French rugby 2023/24

[Rugbygramps]

Watched highlights of the Castres Montpellier game, which from what I could see Montpellier should have won.
No sign of Sam Simmonds from what I could see. Is he injured ?

[Robespierre]

Watched highlights of the Castres Montpellier game, which from what I could see Montpellier should have won.
No sign of Sam Simmonds from what I could see. Is he injured ?

He must have had a quiet game because he was selected at 7 and was substituted in the 66th minute!!

[Rugbygramps]

Watched highlights of the Castres Montpellier game, which from what I could see Montpellier should have won.
No sign of Sam Simmonds from what I could see. Is he injured ?

He must have had a quiet game because he was selected at 7 and was substituted in the 66th minute!!

They were short highlights and was looking for him in the 8 or replacement shirt so why I missed him ?
7 is blindside in France ?

[Robespierre]

Watched highlights of the Castres Montpellier game, which from what I could see Montpellier should have won.
No sign of Sam Simmonds from what I could see. Is he injured ?

He must have had a quiet game because he was selected at 7 and was substituted in the 66th minute!!

They were short highlights and was looking for him in the 8 or replacement shirt so why I missed him ?
7 is blindside in France ?

I think that wing forwards in France play left and right, not openside/blindside.

[Robespierre]

The regular season of ProD2 comes to a close on Friday evening with round 30 and here's how it stands today:
(ex Tigers players currently with these clubs in brackets)

1 Provence Rugby 90 (Jimmy Gopperth and Jonny McPhilips)
2 Vannes 88 (Sione Kalamafoni)
3 Béziers 80 (Harry Glynn)
4 Grenoble 79 (Deano played for Grenoble in his younger days)
5 Dax 77 (Neaphi Leatigaga)
6 Brive 71
7 Mont de Marsan 70
8 Nevers 70
9 Colomiers 64
10 Aurillac 60
11Angoulême 58
12 Valence Romans 58 (George Worth)
13 Agen 57 (Joe Maksymiw and Henry Purdy)
14 Biarritz 53
15 Montauban 50
16 Rouen 48 (Valentino Mapapalangi)

Two clubs with great tradition, Agen and Biarritz, find themselves near the bottom. Both, I believe, have new owners so they may do better next season, but the level of competition is intense and significantly higher than that of the Championship 2nd tier in England.
This season, Provence and Vannes have already secured home semi-finals. 3rd place will play 6th and 4th play 5th and the winners advance to the semis and in the final, the winner is promoted and the runner-up plays a play-off home match against the 13th placed side in the Top14.
At the relegation end, the bottom club is relegated to Nationale, with the likes of Carcassonne, Bourgoin, Tarbes and Albi, and the 15th placed club will play the runner-up in Nationale, either Nice or Narbonne who meet in Saturday's final.

Friday's fixtures:

Nevers v Dax
Agen v Valence Romans
Mont de Marsan v Rouen
Aurillac v Montauban
Angoulême v Béziers
Provence v Grenoble
Colomiers v Valence Romans
Brive v Biarritz

[Rugbygramps]

Montpellier lost at home to what appeared to be a 2nd string Toulouse side. They must be in real danger of the relegation play off now.
Wonder if George Bridge fancies a new home ?

[Darc Tiger]

Montpellier lost at home to what appeared to be a 2nd string Toulouse side. They must be in real danger of the relegation play off now.
Wonder if George Bridge fancies a new home ?

You'd still fancy them to win a playoff, but their form is dreadful.

[Rugbygramps]

Montpellier lost at home to what appeared to be a 2nd string Toulouse side. They must be in real danger of the relegation play off now.
Wonder if George Bridge fancies a new home ?

You'd still fancy them to win a playoff, but their form is dreadful.

Do you know if the play off is over 2 legs

[Robespierre]

Montpellier lost at home to what appeared to be a 2nd string Toulouse side. They must be in real danger of the relegation play off now.
Wonder if George Bridge fancies a new home ?

You'd still fancy them to win a playoff, but their form is dreadful.

Do you know if the play off is over 2 legs

No, this play-off match will only be at the ground of the ProD2 losing finalist/runner-up on Sunday June 16th. Whichever team Montpellier travel to is going to be extremely tough.

The ProD2 table finished like this:
1 Provence
2 Vannes
3 Béziers
4 Grenoble
5 Dax
6 Brive

The play-off matches:
Grenoble v Dax - 23rd May and the winner has a semi final away to Provence on 30th May
Béziers v Brive - 24th May .. Vannes on May 31st

The final will be played at Toulouse's Ernest Wallon Stadium on June 8th.

Here's an interesting statistic concerning the number of spectators in this season's ProD2 matches.
The total is an impressive 1,354,310, an all time record and an 18% increase on the previous season.
Vannes averaged 10,610, Brive 8622, Grenoble 7997 and Provence 7248.
Attendance figures that the English Championship dream about, and also some premiership clubs too!

[Robespierre]

Top14 round 24 results from last weekend:

Stade Français 22 Bordeaux/Bègles 28
Montpellier 22 Toulouse 29 (a much changed Toulouse side consign Montpellier to a one-off match at the ProD2 runner-up)
Clermont 36 Castres 20 (a Clermont resurgence makes them end of season play-off contenders)
Bayonne 23 Perpignan 20
Lyon 20 Racing 14
Oyonnax 17 Toulon 27
La Rochelle 25 Pau 23

1 Toulouse 74
2 SF 71
3 B/B 64
4 Toulon 63
5 La Rochelle 60
6 Racing 57
7 Pau 56
8 Clermont 56
9 Perpignan 54
10 Castres 54
11 Bayonne 52
12 Lyon 51
13 Montpellier 40
14 Oyonnax 30

Round 25 will be played on June 1/2

Castres v SF
Montpellier v Lyon
Oyonnax v Bayonne
Perpignan v B/B
Racing v Pau (6th v 7th for a play-off place)
Toulon v Clermont (Clermont must win to be in with a chance of the play-offs)
Toulouse v La Rochelle