Top 14 talking points: La Rochelle want to believe again
France’s Top 14 returned with a Fan Days weekend to launch a two-match run before a hiatus for the Champions and Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle’s third win in four Top 14 late-season matches gives them an outside chance of reaching the play-offs, the players insist, as they target an improbable dream
France’s Top 14 returned after the two-week Champions and Challenge Cup break with a Fan Days weekend to launch a two-match run before a hiatus for the tri-league competitions’ semi-finals.
And 40 was the magic number. On a weekend in which 476 points were scored at an average of 68 per game — and 61 tries — one side in all seven matches broke the 40-point barrier.
But only Pau went on to pass 50 as they condemned Bayonne to another loss at home. For the record, Bordeaux were the only side not to reach 20 points in their defeat at La Rochelle.
Here, then, are the weekend’s Top 14 results.
La Rochelle 45 - 15 Bordeaux
“We have no margin for error, so we have to step it up,” La Rochelle’s scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec said after scoring two of their six tries in a timely bonus-point win over a much-changed Bordeaux side with a Champions Cup semi-final on their minds. “It’s up to us to work hard and maintain this momentum.
“We need to be consistent over our last five games and pick up points, no matter how — then we’ll see what happens. But if we can maintain the quality of play we showed today, we might be able to compete.”
The confidence of a late-season bonus-point victory may be slightly misplaced: Ronan O’Gara’s side remain seven points adrift of the play-off places. Their run-in is far from easy, with matches against Racing 92, Toulouse and Stade Francais to come.
Who can blame them for daring to believe? Oscar Jegou is another acolyte: “This match gets us back in the game,” he said. “It’s a bit late, but it lets us believe, and that’s the most important thing.
“The players want something special. We don’t want to go on holiday too early.”
As for Bordeaux, this was a player-management match. Several big-game players were rested with the Champions Cup semi-final against Bath looming on the horizon. Some will be rotated back into the squad for next weekend’s ‘warm-up’ game against Challenge Cup semi-finalists Montpellier.
No wonder attack coach Noel McNamara insisted on focusing on the positives of a match that had defeat baked in. “In terms of the players’ commitment, the score is harsh,” he said. “But we lacked precision and discipline. That’s part of the learning process — figuring out how we can do better.
“We saw the leadership of [captain] Gaetan Barlot and Hugo Reus this week — that’s encouraging, just like [22-year-old backrow] Romain Gardrat’s performance.
“We’ve got a big match next Saturday against Montpellier at Chaban. It’s the best preparation for the Champions Cup semi-final against Bath.”
Reus — who landed a penalty and conversion, and nailed an appreciated 50-22 early on — had a decent first start for Bordeaux since arriving earlier than expected from Perpignan. As the expected future long-term understudy to Matthieu Jalibert, he’ll be looking for consistency after an unsettled period.
“Three clubs in one season isn’t something I’ll put on my list of achievements,” he told journalists afterwards. Which is actually gilding a dismal lily somewhat. He left La Rochelle to join Montpellier in January 2025. He left Montpellier for Perpignan in December, then moved from Perpignan to Bordeaux at the end of March.
Clermont 41 - 23 Lyon
Pioneer referee Hollie Davidson said her first time in charge of a Top 14 match — the first time any female referee has had the whistle for a top-flight domestic men’s game in France — ‘exceeded all my expectations’.
“I arrived at Stade Marcel-Michelin before the teams arrived to observe and soak up the atmosphere, and it was truly impressive,” she told Midi Olympique afterwards. “I saw the arrival of the Clermont players, and the fervour of their fans — it was quite intimidating!
“And then, when I walked onto the pitch, it was fantastic; the entire stadium rose to its feet when the Clermont players entered the field. This atmosphere lasted for the entire 80 minutes. It exceeded all my expectations.”
L'ENTRÉE SUR LE TERRAIN D'HOLLIE DAVIDSON 🤩
— CANAL+ Rugby (@CanalplusRugby) April 18, 2026
Première femme à arbitrer un match du TOP 14, elle officie la rencontre entre Clermont et Lyon 🙌#ASMLOU pic.twitter.com/9JyjOYVWJf
She had to show three yellow cards in a hard-fought encounter decided by Clermont’s bench, who turned the game around after a difficult 45-minute period. “The bench was good,” manager Christophe Urios said afterwards, having ended his personal media blackout in the week. “I say that because it hasn’t been the case for the last two matches.”
