Toulouse and Clermont both won convincingly in the Top 14, a week ahead of their respective Champions Cup and Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Results
Toulouse, frankly, looked ominously good against Racing 92 – especially when Antoine Dupont came on in the second half. They are the only side unbeaten at home this season, and meet Harlequins in the Champions Cup semi-final at the officially neutral Stadium Toulouse next Sunday.
Clermont’s match against leaders Stade Francais was brought forward 24 hours to Saturday night, to give them extra time to prepare for their Challenge Cup semi-final against Stormers at The Stoop.
And, with forgotten France winger Alivereti Raka scoring a hat-trick, Christophe Urios’s side played like a side in the running for qualification to the good post-season play-offs rather than one looking to avoid the bad Top 14 survival match against the losing ProD2 championship finalists.
They were helped, no doubt, by Stade back row Tanginoa Halaifonua’s 26th-minute red card. But six tries in a bonus-point 41-18 win, which saw them put eight points between themselves and 13th-placed Montpellier, leaves their domestic future firmly in their own hands, while the back door to next season’s Champions Cup is still very much open.
Elsewhere, Bayonne lost a Top 14 match at Jean Dauger for the first time since they returned to the upper echelon of the French championship, Oyonnax won a domestic match in 2024 for the first time and…
Match of the weekend
Montpellier 20 – Perpignan 25
By Montpellier manager Patrice Collazo’s count, Montpellier – 13th in the table, with four matches left close the five-point gap on Bayonne – were 10 points shy of where they should have been at the end of the first half alone.
Given Montpellier 10-5 up at the end of a messy opening period in front of the first sell-out crowd at the GGL Stadium since April 2022, and 17-5 ahead after George Bridge’s try in the 46th minute, moments after a Jan Serfontein effort was disallowed, it was easy to believe much-needed league points were theirs for the taking.
In truth, the tide was already turning. Collazo was right to be concerned that Montpellier hadn’t done enough in the first period. Perpignan’s Lucas Dubois stopped one last attack under the posts with the final play of the first-half, and Perpignan – roared on by some 4,000 visiting fans – believed. The home side, clearly, didn’t.
Confidence matters. Perpignan were looking for their fifth win in a row; Montpellier were desperate to avoid a fourth defeat on the bounce. And, 40 undisciplined minutes later, Montpellier paid the price.
Baptiste Chalureau and Florian Verhaeghe were both carded, leaving the home side down a player for 20 crucial minutes, in which the Catalans scored two converted tries and a penalty, and take a lead they would never lose.
Franck Azema cannot pretend any more. Perpignan, briefly in the top six this weekend, have the play-offs in their sights.
Individual performance
Matthieu Jalibert. Bordeaux’s fly-half is, rightly, lauded for his attacking instincts, his ability to turn a match with a break, a chip ahead, a moment of magic.
And, in fairness, he showed off precisely these skills as Bordeaux emphatically ended Bayonne’s proud 27-month unbeaten Top 14 run at fortress Jean Dauger. He was, for example, key to both Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s tries.
But sometimes it’s the bread-and-butter stuff that stands out. In a first-half played under prolonged and heavy April rain, Jalibert did the calm game-management stuff that he’s not noted for. His smart, sensible – and, yes, boring – kicking game kept Bayonne at arm’s length.
You could tell he was doing it right. He earned the ire of the crowd. And, afterwards, the praise of halfback partner Maxime Lucu: “In the first half, we knew that the quality of our kicking would be crucial. [He] … did what was needed.”
Flop
Castres Olympique. What can you say when, 10 minutes into the second period, you’re 12 points to the good, dominating possession and territory and apparently cruising against the bottom-of-the-table side, who haven’t won a Top 14 game in 2024, then concede two tries in three minutes after your tighthead prop is sent off for elbowing a defender in the throat, before your scrum-half also sees red for a reckless tackle leaving you to play the final quarter with 13, and then – remarkably – you’re somehow still in the game in the closing seconds and a lineout 5m from their line goes awry and your replacement tighthead concedes a crucial penalty allowing your opponents to clear their lines?
Perhaps it’s best to leave it to those involved, rather than put words in their mouths.
Castres’ winger Nathanael Hulleu had to field pitchside questions straight after the match. He said: “You can’t take two reds if you want to play in the top six, especially away from home against a hungry Oyonnax team. We had the game in hand, we let ourselves down. We had a very good first half … when we got into their half, we scored.
“I don’t know what happened in the second half … We got a card, then a second one … and that puts them back in the game and the game turns at that point.”
