Top 14 clubs ran in 50 tries at the weekend to set a new season touchdown record, on the 23rd round of the campaign. The week’s points total soared to 406, at an impressive average of 58 points per match.
Despite the high totals, bonus points were few and far between this week. Montpellier picked up a losing bonus, while Bordeaux and Toulouse were the only sides to score at least three tries more than their opponents.
Here are the top five scores, according to the league.
#TOP14 – J23 🎥 Découvre le classement des plus beaux essais de la journée !
Perpignan’s run up the table stalled; Racing 92 slipped up in Auxerre; La Rochelle cling on to the last of the play-off places after a night to forget, and Montpellier snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. It was a good week for Bordeaux and Toulouse, but Castres’ coach Jeremy Davidson’s admission that their victory “wasn’t good for the heart” may well go down as an understatement.
Stade Francais’ flight to Toulouse for Sunday night’s Clasico, meanwhile, had ended in drama. An investigation has opened after an ‘anomaly on the landing gear position indicator’ triggered an emergency landing procedure.
⚠️ Incident de l'avion @embraer#ERJ170 F-HBXI @AirFranceFR#HOP survenu le 11/05/24 à @aeroport_tls / Anomalie sur l'indicateur de position du train d'atterrissage, message de détresse, atterrissage avec l'alarme / Ouverture d'une enquête / 4 enquêteurs sur site hier. pic.twitter.com/HoKXJHJglf
Plenty of choice, this week, as there were some cracking matches. Castres-Montpellier, for example, was a nerve-shredder for fans of either side, while Clermont’s Challenge Cup run-renewed confidence was on show for all to see at Perpignan.
But an utterly ridiculous eight-try family affair kicked off the weekend in Auxerre – where Racing have decamped for the remainder of the season because Taylor Swift and the Olympic Games’ organisers have baggsed La Defense Arena for now.
Seven of the eight tries came in the first half. Josua Tuisova scored 25 seconds into his long-awaited Racing debut after recovering from his World Cup injury.
Tuisova n’aura eu besoin que de 25 secondes pour inscrire son premier essai sous le maillot ciel et blanc du @racing92 ⏩
Gael Fickou scored two – his first came five minutes after Tuisova’s opener. Auxerre’s favourite rugby son Camille Chat also scored as Stuart Lancaster’s side raced into a 21-7 lead inside 23 minutes.
But then former Racing hero Maxime Machenaud scored twice in two minutes, to level matters after Bayonne fullback Tom Spring – brother of Racing’s starting 15 Max – had got the visitors on the board.
And then, on 38 minutes, Bayonne threw caution, and sense, to the wind, Guillaume Martocq running in a 100m touchdown from a scrum on their own line. It was breathless, brilliant stuff.
Nos 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫 🌟 Vous avez été géniaux cet après midi, merci à tous.
The second-half was somewhat quieter – Fickou’s second try after 49 minutes and two Camille Lopez penalties were the only movements on the scoreboard. But, after the opening 40, it was something of a relief…
Damian Penaud. Who else? The France winger had one of those Saturday nights, as Bordeaux beat La Rochelle 34-14 to be crowned “kings of the Atlantic” by Midi Olympique’s splash writer, as his rookie season at Chaban-Delmas goes from good to better to brilliant.
He made a complete mess of La Rochelle’s scrambling defence for Yoram Moefana’s try, set up the brilliant end-to-end score for Louis Bielle-Biarrey with a quick tap penalty on Bordeaux’s own 5m line, and finished an even more dramatic one in the second half, chasing down Matthieu Jalibert’s long hoof upfield, and beating Gregory Alldritt to the ball in the visitors’ in-goal area.
It’s hard to choose the best catastrophe adjective to describe Montpellier’s season. They all fit so well. With three rounds to go, they are stuck in 13th, the survival play-off place, seven points behind 12th-placed Lyon.
This club boasts a €30million operating [not playing] budget – more than that of higher-ranked sides Pau, Castres, Bayonne and Perpignan, and getting on for double that of the only side below them in the table, Oyonnax.
And, there are 24 internationals on the senior squad, as former sporting director Philippe Saint-Andre mentioned this week as he slapped a broadside return at current holder of his position, Bernard Laporte.