Opposite number Karim Ghezal had no option but to agree. “[Killian] Tixeront’s introduction really hurt us,” he said of a player who scored a try, stole two lineouts and was a menace with and without the ball after coming on early in the second period.
“We had the choice between Killian and Pio Muarua,” Urios explained. “But given the heat, we needed a runner who could also contribute in the lineout and in aerial duels. Killian did just that, and it’s very satisfying!”
In the front row, 22-year-old prop Giga Tutisani impressed on his first Top 14 outing at tighthead — a position where Clermont are struggling with injuries right now. We’ll see more of the Georgian in the coming weeks, no doubt. Lucas Zamora gave Baptiste Jauneau a breather, while Étienne Fourcade and Irae Simone both made impacts off the bench — a morale booster for the squad heading into the business end of the season.
Bayonne 22 - 54 Pau
For the first time since rugby officially turned professional in France, Bayonne conceded 50 points at Stade Jean Dauger on Saturday. Worse, they were just 10-16 down at the break. Worse still, they have not won at home in 2026.
Enter Arthur Iturria to the post-match press conference, a captain in no mood for mincing words. “It was an ordeal,” he said. “They were much better than us. We were beaten just about everywhere.
“I don’t think we won a single aspect of the game. We lost the collisions — that was the point of pride we had made for this match.
“We’re disrespecting this jersey — we’ll have to absorb this, then put it back on next week and do it a bit more justice.”
Tries for Midi Olympique’s player-of-the-week ‘Oscar’ winner Theo Attissogbe and Emilien Gailleton — a 100m highlight reeler — in the last two minutes rubbed salt in Bayonne’s wounds, and gifted Pau an attacking bonus that consolidated their lofty second place as they look to reach the post-season play-offs for the first time.
But manager Sebastien Piqueronies is refusing to get carried away. “There’s a gruelling, gruelling 10-month competition that awards six raffle tickets — well, five, because one is claimed every year,” he said.
“And then, from those five tickets, there’s another three-week competition where we can really dream big. But we’re not going to allow ourselves to dream until we're actually among the top teams.”
Montpellier 42 - 31 Perpignan
When the winners of a match are disappointed and the losers guardedly optimistic, it says a lot about the relative expectations of a match.
From 30-17 at halftime, Montpellier — who head to Bordeaux next weekend then host surprise opponents Dragons in the Challenge Cup semi-final — stuttered in the second period, and opened a door to their Catalan visitors that really should have been slammed shut, and lost a probable try-scoring bonus as a result.
“We’re frustrated, not just with the end of the match, but with the match as a whole,” the home side’s backrow Lenni Nouchi said. “We were all a bit average, not to say terrible — at least most of us were.
“Luckily, a few salvaged the game, but I think it’s a good wake-up call. We could be satisfied with the win, but given our ambitions and where we are in the season, we can’t afford to perform like that.”
As for Perpignan, who are already thinking further ahead than a couple of weeks to an almost certain Top 14 survival play-off against the losing ProD2 finalists, there were ‘reasons for satisfaction’ according to forwards coach Mathieu Cidre.
“We needed to find positive energy to do something, to make something happen in the second half,” he said. “And, it’s a great source of pride today for what the players did, not giving up in the second half, digging deep to find resources — physical, mental, psychological, and even in terms of the quality of their play — which got us back into the game a little bit.”
Montauban 22 - 47 Toulon
Young Toulon centre Oliver Cowie’s second professional try in the 62nd minute of their oddly workmanlike bonus-point win over Montauban — less than half-an-hour after his first — marked the moment that the Top 14’s basement side crossed the 1,000 points conceded barrier this season.
He wasn’t initially expected to start, but Mathieu Smaili’s illness prompted a midweek rethink, and the future of Toulon’s midfield repaid the increasing faith shown in him. Cowie was named in both Midi Olympique’s and L’Equipe’s Teams of the Week.
And then Gabin Villiere’s serious knee injury — which has come at exactly the wrong time for the international as he reportedly ponders a move away from Stade Mayol — saw him switch out to the wing on his return from a spell on the sidelines.
