Franck Mesnel can't lose when France play England in this season's Six Nations Championship. The six-year deal with the Rugby Football Union announced this week means that his Eden Park fashion label now supplies clothing to both teams.
He describes his current role as 'a candid spectator' and is certainly direct in his perception that France go into their autumn Test series against Fiji, Argentina and Australia under pressure because of those June defeats. "We should be leaders, but at the moment we are only challengers," he says.
His critique is not, though, of coach Marc Lievremont, but of the structures under which he has to work. Mesnel says, "It is a matter of the balance between the clubs and the national team. We should be favouring the national team, but we are not."
His particular concern is the sheer length of the Top 14 season, with 26 matches plus play-offs. "This is far too long and it is simply not possible to play this much and still play well when it matters. It is simply not realistic and we badly need a new plan."
Elsewhere on the club scene Mesnel is delighted to see Racing, who had declined since he and his 'showbizz' contemporaries - whose jokily flash style was the genesis of the Eden Park brand - played in their last championship-winning team in 1990, back among the French elite.
At the same time he believes the expensively assembled team that reached the championship play-offs last season and qualified for this year's Heineken Cup is still a long way from the finished article. "There are some very good players, but they are still a collection of excellent individuals rather than a good team," he says - adding that this is not a criticism of coach Pierre Berbizier, who has said much the same thing himself.
He does, though, believe that the club is rebuilding itself in the right way. "I have complete confidence in Jacky Lorenzetti, the club president. I am 100% convinced that he is the right man and he is doing the right things."