On Saturday afternoon, they were 10 points up at Castres after 18 minutes, and – after the home side had briefly levelled the scores before halftime – 10 points up again after 42 minutes, and lost 27-26.
And they really should have been further ahead. Leo Coly, who started at scrum-half and moved out to fly-half when Cobus Reinach came on at the end of the first-half, missed two conversions, a penalty, and fired what would probably have been the match-winning drop kick wide.
Gavin Mortimer had a bash at explaining the long-running malaise at Montpellier for RugbyPass Plus. I’m not entirely certain he got it all – Mohed Altrad has already spoken about the possibility of a relegation play-off. But there’s very definitely something rotten in the state of MHR.
Coaching call
Keeping Antoine Dupont on the bench is … ballsy? Selecting him and then not playing him could be argued as being a waste of squad space.
But Paul Graou has rapidly turned into the dream understudy to the world’s best scrum-half at Toulouse. So much so that, in Sunday night’s ‘Clasico’ against Stade Francais at Ernest Wallon, Dupont ultimately wasn’t needed – and had to watch his team-mates win 49-18 to climb to the top of the table.
— Stade Toulousain (@StadeToulousain) May 13, 2024
Head coach Ugo Mola swapped around a large portion of his squad with one eye on the Champions Cup final against Leinster in London on May 25.
Romain Ntamack and Paul Costes were among those spared getting changed out of civvies altogether. Dupont, meanwhile, made up one-eighth of a high-talent bench, sitting alongside Francois Cros, Emmanuel Meafou and Peato Mauvaka.
— Stade Toulousain (@StadeToulousain) May 12, 2024
And he just sat there. Getting more and more frustrated. Toulouse are at Montpellier next weekend – what are the odds on him getting more rest, and even more frustrated, next weekend, ahead of the trip to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?
Talking point
Canal Plus’s hot-take outrage merchant Richard Dourthe created a polemic in a teacup over Jalibert’s ‘goading’ of Gregory Alldritt after Damian Penaud’s try in Bordeaux’s win over La Rochelle on Sunday.
Forget that. A rub on the head, a pat on the chest and a few choice words – from an excitable boy who has form for getting carried away – aren’t worthy of brouhaha that followed.
The bigger issue was at Stade Aime Giral, where Perpignan lost to Clermont, bringing a five-match winning streak – and a nine-game home run – to a screeching halt. Referee Jeremy Rozier, who comes from Clermont-Ferrand, was escorted off the pitch after the match, with home fans unimpressed by the yellow cards he showed to their local heroes in the 57th, 70th and 79th minutes.
The boos started after the first card, and got worse as Perpignan conceded two tries in the last 10 minutes, giving up a 28-18 lead to lose 28-35.
Franck Azema was quick to condemn the abuse from the stands. “I don’t know what there is to say about refereeing,” he said of the fans’ outrage immediately afterwards. “It’s inappropriate. I hope nobody hides behind this.”
And he later apologised again in an interview with radio station France Bleu, with the club certain to be summoned to a disciplinary hearing that almost certainly will lead to a fine, and could even mean the club has to play a match behind closed doors. “We can have fervour, enthusiasm and passion, but not in this way.”
He went on: “The referee makes decisions, it’s not easy, there’s a lot of pressure at Aime Giral. He made a few mistakes, yes. But, first and foremost, we were the ones at fault. We’ve talked about it among ourselves and we’ll have to put things right.”
Quote of the week
“To be called a crook by Bernard Laporte, I take that as a compliment.”
Montpellier’s former sporting director Saint-Andre, who has been linked with an overarching role at Lyon in recent weeks, responded to his successor’s comments about the make-up of the Montpellier squad this season.
Laporte had said: “This team is completely unbalanced – whoever built this team is a crook . I’ve always said it, it’s unacceptable, because we’re paying for it.”
Saint-Andre shot back: “There are 24 internationals in the squad, including 12 Frenchmen. There were 26 before, but … Bernard Laporte chose to let go of Henry Thomas, French champion with us in 2022 [as well as] Tolu Latu, an Australian international who left for La Rochelle, and Paolo Garbisi … who, in my opinion, is one of the best fly-halves in Europe.”
Table
Toulouse climbed above Stade Francais to claim top spot with three rounds of the season remaining, but the real battles are further down the standings.
La Rochelle are hanging on to the sixth and final play-off spot, with Pau, Castres, and Perpignan chasing hard – perhaps even Clermont have an outside shot.
