Top 14 talking points: Defiant Toulouse damn the doublons
Toulouse marched on without their current French internationals, Clermont tripped up at Castres, Perpignan and La Rochelle paid heavily for early frailties, and penalties cost dearly Toulon on the final weekend of the Top 14 before a short Six Nations hiatus.
After 11 non-stop weeks of Top 14 and Champions or Challenge Cup rugby, those players not involved in the Six Nations are now enjoying a much-needed short break before the French domestic league returns on Valentine’s Day as the season enters its second ‘doublons phase’ of club and country obligations.
The 16th of 26 regular season weekends was a tale of indiscipline. Two full reds and 14 yellows were issued in five of the round’s seven games — the last time a Top 14 referee saw fit to brandish red was on December 20, after Perpignan’s Jefferson-Lee Joseph had upended an airborne Bautista Delguy, of Clermont.
