French Club Mergers?

Bayonne are second from bottom on 25 points after 13 matches while Biarritz are bottom eight points adrift of them.

"Today in professional rugby one has to have lots of money at one's disposal," Afflelou told French radio station RMC

"We have two clubs, with two stadia three kilometres part as the crow flies... It is a little idiotic not to try and see if there isn't a simpler solution."

Afflelou, who remarked there was no question of either club losing their identity, admitted that he and his Biarritz counterpart Serge Blanco had initially been opposed to the idea, but that had now changed.

"That was until three or four months ago," Afflelou added.

"However, then we said we will not die a pair of idiots knowing we tried to do something intelligent to resolve the situation, given the amount of other people crying out for something such as this to be done."

Blanco, who was sitting alongside Afflelou, said there was no reason why the clubs could not be a single competitive outfit by next season.

"Why not? After studying the matter and then discussing what comes out of the study anything can happen, though one shouldn't rush things."