Despite their loss at Toulon, 12th-place Lyon have a seven-point cushion on Montpellier, and host a hurting Racing 92 next weekend at fortress Gerland.
On continue d'avancer, 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞 ✊
📸 Découvrez les plus belles photos de notre victoire face à Lyon 👇
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.
Even so, some sides – looking at you, Racing 92, Bordeaux, and La Rochelle – have more difficult run-ins, and while the top-six positions they hold are theirs to lose, it’s not entirely outlandish to ask whether it could happen.
Results
Some big results this weekend. A much-changed Toulouse lost by a single point against Toulon in front of 61,984 fans at Marseille’s Velodrome.
“We told ourselves before the match that we had to believe in ourselves. The match scenario was easy to read, even before kick-off,” Castres’ centre Adrien Seguret told reporters after his side had ended a five-match losing streak on Saturday.
“We told ourselves we had to stay united and not doubt we could win, beat La Rochelle. [When they scored their] last try, we got together and no one panicked – we knew we were going to have time to get back in front.”
Using Seguret’s logic, there could have been only around 23 people – all of them players wearing blue shirts – out of more than 12,000 at Stade Pierre Fabre not panicking as a nerve-shredder of a match headed to its conclusion.
Hugo Reus converted Jules Favre’s try, La Rochelle’s third and final score, in the 71st minute, taking the score to 24-20 in their favour, four minutes after Julien Dumora had converted Nathanael Hulleu’s touchdown.
It had been that sort of lead-swapping afternoon in darkest Tarn – a day of ifs and buts: if Castres had been less hot-headed, they would have won more easily; if high penalty count La Rochelle had been more disciplined, they could have taken home more than a losing bonus. There was almost no way it was going to be the final act.
It wasn’t. Hulleu popped up again, on the opposite wing, to score what would be the decisive try, six minutes from time. And two crucial won penalties later, Castres gratefully nudged a lineout ball into touch for the points.
Individual performance
Damian Penaud. There’s a certain amount of magpie-ism here, admittedly. Perpignan back row Jaco van Tonder put in yet another god-tier performance as the Catalans beat Lyon 51-20 to continue their staggering run of form, while retiring Sam Whitelock reminded everyone why he’s a genuine legend with a top-drawer performance as Pau got the better of Montpellier.
But it’s impossible not to notice something as eye-catching as Penaud’s performance against his former club. He scored three and made one of their five tries with a spiralling arcing pass for Madosh Tambwe, as Bordeaux put a frankly miserable Clermont to the sword in front of 28,666 fans at Stade Chaban Delmas.
It was one-way traffic pretty much from start to finish. Penaud’s stats (below) were just the start of it.
🤯 Les chiffres hallucinants de la performance de Damian Penaud ce soir dans la victoire de l'UBB contre Clermont (41-7) :
Un triplé, 3 franchissements, 7 défenseurs battus mais surtout … 204 mètres parcourus ballon en main 😳
While we’re magpieing, a nod, too, for team-mate Louis Bielle-Biarrey. Penaud’s hat-trick came in the 79th minute, moments after the 20-year-old France international, on as a replacement, had stopped Baptiste Jauneau scoring the try that would have denied Bordeaux a try-scoring bonus.
Spoiler: This sequence ends in a try. Just not, necessarily, how you'd expect… though there is a certain inevitability about it https://t.co/IvOcIUMaN5
Clermont. Again. Their 26-10 loss at Racing on the other side of the first two knockout rounds of the Challenge Cup had already earned them a first flop title. That was the unfortunate result of an abject performance. Two in as many Top 14 rounds starts to look a lot like … a problem.
There had to be some hope that their dominant quarter-final win over Ulster was something of a turning point. But, it turns out it wasn’t. They didn’t even bother the scoreboard at Bordeaux on Sunday until 10 minutes before the end of the match.
“We wanted to show our true face and it wasn’t that,” distraught young captain Jauneau told reporters. “In the second half we hardly saw the ball and when we got it we didn’t know what to do with it. We have to face the truth … forget this match and switch to the [next] one [on Saturday] against Stade Francais.”
Yes, injuries aren’t helping Clermont – Daniel Bibi Biziwu and Alivereti Raka will be looking for seats in an already busy infirmary following Sunday’s match. And, yes, Christophe Urios rotated his squad after the Ulster success.
