Is France showing Europe the way?

Hot on the heels of Frenchman Michel Platini's work to regulate the football player labour market on behalf of UEFA, the French rugby union league (LNR) is thought to be on the verge of introducing a salary cap and a limit on the number of overseas players that can appear for its domestic clubs. There are consequently a number of very important issues bound up in moves the French are making to ensure that prevailing labour market challenges do not spiral out of control. These range from, for example, legal (are the proposed regulations compliment with or in breach of European Union laws?) and socio-political (is France seeking to serve its own interests, make a play for preeminence across Europe, or are the French genuinely concerned about the general future of sport in Europe?), through to managerial (how will the LNR stop player drift to countries with fewer regulations and higher salaries?) and the macro-sporting environment (will what works in France necessarily work elsewhere in Europe?).