Paris lost out to London on July 6 when members of the Olympic Committee voted 54-50 in favour of staging the games in the English capital.

After a meeting between the FFR, the league, players' and clubs' representatives, whose main obective was to draw up a fixture list for the two years leading up to the tournament, Lapasset declared that the need to stage a supremely successful Rugby World Cup in France during September and October 2007 was going to increase.

''Everbody is in agreement to stress that following the non-attribution of the Olympic Games to Paris, a much heavier load has been placed on our shoulders, we have to succeed,'' underlined Lapasset.