But it’s impossible to ignore how easily – for a given Top 14-measured value of ‘easy’ – Bordeaux dominated the match. They were streets ahead on every possible metric. The scoreboard was just the obvious one.
For 40 minutes, Stade Francais were on the wrong end of a shoeing by Bayonne at Stade Jean Bouin.
The Paris club have built their Top 14 challenge on impenetrable defence, to make up for an attack that’s a little crude and the second-worst in the championship, ahead only of Montpellier’s. But, for 40 glorious minutes, if you’re a Bayonne fan, it was ripped to shreds. The Basque side scored three, and had another disallowed, while Stade’s vaunted defence was, apparently, still in the dressing room.
Franchement, regardez à partir de 2:34 😅 📺 𝗟𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁 de Paris / Bayonne ⤵️#SFPAB | 2️⃣8️⃣-2️⃣4️⃣ | @SUPPLYWEB
Head coach Karim Ghezal had to act. And, in the 29th minute, he did. He took off prop Sergo Abramishvili, lock Tanginoa Halaifonua, and – on his birthday – backrow Sekou Macalou. It was, clearly, a statement decision. A warning to the squad.
At halftime, 24-7 down the message was rammed home in the Stade Francais dressing room. According to reports, Ghezal made it perfectly clear that he would have swapped out the entire team if he could.
Cue a 21-point reversal of fortune, with Macalou coming back on towards the end to play a key role in winning the ball that led to Giovanni Habel-Kuffner – who had replaced him in the first half, and who will join Bayonne in the summer – scoring the match-winning try in the 82nd minute.
Talking point
We need to talk about Perpignan. Four matches into the season, the Catalans were bottom of the pile, with four defeats, and had shipped 165 points in the process.
Now, 17 rounds later, they’re ninth in the table, on 49 points, one of six sides to have scored 500 points or more in this Top 14 campaign. Only Stade Francais have picked up more league points over the same period.
Franck Azema and his mostly inherited staff will tell anyone who cares to listen that their priority this season was avoiding another relegation play-off. But, and despite the manager’s protestations – “When I hear talk of the play-offs, it’s circus,” he said in an interview with Rugbyrama last week – it’s now impossible to ignore the fact that Perpignan have a shot at the play-off phase, and that they could be involved in the Champions Cup next season.
Azema’s taking careful steps. Perpignan have already signed six players for next season, but he reckons he needs a scrum-half, a back-three player, a dual-sided lock and a back row to round out his squad. Given that Perpignan are, suddenly, looking like a viable Top 14 side again, he should have little trouble finding them.
Quote of the week
“Everyone finds their motivation in their own way. For me, it’s obvious – I hate those bastards on the bench!”
Bordeaux’s Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer as he rallied his side before their match against Clermont on Sunday. Was he making reference to former coaches Christophe Urios, Frederic Charrier, and Julien Laïrle, who are now in charge at Stade Marcel Michelin?
Table
At the wrong end of the log, basement side Oyonnax haven’t won a domestic match since December 29, and clawing back the 12 points to nearest rivals Montpellier is, despite being a theoretical possibility, surely too much of an ask.
Bayonne, Lyon, Clermont and Montpellier, meanwhile, are all scrapping to avoid finishing in 13th place – the relegation play-off spot.
At the top of the pile, the automatic semi-final places for finishing in the top two are Stade Francais’ and Toulouse’s to, erm, lose. Racing 92 look to all-but have a ‘home’ barrage in the bag, though their end-of-season travels and stadium shift add a note of uncertainty.
But every team down to ninth-place Castres, on 49 points, can still dream of the play-offs. Champions Cup places, too – where coaches’, fans’ and pundits’ calculations are at the same time simplified and made more difficult by the continued presence of Clermont in the Challenge Cup equation.
How long that interest lasts remains to be seen – next weekend’s match against Stade Francais could have a huge bearing on Christophe Urios’s planning for the semi-final against Sharks at The Stoop on May 4.
Anyway, here’s the latest Top 14 table. Things are fracturing a little bit.
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.
