Tag: rugby-union

Top 14 review: Perpignan party in Montpellier, as Toulouse fire Quins warning shot

Image: USAP / Twitter

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.

Image: LNR / Top 14 / Twitter

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. 

Image: LNR / Top 14 / Twitter

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.

Top 14 Review: Breaks in the field as season’s end looms

Big matches, big crowds, and big results on the 21st weekend of the Top 14 campaign

Image: USAP / Twitter

Five rounds of the regular Top 14 season remain – and fault lines are developing in the table as we enter the bird-in-the-hand phase of the campaign. 

Points in the bag are, increasingly, more useful now than points in potential; actual position sometimes more valuable than potential position. 

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. 

Clermont eased their minimum matchday JIFF quota concerns but little else, at Bordeaux, and Castres ended a five-match losing streak in dramatic style at home to La Rochelle.

Here are the scores from the 21st weekend of the 2023/2024 Top 14 season. 

Image: Top 14 / Twitter

Match of the weekend

Castres 25 La Rochelle 24

“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.

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.

Flop 

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.

Coaching call

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.

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.

Image: Top 14 / Twitter

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.

Top 14 run-in: Top-six sprint-finish starts here

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

Image: Oyonnax Rugby / Twitter

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:

Image: LNR / TOP 14 / TWITTER

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 Français – 63 points

Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Bayonne (h), Clermont (a), Toulouse (a), Bordeaux (h), Castres (a), Toulon (h)

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.” 

True enough. How, though?, is the key question.

Perpignan – 44 points

Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Lyon (h), Montpellier (a), Clermont (h), Bayonne (a), Bordeaux (h), Pau (a)

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.”

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. 

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 – 38 points

Remaining Top 14 fixtures: Pau (a), Perpignan (h), Castres (a), Toulouse (h), Lyon (h), Clermont (a)

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.

TOP 14 REVIEW: Plenty still to play for as Spring break arrives

James Harrington examines the state of play in French rugby’s Top 14, after the 20th round of the season

Image: RCT TOULON / TWITTER

Twenty rounds of the Top 14 season completed. Six to go, broken by the return of the Champions and Challenge Cup competitions. Domestic leagues go on hiatus now for two weeks to accommodate the round of 16 and the quarter-finals of the inter-league cup competitions. Then there are further breaks for the semi-finals and finals in May. 

Some clubs have a two-week break here; others may have a week off after next weekend’s cup ties; and a few will hope to run straight through to the return of the Top 14 on April 20.  

How clubs manage this stop-start period of the season will be nerdily interesting to watch. Stade Francais, for example, are out of the Champions Cup running, and have their plans in place to keep their players match-ready through the down periods they know are coming. 

Results

France’s second-tier ProD2 last week produced eight tense matches in which the sides were separated by less than a score. Only two Top 14 meetings at the weekend were as close – Stade Francais’ 12-10 win at Montpellier, and Toulouse’s rather more exciting come-from-behind 31-29 win over Pau. But every scoreline mattered…

Here are all the results from round 20 of the season.

Image: LNR / TOP 14 / TWITTER

Match of the weekend

Toulouse v Pau. Sebastien Piqueronies’ side became the first this season to head home from Stade Ernest Wallon with a point for their efforts. And – but for Matthis Lebel’s 78th-minute try – they would have left with the winner’s four-point share of the spoils.

Emilien Gailleton and Theo Attisogbe both shone as Pau gave better than they got for a large portion of the match.

Toulouse host Racing 92 next weekend in the Champions Cup round of 16. Antoine Dupont admitted afterwards that they had half-an-eye on that match, as they conspired to make life hard for themselves en route to winning a thoroughly entertaining nine-try encounter against a Pau side that were very much up for the challenge.

Dupont, meanwhile, didn’t provide a definitive answer to the question doing the rounds in French rugby circles: whether he’s better at nine or 10, as he played both roles in a relatively muted match by his standards. On the other hand, Romain Ntamack, returning off the bench after eight months out with injury, proved that Dupont is a better nine when he’s at 10… 

Individual performance

Baptiste Serin. One week after his 50-odd minute return from injury, French rugby’s forgotten petit general issued a reminder of his talents with a masterclass at Estadio Aneota, as Toulon beat Bayonne 46-10 to push their top six challenge. 

What’s absolutely astonishing is that the 29-year-old Serin has never featured in a Top 14 play-off match. Nothing’s still guaranteed but the odds of him breaking that record are shortening rapidly. Toulon suddenly looked like they could be challengers again…

Flop 

Clermont. Yes, Castres conceded seven tries between the 35th and 55th minute of what was a pretty definitively abject 43-12 loss at Perpignan. And Bayonne’s annual one-match relocation to San Sebastien may be good for ticket sales and the bank balance, but they’re not, so far, working on the pitch – they shipped 46 points in defeat to Toulon on Sunday night.

Clermont’s 26-10 loss at Racing seems almost pedestrian in comparison. Midi Olympique six-word description of Clermont’s performance pretty much summed it up: “general clumsiness, obvious fragility, crass helplessness”.  