Captain Mathieu Babillot had a little more time to think before speaking to reporters in the press room. He said: “We’re not going to make excuses, we’re the only ones responsible. That first red card hurt us. From then on, we found ourselves in a tight spot just when we had the opportunity to take the lead.”
And manager Jeremy Davidson, the day before his 50th birthday, added: “We need to look in the mirror. To win, we should have been more effective in the first half, but also more disciplined.
“We played with intensity but lacked precision … the two red cards totally changed the game. In attack, at the end of the match, we were unable to break through their curtain with 13 against 15. I was also disappointed with our scrum, which conceded the penalty that allowed Oyonnax to take the lead.”
We’ll leave it, there. But it’s probably fair to say the dressing room talk was rather more … blunt.
Coaching call
Toulon coach Pierre Mignoni made extensive changes to his squad for Sunday night’s match at La Rochelle from the one that had beaten Toulouse in Marseille the previous week.
He insisted the team he put out at Stade Marcel Deflandre may have been very different, but was no weaker than the one that took to the Velodrome pitch. “[The] guys train very well,” he said, “there isn’t a three-class gap, let’s be very clear about that. These players have a real opportunity.
“I know they will fight and defend the jersey at 200%. They’re ready and determined. I have every confidence in this group.”
In the end, Toulon lost 27-17. In truth, the margin could, probably should, have been greater, as La Rochelle made heavy weather of their dominance. The French rugby press, Canal and both clubs will insist it was a close, hard-fought affair.
It was hard-fought, for sure, but it was hardly close. Away from the media, Toulon will admit that they were second best, and flattered somewhat by the scoreboard.
Which adds a little poignant weight on these pre-match Mignoni words: “It’s time for some players to show they’re hungry. We’re doing this because these players deserve it. If they don’t take advantage of this chance, that’s a mistake on my part. But we need this internal competitiveness for our end of season.”
Toulon – looking to reach the play-offs for the first time since 2018 – dropped to sixth in the table after their La Rochelle reverse, two points above seventh-placed Perpignan and five ahead of Pau, in ninth. It remains to be seen whether Mignoni’s decision here will prove costly in the longer term. They have four matches to retain their top six place.
Talking point
It has been an up-and-down season – at best – for two-time Champions Cup winners La Rochelle, whose ambitions of a hat-trick of pan-competition titles disappeared earlier this month in Dublin, a city where the dreams of so many top-flight rugby clubs go to die.
A first-ever Top 14 title, however, remains a possibility. Ronan O’Gara’s side are fifth in the table, carried into the play-off places by the most miserly defence in the league, even if their attack has been hit-and-miss this season under new coach Remi Tales. Attacking philosophies can take time to bed in.
Sunday night’s win over Toulon was another step to the play-off promised land. But it wasn’t all good news. At various times this season, La Rochelle’s infirmary has fairly bustled with activity.
It had, however, seemed the worst was over, with Pierre Bourgarit, Georges-Henri Colombe, Thierry Paiva and Thomas Berjon all expected to be in the reckoning for the trip to Bordeaux on May 11.
But Ultan Dillane, Paul Boudehent and Terry Iribaren all picked up injuries against Toulon – and O’Gara and his staff face a nervous wait on medical assessments to see how long they will be unavailable.
O’Gara has repeatedly said that the only time form matters is at the business end of the season. So does fitness, and losing key players in key positions will make it more difficult to reach a second successive Top 14 final.
Quote of the week
“I’m not going to think about a game in June when I’ve still got four games to play, unless we get a fax from the league saying we’ve got to play now.
“Do you know where you’ll be in seven weeks’ time? I don’t know either. We need to recover, take stock, find the solution and work on what we’ve been missing.”
Montpellier manager Patrice Collazo – on the day of his 50th birthday – refused to consider the possibility of a survival play-off, after the 25-20 defeat at home to Perpignan rooted them in the relegation play-off place, five points adrift of Bayonne, in 12th
Table
Four rounds of the regular season to go, and there’s still plenty to play for.
Oyonnax’s faint shot at survival is slightly brighter than it was on the other side of the weekend, but they remain strong favourites to finish bottom of the table and return to the ProD2 after just one season in the Top 14.
Lyon and Clermont made what look like crucial moves away from Montpellier, in the relegation play-off place, leaving Bayonne looking nervously over their shoulder.
At the upper end of the table, Stade Francais and Toulouse all but have the automatic semi-final places sewn-up, while Bordeaux and Racing 92 seem best value for the play-offs. The question is whether they’ll be at home or have to travel. But, Pau, in ninth, aren’t out of the hunt quite yet.
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: Freelance sports journalist 