With the Champions and Challenge Cup competitions now down to their final four, focus in France switches back to domestic rugby and the Top 14 run-in, where things are far from clear
Six rounds of the regular Top 14 season remain. And it seems that Stade Francais and Toulouse have the automatic semi-final places sewn up. At the other end of the table, Oyonnax, promoted as ProD2 champions, appear set to return to the second-tier after just one season.
These are the current standings, after 20 matches:
With the highly likely exceptions of the top two and the bottom one, the rest of the table is in flux. At this stage, any side as far down as Perpignan, in ninth, may well make the play-offs – even for 12th-placed Lyon, it’s not beyond dreaming if quite in the realms of reckoning. On the other hand, any side as far up as Pau, in seventh, could – in theory – end the campaign in the relegation play-off spot currently occupied by Montpellier.
Here, in league order after 20 rounds of the season, with six remaining, a closer look at each team’s prospects at the start of the closing sprint of the Top 14’s regular season.
Stade Francais’ coaches have plans in place to maintain players’ match-readiness during a stop-start run-in caused by their failure to reach the knockout phase of the Champions Cup.
We’ll get a first-look at how their plans are panning out when they meet Bayonne this weekend, as the Top 14 returns for a two-week run before the Champions and Challenge Cup semi-finals on the first weekend of May. They look pretty confident in training, though…
Then there’s another two week’s of the Top 14, a domestic break for finals weekend, and another couple of matches before the play-offs. Which, if Stade maintain their place in the top two, will mean another week off before the semi-finals in Bordeaux.
Their season so far has been built on and run by Paul Gustard’s defence. The coach was, temporarily, in overall charge of day-to-day first-team matters until Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal arrived after the Rugby World Cup – they, wisely, chose not to change a domestically winning, if generally fairly dull, formula.
Still, you can’t argue with success. The Parisians have won six of their 10 matches to date on the road, and have lost just once at home. Assuming they’ve got their planning right – and, in the Top 14 so far they haven’t got much wrong in results terms – Stade Francais will be in the top two in six rounds’ time, and have a bye to the semi-finals in Bordeaux.
Toulouse – 60 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Toulon (a), Racing 92 (h), Stade Français (h), Montpellier (a), La Rochelle (h), Lyon (a)
The odds on the end of May including a thoroughly mouthwatering Toulouse-Leinster Champions Cup final in London reduced dramatically at the weekend, after both sides made relatively light work of their quarter-final opponents at the weekend. Yes, Northampton and Harlequins will have their say – but it’s really very hard to see past the number one and number two seeds in the competition.
Centre Paul Costes won the player-of-the-match award in Toulouse’s 64-26 win over Exeter at Stade Ernest Wallon on Sunday. The 21-year-old has a bright future in the game: probably the only thing that will prevent his selection for France’s July tour would be Toulouse also making the final of the Top 14.
— Stade Toulousain (English) (@STrugby_ENG) April 15, 2024
Crucially, Mola’s learned from the 2021/22 campaign – when his shattered Grand Slam stars were thrown straight back into the Top 14 and Champions Cup fray. They fell in the closing stages of each competition, out on their feet at the business end of the season – as La Rochelle were in Dublin on Saturday afternoon.
To handle their run-in, Toulouse recalled the promising twin-sided prop Marco Trauth from loan at Beziers as cover, after another called-back loanee, Paul Mallez, who has been with Provence this season, was injured. The reason? Tighthead stocks aren’t quite as fresh as they’d like them to be – he’s basically there to give Dorian Aldegheri and Joel Merkler a break.
With Paul Graou an effective and willing understudy to Antoine Dupont, and with Baptiste Germain in reserve, as well as multiple options in just about every position, Toulouse are about as well-placed as they could be to challenge for the double this season.
Two things could stop them. An unlikely off-day. Or Leinster.
Racing 92 – 52 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Oyonnax (a), Toulouse (a), Bayonne (h), Lyon (a), Pau (h), La Rochelle (a)
Stuart Lancaster’s Racing 92 are being tested to their limits this World Cup-affected season. They struggled in the Six Nations period – the coach then referenced the problems of missing key players, as their playing stock shortcomings were ruthlessly exposed.
There are, at the time of writing, nine players in the infirmary, including Springbok Siya Kolisi, who managed just 21 minutes in the Champions Cup round-of-16 defeat at Toulouse on his return from a hand injury, Nolan Le Garrec, Antoine Gibert, James Hall, Camille Chat and Ibrahim Diallo.
