France - end of season round up.

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Robespierre
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Robespierre »

LE18 wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 10:45 pm
Robespierre wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 8:14 pm ProD2 semi-finals this weekend:

Saturday 18th 18h30 Oyonnax v Bayonne

Sunday 19th 14h15 Brive v Vannes

Vannes, in the south of Brittany (not exactly known as a rugby hotbed!), is a relatively young club having been founded in 1950 and were promoted to ProD2 in May 2016 so have only had two seasons at this level and are remarkably pushing for promotion to the Top14.
However, their adventure may well come to an end on Sunday at Brive, who I think are unbeaten at home and beat Vannes 61-14 at home in the league match in February.

Oyonnax v Bayonne will be tougher to call. Oyonnax won the home match against Bayonne 18-16 in September and Bayonne beat Oyonnax at home 30-25 in January, so maybe Oyonnax have a gnat's cock of an advantage!

However, my 5 euros is on a Brive v Bayonne final!
You must be an engineer to be using that term of measurement. :smt002 I bet also you dont need to earn too many euros to buy your wine, it takes a lot more here. :smt030 Bon Nuit.
Engineer? Not me!

So if I'd had gone to the bookies with my 5€, I'd have won a few more euros!
Brive beat Vannes 40-20 and Bayonne won at Oyonnax by the proverbial gnat's whatsit and they meet in the final in Pau on Sunday 26th. The winner will be promoted to the Top14 and the loser will have to play-off against Grenoble who finished second bottom in the Top14.

As for the Top14, the top of the table looks like this before the last round of matches next Saturday the 25th:

1. Toulouse 93 points - last match at home v Perpignan. Predicted finish 98 points
2. Clermont 82 - .. home v Montpellier. 84
3. Lyon 74 .. away v Grenoble. 79
4. Racing 69 .. away v Agen. 74
5. Castres 69 .. home v Toulon. 74
6. Montpellier 66 .. away v Clermont. 67
7. La Rochelle 66 .. home v Bordeaux 71

Stade Français lost at Montpellier and blew their faint chances of making the play-offs.

So if my predictions are right (they rarely are!) then the play-offs on May 31st and June 1st will be as follows:
Lyon home to La Rochelle (Lyon should win that).
Racing at home to Castres ( another gnat's thingy between these two)

The winners will play Toulouse/Clermont in the semis on June 8th/9th and the final at the Stade de France on the 16th.
Semper in excretia
Robespierre
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Robespierre »

Bayonne are ProD2 champions having beaten Brive 21-19 in Pau last Sunday and will play in the Top 14 next season.
Brive will join them if they beat Grenoble ( who finished 13th in the Top14) on Sunday.

After the last round of matches the Top14 top of the table is:

1. Toulouse 98 points (beat Perpignan at home 47-7)
2. Clermont 83 (lost at home to Montpellier 27-28 so Montpellier qualify for play-offs as Castres lost to Toulon)
3. Lyon 78 (beat Grenoble away 24-23)
4. Racing 74 (beat Agen away 35-3)
5. La Rochelle 71 (beat Bordeaux at home 81-12)
6. Montpellier 70 (beat Clermont away 28-27)

7. Castres 69 (the current champions surprisingly lost at home to Toulon 16-25 and failed to reach the play offs)

Play-offs this weekend:
Friday 31st May - Racing v La Rochelle (two teams hitting form at the right moment so no prediction from me!!)
Saturday 1st June - Lyon v Montpellier (Lyon to win by 10!)
Winners to play Toulouse/Clermont on the 8th/9th of June and the final on the 15th.
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Robespierre
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Robespierre »

Top14 semi-finals (both in Bordeaux):

Saturday June 8th - Toulouse v La Rochelle
Sunday June 9th - Clermont v Lyon

A Toulouse v Clermont final on the 15th? Anyone's guess, no predictions from me!

Brive could be one of Tigers' opponents in next season's Challenge Cup! They beat Grenoble 28-22 in this afternoon's Top14 play-off.
Their other possible opponents are Castres, Stade Français, Toulon, Bordeaux, Pau, Agen and Bayonne.
Tigers' record in France is nothing to be proud of, although I've witnessed two wins in France(are there any more?), the famous final at Parc des Princes and a win in Pau in the early 2000s, but with several new players due to sign and a likely change in the coaching structure gives me reasons to be cheerful (Blockhead that I am!)
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by BFG »

Robespierre wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 6:07 pm Top14 semi-finals (both in Bordeaux):

Saturday June 8th - Toulouse v La Rochelle
Sunday June 9th - Clermont v Lyon

A Toulouse v Clermont final on the 15th? Anyone's guess, no predictions from me!

