The principle had been known for a week. It has now been voted through, and it puts the restart on the weekend of the World Cup final.

Eight rounds, a break, then twelve matches

The 2027-28 season would begin on 4 and 5 September with a block of eight rounds, before a fortnight’s break during the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the World Cup, held in Australia from 1 October to 13 November 2027.

According to Sud Ouest, the championship would then restart at round nine, on the weekend of the World Cup final, before twelve consecutive matches including the European cups. The argument from the clubs is that it allows players from nations knocked out early to be reintegrated gradually.

What does not change

Two parameters stay as they are, and they are the ones several clubs wanted changed. The number of loans remains capped at eight per club, when Toulouse in particular wanted twelve. The World Cup medical joker scale is unchanged: one replacement per selected front-row player, one for every two players in the other positions.

Why a single rule weighs differently

That is where the calendar becomes a sporting issue. Counting club by club the players in current squads who have worn a senior national jersey since August 2024, excluding age-grade sides and sevens, the Top 14 holds 204 internationals.

Stade Toulousain have 28, 19 of them French internationals. Castres have 8, only one of them French. The same cap of eight loans and the same joker scale therefore do not produce the same effect from one dressing room to the next.

The final number of clashes will also depend on how far France go: the deeper their run, the longer their clubs play without them.

Chiffres à retenir

8 rounds before the break, starting on 4 and 5 September 2027

12 consecutive matches after the restart, European cups included

8 loans per club maximum, a cap left unchanged despite requests

28 v 8 internationals in the current squads of Stade Toulousain and Castres

204 active internationals across the fourteen Top 14 squads