Some of them are expected back for the weekend’s trip to Oyonnax, but the coach was reduced to welcoming the now-empty weekends during the Champions Cup competitions as Racing’s focus switched entirely to the Top 14.
But, with four away matches in their last six – and their two remaining ‘home’ games moved to Auxerre because of a combination of Taylor Swift and Olympic Games’ preparation at La Defense Arena – the squad has an injury crisis to contend with.
🏟️ En parlant de ballon ovale, notre stade est passé en mode rugby cet après-midi pour tester l’installation des poteaux 🏉
The inconvenient truth is that Racing’s lack of depth has been shown up this season. Something they’re very much working on. This campaign is far from a write-off, but expect a stronger run in all competitions next season.
Toulon – 51 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Toulouse (h), La Rochelle (a), Lyon (h), Oyonnax (a), Clermont (h), Stade Français (a)
At the business end of a season best described as unsettled, Toulon are dangerously close to featuring in the play-offs for the first time since the 2017/18 campaign as they look forward to a big encounter in Marseille.
They were second in early November. By early March, they were eighth, following a run of three wins from 13 matches in all competitions – and the drums of discontent were beating loud in the Mayol stands, directed variously at the players, the coaches, the management.
Two big Top 14 wins later, they’re fourth, a home ‘barrage’ match in their hands. Finishing in the top six wouldn’t necessarily silence the critics in the crowds – six years of what one fans’ group branded ‘sporting nothingness’ following the takeover by parapharma magnate Bernard Lemaitre won’t be solved by a single post-season return – swallows and summers and all that. But it would give boss Pierre Mignoni some much-needed respite.
La Rochelle – 51 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Castres (a), Toulon (h), Bordeaux (a), Pau (h), Toulouse (a), Racing 92 (h)
Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle have no time to take stock after their Champions Cup quarter-final defeat to Leinster at the Aviva. They’re also smackbang in the middle of one of the tightest Top 14 run-ins in several years.
And they have a gap in their trophy cabinet to fill. A domestic one. La Rochelle may be two-time Champions Cup winners, but they have never been French champions.
“This kind of defeat in the quarter-finals, we have to accept it … We still remember last year’s failure (in the final against Toulouse) . The motivation is there. We have never won the Top 14, so the motivation will come back on its own.”
And the fact is, La Rochelle have been sub-par this season, by their expectations. Their Top 14 record is a thoroughly middling 10 wins, 10 losses, worse than sixth-place Bordeaux, the same as seventh-placed Pau and Perpignan, in ninth.
And yet, Ronan O’Gara’s side are fifth in the table, in the play-off places, courtesy of 11 bonus points – more than any other side in the French top flight. They’d be 12th without them. With the league average of seven points, they’d be seventh.
O’Gara has repeatedly said that form is most important at the business end of the season. That mantra will be tested to its fullest – starting this week – as his Rochelais’ side face arguably the most difficult Top 14 run-in of all the sides against opponents that all have various play-off ambitions of their own. His first squad selection will be particularly interesting – as he manages shattered bodies and tired minds to the end of the season.
Bordeaux – 49 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Clermont (h), Bayonne (a), La Rochelle (h), Stade Français (a), Perpignan (a), Oyonnax (h)
How Bordeaux react to their 42-41 Champions Cup defeat at home to Harlequins will be worth watching. Yes, Damian Penaud was in the stands, and Matthieu Jalibert was on watercarrying duty, but it’s probably safe to say that they were still thinking of the semi-finals before earning the right to do so.
Certainly Clermont, who fairly powered past Ulster in an unsubtly direct Challenge Cup quarter-final at Stade Marcel Michelin earlier the same Saturday afternoon, will have paid close attention to the manner in which the Premiership side dominated the scrum, and may be thinking of copying the template.
Like La Rochelle, one place above them in the Top 14 and also dumped out of the Champions Cup, Yannick Bru’s men will have to quickly digest that disappointment and learn from it.
“The energy and the state of mind of the guys are always very positive, it’s a strength,” Yannick Bru insisted after Saturday’s slightly surprising loss. “We can rely on that. But we saw red lights on in certain areas. We won’t be able to achieve our goals if we don’t correct them … We’ll find out if we’re really big boys when it comes to remobilising.”
Yeah. We will.
