It was a week to forget for the Top 14 leaders, as La Rochelle roared into the play-off places and strugglers Montpellier, Lyon and Perpignan all beat higher-flying sides, while bottom club Oyonnax kept their fading survival hopes alive
Despite a 27-17 defeat at Perpignan on Saturday night, Toulouse boss Ugo Mola will be happy enough with how his squad has navigated the Six Nations’ window.
Even with numerous players absent in recent weeks for various reasons – Romain Ntamack resumed group training this week as he continues his recovery from the ACL injury he suffered shortly before the Rugby World Cup – Toulouse have picked up 23 points out of a possible maximum of 30 during the Tournament upheaval.
They sit second in the table, level on points with leaders Stade Francais, and 10 clear of third-placed Bordeaux.
Then it gets much tighter. Six points separates third-place La Rochelle from ninth-placed Bayonne – who are just four points clear of Perpignan in 13th, the relegation play-off spot.
It is, Canal Plus reported, the tightest Top 14 season since 2014/15 at this stage. Back then, 52 points weren’t enough to save Bayonne from the drop, while 62 points got Oyonnax into the play-offs.
Results
The top five coming into the weekend – Stade Francais, Toulouse, Castres, Bordeaux and Toulon – all lost at the weekend, allowing La Rochelle to steal a march and climb into the top six.
Meanwhile, three of the bottom five won – and the other two, Clermont and bottom side Oyonnax, drew 15-15 in filthy conditions at Stade Marcel Michelin.
Joe El Abd’s Oyonnax entertain Perpignan next time out, as they look to close the gap on the rest of the table.
Here’s the full list of results.
Image: Top 14 / LNR
Match of the weekend
Just two points separated Pau and Bayonne at the end of an 11-try, 82-point thriller at Stade du Hameau.
The match had started in traditional, cagey style – the score was 15-5 at the break – before exploding into an all-out, toe-to-toe, try-for-try slugfest in the second. It was exhilarating.
As in Cardiff nearly 24 hours later, when France overwhelmed Wales, attacking audacity and the skill to carry it off gave defence coaches the vapours.
“It was a very high-level match, where chances were quickly converted,” relieved Pau manager Sebastien Piqueronies told reporters afterwards.
His pride in his side’s victory, however, was understandably tempered by their inability to kill the game – they were twice 13 points up in the second half, but allowed Bayonne to drag themselves back into contention.
“We were unable to hold that advantage and pressure [Bayonne],” he admitted. “Our inability to keep or increase a lead that I thought we deserved is frustrating … It’s frustrating to be so fragile, but I’m delighted and proud of the way the players performed.”
Player of the weekend
Brice Dulin. While France were readying to try out a new fullback in Stade Francais’ 21-year-old Leo Barre against Wales in Cardiff – pretty darn promisingly, as it turned out – a 33-year-old previous model was proving that, to steal a cliche, class is permanent, guiding La Rochelle to a 23-3 bonus-point win over Top 14 leaders Stade Francais.
Stade’s DoR, Laurent Labit, who worked with Dulin at Castres, Racing 92 and France, could only grind his teeth as his former player – a week after a tour de force performance against Clermont – rendered the Top 14’s best defence invisible inside four minutes with two perfect kicks in a couple of seconds for new dad Dillyn Leyds to score, and then proceeded to get better all game.
Sunday’s Midi Olympique described him as ‘injouable’ (unplayable). It’s impossible to argue.
Flop of the weekend
Castres Olympique. Even after last weekend’s trouncing at Toulouse, fourth-placed Castres, the second-best attacking side in the Top 14 this season, would have been confident of bringing back something – even a precious away victory – from their trip to struggling Lyon.
They only have themselves to blame for the 34-19 loss that followed. Castres were ill-disciplined, conceding 15 penalties and giving up six ruck turnovers because of a lack of support, and impatient, too often attempting an offload that wasn’t on, or making a pass to nowhere.
“We made a lot of technical errors, stupid mistakes, and slip-ups,” hooker Gaetan Barlot admitted afterwards. “We leave with no points because of ourselves.”