The fact is, Clermont – with a strong squad at their disposal – wasted a prime opportunity at La Defense Arena. As manager Christophe Urios said: “Once again, the main feeling is frustration and disappointment. We dominated the match. We controlled everything in the first half, and it was more of the same in the second.”

Then, he explained why. “We leaked the first two tries too easily, but despite that, we dominated Racing. The problem is when you go behind the line three times and don’t score. It’s an area of the game that gives us problems.”

Scoring points – the literal goal of rugby – is a problem for Clermont. It’s why they’re down in 11th, level on points with Lyon, and just four points above the relegation play-off spot with six matches of the season remaining. 

The fact is they’re too easy to read. They’ve relied too heavily on Peceli Yato and George Moala for go-forward in attack, and a determined defence will stop even those two. 

Captain Baptiste Jauneau summed it up: “We dominated the match, but we attacked badly. It hurts to not pick up points, especially as we’re running out of time.”

This is the story of Clermont’s season. And it has to change. There’s little wonder fans are beyond frustrated. An open letter has called for changes from the top down, and questioned the management of not just Urios but also president Jean-Claude Pats.

Coaching call

As often as not coaching calls aren’t spectacular and aren’t made in the heat of the moment. While throwing on two up-and-coming players in teenage centre Simeli Daunivucu and 20-year-old backrow Oscar Jegou worked match-winning wonders for La Rochelle against Oyonnax, it’s impossible not to grudgingly admire how Stade Francais choked the life out of Montpellier to rack up their sixth Top 14 win on the road this season and their first at the GGL since 2008. That was a coaching call made on the training ground.

The 10-12 scoreline betrays a match that won’t go down in the annals, but it could easily be used as an object lesson in how to control a game. Because, and despite Laurent Labit’s call for more from his players in attack, it was a muted masterpiece with a scoreline that belies Stade’s dominance of … everything. 

Talking point

The return of Romain Ntamack. Some 231 days after he suffered an ACL injury in Saint-Etienne, Ntamack played 25 minutes against Pau on Saturday evening. 

And, the second time he touched a ball, towards the end of a close game that Toulouse were finding much harder than expected, he beat three defenders with a trademark break through the middle. We’ve missed that, in his absence. And it’s a joy to see that his knee appears to be in excellent nick.

As Lebel said of his team-mate’s return: “It wasn’t bad, was it? He’s a great player. If there’s one thing he’ll never lose, it’s his nose for rugby.”

And opposition coach Piqueronies, who coached Ntamack with France under-20s in 2018 observed, said, a little ruefully: “I would have preferred it if Ugo (Mola) had chosen to keep him back a little longer and give him fewer minutes… 

“Seriously though, I was delighted to see Romain back on the pitch, and that was the first thing I said to him before the match.”

Quote of the week

“It was very emotional … When I got to the stadium, I shed a few tears. To finish this match, was incredible. I know that tomorrow, a year from now, twenty years from now, I’ll talk about this match. I’m leaving this stadium with a lot of love and a lot of stories to tell.”

Juan Imhoff, after his final game for Racing 92 at La Defense Arena. The club will play their last two ‘home’ matches of the Top 14 season in Auxerre, while their usual venue first hosts singer Taylor Swift, and then is transformed to host the swimming competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Table

It was a week in which nine of the 14 positions in the table changed hands. Only Stade Francais, Toulouse, Lyon, Montpellier and Oyonnax remained locked into their positions in the top two and bottom three places respectively.

Here’s the table.

Image: LNR / TOP 14 / TWITTER

The awesome majesty of maths is keeping bottom-of-the-table Oyonnax’s survival hopes alive. There are six matches left – a possible 30 points up for grabs. It’s not done yet, officially. But they haven’t won a Top 14 match since the turn of the year, and they’re not going to win all of their last six. 

Meanwhile, Stade Francais – fresh from their sixth away win of the season, and with a two-week break in their calendar because of their earlier failure in the Champions Cup – and Toulouse look to have the automatic semi-final spots sewn up.

The battleground is everywhere in between. Every position between third and 13th is pretty much undecided. Crucially, that means five of seven play-off places – including the unwanted relegation play-off spot – are still firmly in play.

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.

TOP 14 REVIEW: Close encounters of the epic kind as Top 14 enters ‘Rumsfeld time’

Image: RCT / TWITTER

One-time US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld notoriously told journalists at a news briefing in February 2002: “There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

That’s the Top 14 right now, with seven rounds of the regular season, punctuated by Champions and Challenge Cup knockout rounds, remaining. We know a fair bit. There’s a lot we can extrapolate. But, with four points separating third from eighth; and 10th being as close to the play-offs as they are to relegation danger, there’s also a whole lot we have the square root of no idea about.

Welcome to Rumsfeld time.

Results

The weekend started with a rout, as Toulon – an unhappy ship, right now – put Montpellier to the sword at Stade Mayol. 

But there followed a series of very close matches, as Perpignan and Racing 92 bagged crucial away wins, Clermont returned to winning ways in an end-to-end eight-try match, while Bayonne rode their luck to survive a La Rochelle fightback, and Bordeaux and Toulouse played out one of the matches of the season. 