Pau – 46 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Montpellier (h), Lyon (a), Oyonnax (h), La Rochelle (a), Racing 92 (a), Perpignan (h)
Sebastien Piqueronies’ revolution at Pau continues – the coach’s genuine disappointment at the home defeat to Connacht in the Challenge Cup round-of-16 is testament to his ambition, as well as his youth-and-experience philosophy.
— Section Paloise Béarn Pyrénées (@SectionPaloise) April 11, 2024
There’s little wonder ProD2 neighbours Agen have fished the same source – France’s under-20 set-up – for their next manager, Sebastien Calvet.
Pau have never finished higher than eighth since Simon Mannix got them into the Top 14 in 2015. They’ve never had a better chance to break into the top half of the French top flight, with three very winnable home matches against league strugglers in their run-in, and points to get on the road, certainly at Lyon and Auxerre.
And All Black legend Sam Whitelock will want to go out on a high after announcing his retirement from rugby at the end of the season. He won’t be the only one at Stade du Hameau dreaming of a Top 14 play-off place, and setting off into the rugby sunset by sending his current club into virgin Champions Cup territory.
Castres – 45 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: La Rochelle (h), Oyonnax (a), Montpellier (h), Clermont (a), Stade Français (h), Bayonne (a)
Castres will be happy enough with dipping out of the Challenge Cup at Gloucester in the round-of-16. It was another defeat, yes, their fifth in a row. They weren’t embarrassed, however, and while they lost a quarter-final shot, they gained a week off to prepare for the stop-start final Top 14 stretch – while their first-up opponents when the Top 14 returns this weekend, La Rochelle, were in Dublin for that Champions Cup quarter-final.
That quarter-final break, brief though it was, could not have come at a more-important time for Castres. As recently as mid-February, they were third in the Top 14, but four domestic defeats on the bounce saw them drop out of the play-off places altogether, and reanimated zombie questions about their management – uncertainty over head coach Jeremy Davidson’s future; attack coach David Darricarrerre heading to Brive; lineout coach Yannick Cabellero and scrum coach Karena Wihongi out of contract at the end of the season; and performance director Vincent Giacobbi joining Clermont. Amid all this – president Pierre-Yves Revol has insisted Davidson will stay at least to 2025 – and on a run of eight Top 14 defeats in 11, Castres somehow need a strong run-in.
In a recent interview with L’Equipe, lock Tom Staniforth said: “I’m not worried, but we have to be careful … We must not stress or panic. We need to be clear and precise.”
After Perpignan’s thoroughly impressive 43-12 home win over Castres on the 20th weekend of the Top 14, manager Franck Azema insisted he, ‘didn’t care about looking [too far] ahead’.
“There is no risk of us getting carried away,” he insisted. “We will keep working in training and in every match to stay at this level … There are six matches left and we will do the accounts at the end.”
𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗼𝘀 : 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝟑🔥 Les joueurs de l'USAP viennent de terminer leur stage de préparation. Merci au @DomaineFalgos pour l'accueil chaleureux que vous nous avez réservé durant ces 3 jours. Place maintenant au TOP 14 et au LOU Rugby, J-8💥 pic.twitter.com/cEPB8ZmN4i
His one-game-at-a-time cliche is understandable. But, after two seasons of Top 14 survival play-offs, a shot at the top six is not beyond Perpignan’s reach. They’ve won eight of their past 11 matches to climb to within five points of sixth-place Bordeaux. It’s unlikely, but not entirely out of the question.
Bayonne – 43 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Stade Français (a), Bordeaux (h), Racing 92 (a), Perpignan (h), Oyonnax (a), Castres (h)
Should we really mention the difficult second season cliche in relation to Bayonne and manager Gregory Patat? By common agreement, they stormed their return to the Top 14 last season – seriously threatening to become the first side since Racing 92 to go promotion to play-off in a single season. In the end, they missed out on a top six finish, but they did qualify for a first-ever Champions Cup run.
That was last season, when they finished in eighth, with 58 points from their 26 matches. A similar points total looks very possible this time around. They could even end up with more.
But the truth is, after 20 rounds of last season, Bayonne had 50 points and were sixth in the table. They’re 10th and have seven points less this time around. So, yes, it’s a difficult second season. And they don’t have an easy run-in. Four – even five at a push – of their six final opponents have play-off ambitions. Three of them aren’t necessarily safe from the drop.