Castres could have been comfortably in fourth place, or even third, heading into the Six Nations’ Super Saturday break. Instead, they’re fifth, level on points with sixth-placed Racing 92 and seventh-placed Pau, with crucial matches against Racing and Bordeaux coming up at Stade Pierre Fabre. With seven matches left in the Top 14 season, they cannot afford any more mistakes.
Castres’ Uruguayan scrum-half Santiago Arata admitted as much. “This is the time to ask ourselves what we want to do this season – do we really want to finish in the top six? We have great potential … but sometimes we have to fight with ourselves. Over the past two matches, we’ve not played like the real Castres Olympique.”
Coaching call
Cameron Woki’s immediate return to the Racing 92 squad for Sunday evening’s 20-6 win over Toulon after he was released by France midweek has prompted something of a polemic.
You can’t necessarily blame Stuart Lancaster for selecting one of his key players when he becomes free, but the manner of Woki’s sudden availability raised eyebrows across the halfway line at La Defense Arena.
France had wanted to keep Woki as one of five standby squad members, in case of injury or illness. But, when he was told that he wasn’t in the matchday 23, Woki requested he be released for what was a crucial Top 14 match – Racing had picked up no points in their five previous matches to slip from first to sixth. For a while this weekend, they even fell out of the post-season play-off zone altogether.
Woki’s negotiated release meant Fabien Galthie had to retain another player on standby for the match against Wales in Cardiff. He decided to keep hold of Toulon backrow Esteban Abadie, who would – but for Woki’s approved request – have been released and would probably have made Toulon’s 23 for the same match.
Talking point
Less of a talking point, more of a person of interest, if we’re being strictly accurate.
Munster’s Franco-Irish centre Antoine Frisch – whose route to the international door has been, shall we say, non-traditional – has generated plenty of column inches since he was called up to France’s training camp ahead of the final round of the Six Nations, alongside returnees Woki, Emilien Gailleton, Antoine Hastoy, Dany Priso and Posolo Tuilagi.
It’s not the first time Galthie has tried to coax Frisch – who learned his rugby in France, playing for Tarbes, Stade Francais, Massy and Rouen before moving to Bristol, where he played alongside Salesi Piutau and Semi Radradra, then to URC champions Munster – into the French international rugby fold.
“We have been following him for a long time,” Galthie said of Frisch’s call-up as a replacement for the injured Pierre-Louis Barassi. “[He] has had a string of good performances with Munster since the start of the season. He will therefore join us to prepare for the match against England.”
His positional versatility – he played at fly-half in his Stade Francais years as well for the Barbarians against Samoa last summer, and has played once at fullback for Rouen, makes him a player of interest for Galthie, who likes his backs to be multi-positional.
It’s not outlandish to imagine Frisch getting a first international cap against England in Lyon. But France aren’t short of stocks at centre: behind Six Nations first-choice duo Gael Fickou and Jonathan Danty, Gailleton, Nicolas Depoortere, Yoram Moefana, and Pierre-Louis Barassi have all been in training camps this year, while Arthur Vincent heads a list of centres who have fallen off the immediate reckoning.
Table
With seven rounds of the Top 14 regular season to go – interspersed with Champions and Challenge Cup matches – the table looks like this:
Image: Top 14 / LNR
The French top-flight is on hiatus next week, to allow Six Nations’ Super Saturday a free run at French rugby fans. All being well, I’ll be back doing this the following week – and I hope to be able to start something uncannily similar for the ProD2, though that might have to wait until next season.
My name is James Harrington. I’m a freelance sports journalist, writing mostly about French club and international rugby. If, after reading this, you feel the urge to commission me for match previews, reviews, articles, news, features, interviews, live blogs, feel free to contact me
And, please read my weekly French rugby column in The Rugby Paper every Sunday. And I also round-up all the weekend’s Top 14 action on the Irish Examiner website.
James Harrington: Rugby writer and freelance sports journalist 
James Harrington: Rugby writer and freelance sports journalist
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