The Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) have ruled that foreign players signed to youth contracts will no longer be considered as JIFF players from next season.

JIFF players – joueurs issus des filières de formation, otherwise known as academy-trained players – are required to have either been registered with the FFR for five years by the age of 23, or to have spent three years in an FFR-approved training centre by 21.

Each team last season was required to have 55 percent of their matchday squad (12 out of 23) made up of JIFF players.

However the law change now means that the number of young French players featuring on a regular basis is set for a substantial increase, with those young players from overseas now set to be listed as foreigners rather than JIFF players from 2017, according to Midi Olympique.