Here’s the full list of results.

Image: LNR / TOP 14 / TWITTER

Match of the weekend

Bordeaux v Toulouse. No contest, despite a weekend in which the sides in five of the weekend’s seven matches were separated by less than an unconverted try. 

The final game of the 19th round had plenty to live up to, after Castres-Racing, Oyonnax-Perpignan, and Clermont-Pau had set the tension bar high. But Bordeaux-Toulouse, in front of more than 42,000 fans at the Matmut Atlantique, turned things all the way up to 14. 

Nine tries; Bordeaux racing into a 17-0 and then a 24-7 lead; a debate over whether a deliberate knock-on 40m out should result in a penalty try; Toulouse fighting back to take charge at 28-24 with 15 minutes left; Bordeaux going ahead again in the 70th minute with a score in the corner that flirted dangerously with the touchline; then resisting repeated waves of Toulouse pressure to win 31-28. What’s not to like?

Individual performance

George Moala. Clermont were in a dark place following a run of three defeats and a draw heading into this weekend’s match against Pau at Stade Marcel Michelin. Senior players and staff had got together to find a way out of their current problems – and it seems to have worked. 

And Moala led the way, beating no fewer than 18 defenders in a superb individual performance, as Clermont recovered from a sluggish start to win 31-28.

Flop of the weekend

Look no further than Saturday’s opening match. 

No one’s ever going to pretend winning at Stade Mayol is easy. But Montpellier – on a run of four wins in a row, and seven in nine since the turn of the year – would have been in confident mood as they headed west along the Mediterranean coast to Toulon, where a mutinous mood among fans has reached febrile levels in recent weeks. 

Cue a 54-7 eight-tries-to-one hiding, in which Montpellier didn’t even trouble the scoreboard until an hour was on the clock – when Toulon were 33 points to the good.

Worse still for the 2022 Top 14 champions, results elsewhere, notably Perpignan’s 15-14 win at bottom-of-the-table Oyonnax, means that Montpellier drop to 13th, the relegation play-off place, with the visit of Stade Francais lined up next, followed by matches against Pau, Perpignan, Castres, Toulouse, Lyon and Clermont.

Coaching call

Like it, loathe it, be ambivalent towards it, rugby is a 23-a-side game. And Stade Francais’ replacements made all the difference when they came on in the second half of what had been a thoroughly dour arm wrestle of a match against Lyon at Stade Jean Bouin.  

Lyon led 6-0 when Karim Ghezal and Laurent Labit sent on the first batch of three subs 10 minutes into the second half. The score was 6-5 when they sent on three more replacements on the hour. And it finished 22-13. 

“They brought a lot of energy – they did a big job,” Ghezal said afterwards. 

Lyon lock Felix Lambey, too, recognised their impact. “Their bench was really dominant, especially in the scrum,” he said. “That’s what allowed them to get the better of us”.

Talking point

TMOs. As it was in the English Premiership, so it was in the Top 14 this weekend. In the first-half of Bordeaux-Toulouse, TMO Philippe Bonhoure comprehensively dismissed referee Adrien Marbot’s question as to whether a deliberate knock-on from Toulouse’s Paul Costes on the 40m line, preventing Damian Penaud from intercepting an Antoine Dupont pass, also merited a penalty try – “it’s 40 metres from the line. Penalty, yellow card, is fine,” he said.

For reference, the penalty try law reads: “A penalty try is awarded between the goal posts if foul play by the opposing team prevents a probable try from being scored, or scored in a more advantageous position. A player guilty of this must be cautioned and temporarily suspended or sent off. No conversion is attempted.”

Penaud would have had a lot of ground to cover. But he’s pretty rapid, and plenty of Toulouse players were clearly visible in the wide shot. There may be a question of how likely it was he could have hung on to the ball…

Then, in the 70th minute, Pierre Bochaton scored what turned out to be the match-winning try in the corner, having flirted with the touchline under an attempted tackle from Ahki. 

Referee Marbot trusted the decision of his assistant – who was close to the action – that the try was good. There would have been a discussion with the TMO, who clearly saw nothing to bring to the on-field referee’s attention.

Toulouse fans, however, may take exception to that…

Quote of the week

“I like it when people tell me he’s the best 9 – but he’s not bad at 10, either.”

Toulouse coach Ugo Mola after Antoine Dupont returned to club action following his sevens adventures in Vancouver and Los Angeles, coming on as a sub after just five minutes to play at fly-half

Table

So, 19 rounds down, seven to go. And this is how the Top 14 table looks.

Image: LNR / TOP 14 / TWITTER

Oyonnax have now gone eight games without a win in the Top 14 since the start of the year – they’re caught in the gravitational pull of relegation, and are surely in miracle territory if they are to escape. Saturday’s loss to Perpignan at home, their fifth defeat on their own turf in nine matches, leaves them 11 points adrift at the bottom of the table. And they’re at La Rochelle next weekend, while their three nearest rivals are all at home.

After La Rochelle, their run-in features matches at home against Racing 92, Toulon and Bayonne, and trips to Castres, Pau and Bordeaux. 

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.