Top 14 talking points: Fightbacks a-go-go
It was, mostly, all right on the night as French rugby's Top 14 returns with a series of close encounters of the comeback kind ... except in Bordeaux
It was, mostly, all right on the night as French rugby's Top 14 returns with a series of close encounters of the comeback kind ... except in Bordeaux
Sports journalists, by training and inclination, will usually try to start an article with the moment or personality that sums up a match – the late decisive score, the stand-out performance, the hat-trick, the rousing fightback. That sort of thing.
The more nebulous round-up intro is usually a harder hook to thread. But not always. The very last moment of the opening weekend of the 2026/27 Top 14 campaign – Antoine Hastoy’s after-the-hooter penalty to complete a stirring second-half La Rochelle comeback (see? there it is) against champions Toulouse was the nub, the nexus, the intersection of the entire weekend.
On that kick a match was decided. Elsewhere, three teams who thought they had been free and clear found themselves hanging on for survival as their opponents roared back from noweher. A solitary side – Bordeaux – finished week one with a try-scoring bonus. Four visiting teams – Toulouse, Toulon, Perpignan and Clermont – headed home with a losing bonus and regrets over what might have been.
And three out of the league’s 14 – last season’s finalists Montpellier, promoted Vannes and a shellshocked Racing 92 – ended the first weekend of the season without a point.
Here, then, are the results of the opening weekend.
And here’s the table. Probably not looking how many would have expected – certainly not Racing or Montpellier fans. Still 25 more matches to play between now and the weekend of June 5, 2027, when the regular season ends. And it's not just me saying that.
Bayonne 27 - 26 Toulon
Bayonne’s new captain Leo Coly, who arrived at the Basque club from Montpellier in the summer, went off with a hamstring injury less than five minutes into their narrow opening weekend win over Toulon at Stade Jean Dauger.
He was due for further tests on Tuesday, but sporting director Laurent Travers has already hinted that Coly could miss Bayonne’s next five matches – leaving the club in a deep scrum-half hole.
With Coly injured and Herschel Jantjies on South Africa duty, the Basque side’s current nine stocks are reduced to 19-year-old Baptiste Tilloles, who has two starts in 11 Top 14 outings under his belt.
“For the time being, [he] will have to step up,” Travers told Ici Pays Basque. “He’s the only player available in that position. He rose to the occasion against Toulon, and I’d like to congratulate him, along with the coaching staff, on his performance.”
He namechecked Tom Spring and Mateo Carreras as possible back-up nines, with no one in the academy considered quite ready to step up. But he rejected the option of an immediate panic trip into the recruitment market. “Baptiste … is delivering,” he said. “Besides, it’s the start of the season and it’s always tough. There’s a rhythm to find.”
It was a frustrating day in the far southwest for Toulon, though returning head coach Franck Azema found room for positives. “In terms of mindset, we were there from start to finish,” he said. “We also showed that we can battle in defence.
“There was room for more, but it’s the first match. It will allow us to position ourselves, to evaluate ourselves. It’s difficult to say if [the plan] is working or not – we were inconsistent in our execution … [but] we’re happy with the basics.”
A losing bonus on the road first up. It’s a start. Basics to build on. La Rochelle at Stade Mayol next for Toulon, while Bayonne and their solitary functioning scrum-half head to Pau.
But, Kyle...
Castres 29 - 20 Vannes
On the plus side, for Castres, a win at home on a stiflingly hot afternoon in southwest France to start a redemption campaign. On the down side, a missed try-scoring bonus. Better than last season, when they opened with a home defeat against Pau, but not as good as it could have been.
Four tries, despite a lack of attacking confidence – a throwback to last season when their chronic inability to convert pressure into points cost them match after match – and an over-reliance on individual talents, hint at the prospect of better to come.
Certainly fly-half Louis Le Brun seemed to think so. “I felt that we were starting to get our game together, but that we can do much better,” he said. “We’ll get better as time goes on. It’s the first match of the season and there are plenty more to come, so we’ve still got time to improve. There are plenty of positives to take away, and we need to shake off our shortcomings.”
Promoted Vannes, too, have plenty to work on and positives to work with after coming agonisingly close to a defensive bonus point courtesy of a fourth-quarter comeback that saw them cut Castres’ lead from 23 points to just nine.
