Top 14 talking points: Cup knockout dress rehearsals
How France’s Top 14 sides got on in their last domestic game before the return of the Champions and Challenge Cups
Never mind the fact that there are now just six matches to go to the end of the regular Top 14 season. This was the weekend before the Champions and Challenge Cup knockout phases kick off.
It is always a weekend to watch closely, as internationals return to domestic action looking to rediscover some of their club timings and movements following the Six Nations, and coaches fine tune their squads for the tri-league competitions.
The top tries of French rugby’s 20th Top 14 weekend
This is how players and coaches thought they did.
First, though, here are the results:
Toulouse 45 - 29 Montpellier
Toulouse welcomed back several key French internationals back to their squad, naming Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, and Thomas Ramos on a teamsheet for a match at Stade Ernest Wallon for the first time in 14 months.
If it felt almost like a preseason game, that’s because it was as Toulouse put on a dress rehearsal for this weekend’s Champions Cup knockout game against Bristol Bears at Stadium Toulouse. It just happened to be against a side that started the weekend second in the Top 14, and who — in the end — were beaten comfortably enough, even without a try-scoring bonus. French league rules, remember?
Coach Jean Bouilhou was pretty blunt: “When we had the ball, we lacked the energy to break down this Montpellier team, who have a very strong defence. We did just enough in what was, all in all, a mediocre game.”
Starting scrum-half Paul Graou, recipient of Midi Olympique’s player-of-the-week ‘Oscar’ explained: “It was a comeback match for quite a few guys who have been on holiday or returning from the Six Nations. It’s about getting back into the swing of things together.
“The players who stayed [at the club] during the international break are used to it, but we need to rebuild our timing with returning players. This match will do us good for what’s to come.”
Castres 49 - 17 Montauban
A bonus-point win after three Top 14 defeats on the bounce to breathe fresh life into a stumbling campaign should be cause for celebration, right? Not really. “We’re aware we weren’t great,” captain Florent Vanverberghe admitted immediately after a rotated Castres had condemned basement club Montauban to another big defeat.
Head coach Xavier Sadourny was, perhaps, a little more positive after making several notable changes ahead of this week’s Champions Cup round-of-16 trip to last year’s losing finalists Northampton.
“It’s easy to lose confidence,” he said of Castres’ recent form, “but always difficult to regain it. Given the current context, our results, and all these changes in the team, it’s a good result.”
But they know that, at Franklin’s Gardens, they can’t be as generous with their penalties. Castres will look very different on Friday night — long-absent Louis Le Brun, who suffered an ACL injury early in the season, was added to their Champions Cup roster this week — but the age-old discipline issue remains the same.
Lyon 17 - 21 Bordeaux
Champions Cup holders and number one seeds Bordeaux warmed up for their round-of-16 match against Leicester at Stade Chaban Delmas with a targeted trip to Lyon. It nearly went very wrong, as they slipped from 14-0 up after 24 minutes to 17-14 down with six minutes left on the clock.
Then Ben Tameifuna happened from 5m out — “I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end,” winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey smiled after Bordeaux ended a four-game unbeaten run for Karim Ghezal’s Lyon.
Light-hearted asides apart, scrum coach Jean-Baptiste Poux expressed plenty of frustration: “We’re happy with the result, but in terms of performance, there are quite a few things to review.
“We prepared for this match with a very specific strategy. At the start of the game, we were on track, but then we fell apart a bit, lost our focus, and gave ourselves a real scare against a good Lyon team.”
And hooker Gaetan Barlot referenced the squad effort behind the win: “We’ve got a lot of players back, which is important for morale," continued hooker Gaëtan Barlot. “The bench made a huge effort when they came on, especially Ben Tameifuna, who’s been running rings around everyone… It really was 23 guys, maybe even 30, who beat Lyon.”
Pau 27 - 17 Racing 92
“Paradoxically, I was optimistic at halftime,” Pau hooker Lucas Rey said after his side had come from behind right at the death to ensure his 200th match was one to remember. “We had them under pressure, we had plenty of chances, and Racing seemed to be struggling.
“And even though they defended well — keeping us pinned high up the field and slowing down the play — we were fairly confident because we told ourselves that all wasn’t lost since they were really under pressure. But we just couldn’t score. It was frustrating.”
A 17-3 lead at halftime doesn’t sound a lot like struggling, but Racing genuinely were finding life difficult.
As Rey said: “We spent 77 percent of the time in their half; we had possession for 74 percent of the time. I thought we were quite dominant.”
