By Jason Harris
July 1 2002

The ongoing litigation saga between Christian Califano and Stade Toulousain finally gets to court. The date for the hearing about Stade's €1.2 claim for compensation for his non-return will be 22 July. The initial hearing will be to see whether Califano and Stade Toulousain's Rene Bouscatel can come to an agreement over the player's previous contract from which he was released to play in the Super 12 competition with the Auckland Blues.

Toulouse believe that it was certain that Califano was to return to them, but Califano thinks that the agreement is "not admissable" and has since signed a contract to play in England with Saracens.

If there is no amicable agreement on this date, one week after Saracens begin pre-season training, the matter will be taken up the the French judiciary and a final decision on the matter taken by them.

As the compensation claim is against Califano himself, Saracens are not in line to be penalised financially. However, losing a player of this calibre (the reason for Stade's complaint in the first place)would be a blow to Sarries' hopes for next season.

Sarries CEO Peter Deakin commented at the club's press conference on 6 June that Califano's registration has been approved by the RFU and the French Rugby League and that he will be playing for the Men in Black next season. This has not been disputed by Stade Toulousain, but they are most keen to recoup what they see a fair amount of monetary compensation.

Califano himself is giving his side of the story this week in the French newspaper Midi Olympique. Sadly, the transcript of that interview is not available on the Midol web site so we are unlikely to know what he has to say until we here at thesaracens.com can get our hands on a copy.