That pleased boss Jean-Noel Spitzer, as his bench made an impact – something they struggled to do in their first foray into the French domestic top flight. “It’s squad depth that will make a difference, provided the players are performing at their best. If you don’t have a strong bench, it’s impossible. We talked about resilience before the match. The players demonstrated it. It’s just a shame that we blew a match point on ourselves.”
Much to work on for both sides ahead of their next outing – Castres are at Perpignan, and Vannes are guaranteed big support at home against Montpellier.
Lyon 40 - 36 Clermont
With 26 minutes left at Stade Gerland on Saturday, Lyon had a 27-point lead. Then, somehow, Clermont’s fight returned.
“We had nothing left to lose except conceding 60 points,” captain and scrum-half Baptiste Jauneau said of the visitors’ collective mindset entering the final quarter. “It was just about keeping possession, getting our game going, which we pretty much managed towards the end.”
Some of that attitude was down to the new signings off the bench. Backrow Kevin Noah scored twice and centre AJ Lam got one after both coming on around the hour mark.
“When the subs came on, they really contributed with a great attitude. That’s really something to remember, and is what allowed us to leave with this point,” Jauneau added.
The problem for Clermont was that first hour, when they could do little right. And the cause of the problem was the same as last season – discipline. Seven penalties, idiotic ones at that, in the first period alone just let Lyon control the game.
Sophomore fullback Gabin Lorre got the home side off to a perfect start with a brace in the first 15 minutes, and Lyon even had a provisional try-scoring bonus in the bag when French international Ethan Dumortier scored in the 53rd minute.
But, then, the hosts switched off. “We had our strong period in the first half,” Dumortier said afterwards. “We capitalised on it, and we knew we’d have a weaker period, as happens in every match at some point. We managed to stay afloat during those periods, which is why we won in the end.
“But it’s not over yet. It’s only the first match – we need to build on the good things, work on what went wrong, and keep the momentum going.”
That’s brave-facing it. Lyon came awfully close to losing a match they had won. They can’t do that repeatedly and expect to finish higher than the 11th place that’s been their slot for the past three seasons.
Montpellier 19 - 27 Pau
Last season, Pau kicked off a historic Top 14 campaign with victory at Castres. This time, they surprised finalists Montpellier in their disaster-zone Septeo Stadium backyard – and did it without Theo Attissogbe, Fabien Brau-Boirie, Gregoire Arfeuil (the subject of transfer speculation in France as he recovers from a hamstring injury), Hugo Auradou, Jimi Maximin, Juan Pablo Montoya, or Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer. Or teen sensation signing Joachim Senga Kouo. Which should worry later rivals.
Manager Sebastien Piqueronies was careful to remind journalists of the problems of judging a season by its first game. “The first match often has moments of chaos. You saw that with three video referee decisions, avoidable knock-ons, and sequences that were either very short or very long.
“There were far more technical errors [than usual] from both teams.”
But it was also impossible not to notice key changes to a recognisably Pau gameplan. For almost the whole of the first half, they ditched the aerial bombardment that had been their trademark. Then, in the second half, they brought it out again.
“We want to consolidate our foundations and fine-tune our game,” Piqueronies said. “We want our style of play to be as unpredictable as possible. All of this takes time to build. One thing is certain – we have a squad capable of playing in all possible ways.”
That should worry later rivals even more.
For Montpellier, it was the third time in as many seasons they have lost their first home match, and came after a 50-33 loss to Castres in their only outing of an inevitably short preseason. “The Top 14 is already very difficult, and now we’ve made things even harder for ourselves,” flanker Alexandre Becognee, after his 150th match for the club, told journalists afterwards.
And manager Joan Caudullo said: “This defeat brings us back down to earth so we can get back to work … It hasn’t been a great week – quite a few things have happened. We took a few risks with such a short preparation period, and it didn’t pay off.”
The undercooked finalists will get better. But so will Pau. And the Bearn side have a first-up win on the road under their belts. That should really worry later rivals.
But perhaps not as much as the state of the Septeo Stadium pitch should worry sides heading to Montpellier.
Stade Francais 28 - 26 Perpignan
It took Perpignan nearly two months, nine matches and a coaching change to pick up their first league point last season. This time around, it took them 80 minutes – actually 40, because they barely turned up for the first half of their campaign opener against Stade Francais at Stade Jean Bouin.