It took Pau until the 79th minute to take the lead, when Luke Whitelock forced his way over. But then, Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang picked a contestable restart out of the air, and set-up Emilien Gailleton for one final touchdown.
Pau are at Zebre this weekend, having dropped down from the Champions Cup to the Challenge Cup.
Perpignan 36 - 20 Toulon
Lewis Ludlam dislocating his shoulder as he touched down for a try that pulled Toulon to within four points with 20 minutes to play shouldn’t be seen as a symbol of the three-time Champions Cup winners’ unfortunate dip in form a week out from their Champions Cup round-of-16 match against Stormers at Stade Mayol. But it will be.
Ludlam had been named captain 24 hours earlier after second row Dave Ribbans had to withdraw with a thigh injury, while backrow Esteban Abadie was ruled out midweek — with inevitable consequences for the visitors’ lineout.
They lost eight of 21 throw-ins and Ludlam’s exit, with the sides separated by a mere four points, effectively ended what was threatening to be a stirring comeback from 24-10 down at the break.
“We weren’t pushing each other, we had no energy … we needed to at least show some fight,” Mathis Ferte said afterwards,
while Pierre Mignoni added: “The team [has] lost confidence. It’s a difficult period — all clubs go through it, players have experienced it throughout their careers. It’s in these moments that you see what people are really like. We talk a lot about talent, but above all, you need heart.”
That fight, that heart needs to come quickly. Toulon, five matches from their last win, are at home to Stormers in the Champions Cup on Saturday. It looks a lot like their only hope of silverware this season.
Bayonne 26 - 15 La Rochelle
A defeat too far for La Rochelle’s top-six ambitions? Most likely. “We’ve taken a big blow, but there’s still hope,” coach Remi Tales insisted, adding in a comment that smacks of PR management, “The players gave everything. We can’t give up with six matches left.”
Worse, it was a match Ronan O’Gara’s side probably should have won.
Worse still, with a Challenge Cup trip to Newcastle Red Bulls next on the fixture list of a season that looks increasingly like a failure, they lost Levani Botia, Will Skelton or Davit Niniashvili to injury.
Frankly, though, this match — particularly the first half in San Sebastian — brimmed with wasted moments for the visitors. “Our inability to finish clinically … killed us,” Tales understated. “I don’t even know how many chances we created.”
It was a decent number, and a fair few were gifted by Bayonne, who had two players sin-binned and Rodrigo Bruni red-carded before the break.
Having failed to break away when the chances presented themselves, La Rochelle paid the price when they started shipping penalties — and two yellows of their own as the clocked ticked past the hour.
A 3-10 advantage at the break was reduced to 13-15 after 61 minutes, before two tries in two minutes for Bayonne fullback Cheikh Tiberghien settled the game. “We cracked,” captain Dillyn Leyds admitted. Yep.
Stade Francais 64 - 20 Clermont
“These five points feel great,” fullback Leo Barre said after Stade Francais ran in nine tries against Clermont on Sunday, including five in the last 10 minutes as Clermont’s defence fairly melted under Stade’s rapidly developing attacking confidence. “Now we can focus on the Challenge Cup.
“We set some objectives at the beginning of the season, and the Challenge Cup was one of them, so we’re going to give it our all.”
Which, given the current form of Paul Gustard’s side, should worry URC side Dragons.
Stade are seriously running on two fronts, rotating their squad sensibly and regularly. “We're going to continue in this direction,” Barre — at the end of an impressive personal performance — continued. “This season, regardless of the team or the rotations, every player brings something extra.
“Given the difficult season we had last year, we want to continue enjoying ourselves, and the Challenge Cup is part of that.”
It was, however, a major blow for visitors Clermont, who are hanging grimly on to the sixth and final play-off spot.
“A good thrashing can help us in the final sprint,” Clermont’s Baptiste Jauneau said, trying to paint a positive picture of a pig of a performance. “But we're upset. I’m really gutted — it hurts to concede 60 points. But we’ll see if we can turn things around in the next few matches."
A couple of weeks without rugby, now, won’t hurt.
The Champions and Challenge Cup round of 16 and quarter-finals take centre stage for the next fortnight. But, when the Top 14 returns on April 18 and 19, it’s the Fan Days weekend — which means lots of derbies…
Looking for insightful French rugby content from someone who really knows the state of the game? My name is James Harrington. I’m a France-based freelance sports journalist, and I write mostly about French club and international rugby.
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You can read my French rugby column in The Rugby Paper every Sunday. I round-up Top 14, Champions and Challenge Cup and international action for the Irish Examiner, as well as for Rugbypass. I have also done bits for Rugby World, and cover the HSBC SVNS for svns.com
