League now, with Toulouse again taking up a spot in the enhanced division.
Lucchese, who lives halfway between there and Perpignan, hopes that having that double headed approach will reap greater reward for the French game overall.
“I love getting to choose to see a game every week. We are starting to get much greater interest from the media, Rugbyrama are showing all the matches and hopefully more, better, young French players are going to come through in future years as a result.”
The wheel now turns full circle with this match in Paris for which a crowd of over 15,000 is expected, a third of them coming over from Wigan.
“It will be a fabulous occasion, I am really looking forward to meeting up with some old friends. We don’t need to introduce the name of Wigan, it is one of the biggest in all sport and will be recognised by the sporting public in France.
“I can’t wait to be there.”
The match follows on from when the sides met in 2019 in Barcelona, establishing a competition record attendance of over 31,000 at the Camp Nou, the Dragons also winning on that occasion, 33-16.
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