"We started too far behind. When you look back at the match at the end, you feel frustrated and disappointed,” Perpignan manager Laurent Labit admitted afterwards. “But … at half-time, if someone had told us we’d come away with a point, we’d have said ‘yes’ straight away.
“We let Paris have the ball in areas where they thrive. We tried to turn things round at half-time – we got better – and we can only regret the lack of precision that prevented us from coming away with a win.”
Honest enough from Labit, and entirely accurate. Discipline pushed Perpignan 28-6 down at halftime. Precision cost them the match.
For the Parisians, this game of two halves was flipped. Their four league points came with a health warning. “It was a close call,” admitted relieved backrow Ryan Chapuis.
“Perhaps subconsciously we thought it was all over … We lost our composure, our game management was poor, and we were too indisciplined.”
Paul Gustard will know his side can’t afford to play like that again.
Bordeaux 64 - 5 Racing 92
“We’re a bit stunned,” Racing 92 fullback Max Spring told journalists in an early bid for the understatement of the season award.
After all, he and his team-mates had just shipped 10 tries – four of them in the first 15 minutes – conceded 15 penalties, and slipped to their biggest defeat in the Top 14; worse even than the 71-17 loss to Toulouse in last season’s play-off semi-final, and worse even than the 62-20 shellacking they suffered at Stade Chaban Delmas back in January, when Yannick Bru’s side ran in nine tries in 25 second-half minutes.
It was 38-0 at halftime. And it did not improve after the break. This is not a happy hunting ground for the ciel-et-blanc.
Racing boss Patrice Collazo, whose contract extension through to 2030 was confirmed two days afterwards, expects an immediate response. “Instead of being proactive, we’re already reacting, just like last season. I would have preferred us to be proactive from the start. But I know this group… I already know how the week will unfold.”
Lyon are next up for the homeless Racingmen, at their temporary Stade Dominique Duvauchelle accommodation. An emphatic response will be the order of the day.
For Bordeaux, keeping feet on the ground may seem the order of the day. But attack coach Noel McNamara isn't worried. "We had a good preseason, but the truth always lies in the first match. They really worked hard.
"We saw a big difference between the two teams; it's tough for Racing… We've been through this before. When you're in the play-offs, there's a little less time for recovery and to prepare for the following season.
"For us, it's a positive start, but the truth is, it's just one step. There are still 25 rounds of the Top 14 left, and everyone understands that we've only just begun the work."
La Rochelle 30 - 27 Toulouse
Ronan O’Gara didn’t mince his words over La Rochelle’s first-half performance at home against Toulouse on Sunday.
“The first 40 minutes were catastrophic,” he said. “How can you pay to watch that? … I feel sorry for the fans because that’s not us. It was a bizarre performance.
“I know it’s only the first match, but there’s a lot to work on … As for the content, watching that again will be a horror show.”
He wasn’t wrong about the first half. Going in at the break at home 24-10 down, after being ripped open by Tommaso Menoncello, bulldozed by Emmanuel Meafou and sliced apart by Romain Ntamack is not a fun way to spend a Sunday evening.
Antoine Hastoy’s 81st-minute penalty – with La Rochelle a player down – completed what was a remarkable and rousing fightback, roared on by a passionate crowd that O’Gara had felt the need to apologise to.
He went on: “It was a match with a lot of mistakes on our part. Yes, the ball was slippery, but we need to improve. But the one thing we can’t change, which is incredibly important, is the team’s mindset. The players decided at halftime to go for the win. We had a bit of luck at times. In the end, we maybe deserved a draw, but it's good [to win] […] It was close to a nightmare evening.”
Toulouse manager Ugo Mola reckoned ring rust resulting from the champions’ shortened preseason was to blame. “If anyone is aware of the second half we played, it’s us. After that, after three weeks of preparation … the commitment of the first half wasn’t rewarded.
“We did some really interesting things in the first half. I think we were in control of our rugby and our ability to put this team under pressure. We fell apart as the match went on. Scoring only three points in the second half away from home isn't enough to win.”
Worse, having lost Clement Verge to an ACL injury before the season kicked off, Mola is looking to an immediate future without either Pierre-Louis Barassi or Paul Mallez, who were both injured at Stade Marcel Deflandre.
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