Clermont – 42 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Bordeaux (a), Stade Français (h), Perpignan (a), Castres (h), Toulon (a), Montpellier (h)
Clermont are busily disproving the adage about the inevitable fatality of hope. It’s not that long ago that they were competing and failing on multiple fronts every season. Now, for the most part, they’re not managing even that.
One morsel of ambition remains. The Challenge Cup. A backdoor incentive to next season’s Champions Cup. Clermont face a semi-final against URC side Sharks at The Stoop in early May.
But that dream presents its own problems. Clermont aren’t exactly safe from the relegation places. And their Top 14 future probably isn’t going to be much easier to read after the two matches – at a shell-shocked Bordeaux and against a rested Stade Francais – between now and that last-four encounter in London.
That quarter-final win over Ulster, however, could be a gateway drug to actual team-led Top 14 performances in the run-in. It was, by some distance, their best outing in 2024.
📽️On commence la semaine avec 𝟯 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙙𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙧 en regardant le résumé du 1/4 de finale de Challenge Cup face à l'Ulster samedi dernier au 𝙈𝙄𝘾𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙉 #YellowArmypic.twitter.com/iJfPBYitel
With three home matches to come, Clermont should be confident of Top 14 status next season. But it may be panic-stations if they lose to Stade Francais in a rescheduled Top 14 outing a week before the semi-final.
Lyon – 42 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Perpignan (a), Pau (h), Toulon (a), Racing 92 (h), Montpellier (a), Toulouse (h)
Fabien Gengenbacher’s Lyon had more pressing matters than a possible Champions Cup quarter-final when they headed to Loftus for their round-of-16 match against Bulls.
They’re four points above the Top 14 relegation play-off place, with six matches of the season to come, including what could be a decisive trip to 13th-placed Montpellier on the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
Their home form – they’ve won nine of 10 at Stade Gerland so far this season – should be enough to carry them through. But a cheeky first home win of the campaign wouldn’t go amiss, either. Their best target for four points on the road? That match against Montpellier. Some away bonus points would be welcome, too. Lyon have a grand total of one of those so far.
Montpellier owner Mohed Altrad has refused to even consider the possibility that the 2022 Top 14 champions could drop down to the ProD2, even though they are currently 13th in the table, the relegation play-off place.
In an interview with regional newspaper Midi Libre, Altrad skirted the catastrophic season at the GGL by admitting: “We have two possibilities of saving ourselves – the play-off match or by finishing 12th, so two chances.”
Success, then, is survival by any means. And Montpellier are prepared to flirt with a points deduction next season for averaging lower than French professional rugby’s required 16 JIFF-player minimum to do that. They currently average 15.55 JIFF players. It will be tight one way or the other, but – right now – staying in the Top 14 matters more than future points sanctions.
And Altrad is throwing next-season bones to the fans. Jam tomorrow, he’s promising. That’s how bad things are right now. He confirmed Hurricanes’ Joshua Moorby had agreed a deal to join Montpellier next season, alongside Billy Vunipola, Nicolas Martins, Elia Elia and Mohamed Haouas; while Madosh Tambwe is strongly rumoured to be leaving Bordeaux for the Herault.
Altrad also admitted that the club seriously considered bringing Mako Vunipola to the south of France, but decided against offering him a contract because of rules on non-JIFF players in wider squads.
Oyonnax – 26 points
Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Racing 92 (h), Castres (h), Pau (a), Toulon (h), Bayonne (h), Bordeaux (a)
If promoted ProD2 champions Oyonnax, off the pace at the foot of the table towards the end of their first season back in the French top flight, have a sniff of a chance of survival, it lies wholly in the fact that four of their remaining six Top 14 matches – and, therefore, 20 of the remaining 30 points available to them this season – are at home.
As it was at this stage with Brive last year – who were nine points adrift of Perpignan at the same point in the campaign – it’s not quite officially over for Oyonnax. That said, even if they win all their home matches with a bonus-point, 46 points doesn’t look like it will be enough this season. They need points away, too. And plenty of them.
Even if they’re not talking about it publicly, Oyonnax are planning for an immediate return to the ProD2. They’re bringing in players – such as Zack Holmes and Antoine Miquel, from Bordeaux – to start an immediate return offensive.
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 