Pleased though he was, Cowie was objective in his analysis: “Happy with the result,” he said, “we made far too many mistakes, though. The last three matches have done wonders for our morale. I’ll remember that it was in Montauban that I scored my first professional try!”
He was one of seven academy players in the Toulon squad on Saturday, as their slow shift towards a younger squad, a long-term promise made before the campaign kicked off, continues.
And it delighted manager Pierre Mignoni. “Being able to field these young players is a source of pride — and there are others who will arrive in the short or medium term before next season,” he said. “I’m very happy because, in this difficult season for us, the experienced players are holding their own, but the youngsters are explosive and bring real dynamism to the group.”
At the rate they’re shipping points, Montauban will pass Agen’s unwanted high of 1,101 points sometime during their match against Montpellier on May 9. And they’ll still have three matches to play afterwards.
But it wasn’t all bad. Only a couple of minutes before Cowie got his second, Montauban had dragged themselves back to within four points, despite having a lineout so patched up it’s more patches than up.
Manager Sebastien Tillous-Borde said: “In the first half we did some good things but we wasted energy by losing too many balls in the lineout, which explains our drop in intensity in the second half after we came back to 26-22.
“When you lose, you can’t be satisfied. We played a lot of rugby in this match. We’re already working for next season. We’re not giving up despite the situation.”
Castres 25 - 42 Toulouse
The fourth home defeat of this season looks like it has put paid to Castres’ ambitions of making the post-season play-offs. Not so fast, argues manager Xavier Sadourny. He has one rolling target, he explained after a match that was closer than the final scoreline suggests.
“It’s the top eight,” he said — which brings with it Champions Cup fortune and glory. “And if we make it the top eight, then [it’s] top six — and if we make the top six, then the top four, and then the semi-final and the final…”
It’s all mathematically impeccable, but Sadourny understands that maths and rugby reality aren’t always compatible. “Right now, we need to secure a top-eight finish. There are five matches left. We need to win, and then we’ll see. Qualifying for the Champions Cup is important.”
Two converted Toulouse tries in the last 11 minutes gave the scoreline a lopsided look it possibly didn’t deserve. And it justifies Sadourny’s next comment: “We were in a battle until the hour mark. Our room for improvement lies in the end of the match.
Then, with the game still finely poised, scrum-half Santiago Arata was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on Toulouse centre Santiago Chocobares — a decision that prompted much debate in the rugby media, starting with the analysts at broadcaster Canal Plus.
Sadourny went on: “We were evenly matched with Toulouse for a long time. If you concede 50 points without getting a single one, it’s hard to swallow. That wasn’t the case at all in this match. There are defeats that have bothered me more than this one.”
The reigning champions worked through their Champions Cup quarter-final exit frustrations at Stade Pierre Fabre, where they hadn’t won since 2019, with a partially changed-up 23 as their focus shifted from two fronts to one.
And the league leaders had already switched to the next match before they left the ground on Saturday evening. “We need to make the most of this, so that those who put on the jersey next week against Clermont live up to what we did in Castres,” attack coach Clement Poitrenaud said. Christophe Urios has been warned.
Racing 92 47 - 20 Stade Francais
Earlier this season, Stade Francais manager Paul Gustard insisted that “every game is an opportunity to pick up five points”.
On Sunday night, he sold a different managerial perspective as he explained his reasoning for selecting a heavily changed-up side for the derby trip across the Seine to Nanterre by saying: “We have a run of two matches, a week off, two matches, another week off, and two more matches.
“Then potentially the play-offs, the semi-final, and the final. I have to make sure I manage my resources well in these two upcoming matches to guarantee that we have a squad capable of competing in these games.”
What changed in his thinking between then and now? Those two weeks off that he didn’t expect as he contemplated an expected and Dragons-ruined run to the Challenge Cup final?
Whatever it was, Stade Francais’ focus was not on the game in front of them on Sunday but the ones after that. They have three home games — against Pau, Lyon and Bayonne, and trips to Montauban and La Rochelle in their future.
They’re all winnable. But a couple of defeats would leave Stade’s Top 14 play-off run hanging by a thread. That’s what’s changed. Is the cautious approach now the way forward? We’ll have to wait and see.
And that was the 21st Top 14 weekend that was. Let’s round off in the usual way with a quick look at next weekend’s fixtures and the current table.
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