Brive could be one of Tigers' opponents in next season's Challenge Cup! They beat Grenoble 28-22 in this afternoon's Top14 play-off.
Their other possible opponents are Castres, Stade Français, Toulon, Bordeaux, Pau, Agen and Bayonne.
Tigers' record in France is nothing to be proud of, although I've witnessed two wins in France(are there any more?), the famous final at Parc des Princes and a win in Pau in the early 2000s, but with several new players due to sign and a likely change in the coaching structure gives me reasons to be cheerful (Blockhead that I am!)
The Pro D2 seems to be getting a good amount of attention and very good crowd numbers over the season.
Robespierre
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Robespierre »

BFG wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 7:25 pm
Robespierre wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 6:07 pm Top14 semi-finals (both in Bordeaux):

Saturday June 8th - Toulouse v La Rochelle
Sunday June 9th - Clermont v Lyon

A Toulouse v Clermont final on the 15th? Anyone's guess, no predictions from me!

Brive could be one of Tigers' opponents in next season's Challenge Cup! They beat Grenoble 28-22 in this afternoon's Top14 play-off.
Their other possible opponents are Castres, Stade Français, Toulon, Bordeaux, Pau, Agen and Bayonne.
Tigers' record in France is nothing to be proud of, although I've witnessed two wins in France(are there any more?), the famous final at Parc des Princes and a win in Pau in the early 2000s, but with several new players due to sign and a likely change in the coaching structure gives me reasons to be cheerful (Blockhead that I am!)
The Pro D2 seems to be getting a good amount of attention and very good crowd numbers over the season.
Justifiably, because the standard is high and there were several clubs in contention for promotion at the end of the season, which wasn't the case in the English Championship.
Semper in excretia
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by fortysix »

Beziers, Perpignan, Bourgoin, I think .
johnthegriff
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by johnthegriff »

Don't forget the massive one point win in Montpellier, and we have beaten Clermont many years ago. We have not had much success in France but I never travel without hope, whatever the result we always have a good time with the French fans so it is definitely well worth making the trip by any means you can.
Robespierre
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Robespierre »

Toulouse in the final!!!! They beat La Rochelle 20-6 in yesterday’s semi in Bordeaux. Second semi between Lyon and Clermont this afternoon! A Toulouse v Clermont final next Saturday awaits us!!
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Robespierre
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Robespierre »

Yes, the two sides who finished 1st and 2nd before the play offs, Toulouse and Clermont, will be in the grand final at the Stade de France next Saturday evening!
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Cagey Tiger »

Many thanks for keeping us updated Robespierre :smt023

While it's fairly easy to keep up with the goings on in the Celtic League in its various guises, the Top14 is a pig if you hate Sky (I'm willing to be informed differently :smt003) and won't pay for Sky Sports.

Its nice to know who might be coming our way next season in Europe (Champions Cup or Challenge Cup - both are Europe, not that you would now from commentators, players and coaches etc. The Challenge Cup isn't "Europe" for some unfathomable reason other than laziness :smt005 ).
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by JP14 »

Cagey Tiger wrote: Sun Jun 09, 2019 8:48 pm Many thanks for keeping us updated Robespierre :smt023

While it's fairly easy to keep up with the goings on in the Celtic League in its various guises, the Top14 is a pig if you hate Sky (I'm willing to be informed differently :smt003) and won't pay for Sky Sports.

Its nice to know who might be coming our way next season in Europe (Champions Cup or Challenge Cup - both are Europe, not that you would now from commentators, players and coaches etc. The Challenge Cup isn't "Europe" for some unfathomable reason other than laziness :smt005 ).
Now TV is a good, cheaper way of watching the rugby on Sky, and there’s no contract so you can just buy one month’s worth for the autumn internationals, for example.
Formerly of Burbaaage (not Inkleh), now up north at uni
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Scott1 »

Now TV were running all SkySports channels £20pm for 6 months. Go to cancel on your last month and it offers you another 3 months at £20 instead of £33,I do it all the time :smt005
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Cagey Tiger »

Thanks, both :smt023
Robespierre
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by Robespierre »

The Grand Final kicks off at 20h45 this evening (French time)!

Here are the teams:

Toulouse : 15. Kolbe ; 14. Huget, 13. Guitoune, 12. Ahki, 11. Médard ; 10. Ramos, 9. Dupont ; 7. Cros, 8. Kaino (cap), 6. Elstadt ; 5. Tekori, 4. Arnold ; 3. Faumuina, 2 Mauvaka, 1. Baille

Bench : Marchand, Castets, Fa'asalele, 19 Tolofua, Gray, Bézy, Ntamack, Van Dyk

Clermont : 15. Toeava ; 14. Penaud, 13. Moala, 12. Fofana, 11. Raka ; 10. Lopez, 9. Laidlaw ; 7. Lapandry, 8. Lee (cap), 6. Iturria ; 5. Vahaamahina, 4. Timani ; 3. Slimani, 2. Kayser, 1. Falgoux

Bench : Ulugia, Uhila, Yato, Cancoriet, Cassang, Nanaï-Williams, Naqalevu, Zirakashvili

So the clubs who finished the normal season (before the play-offs) are in the final - as was the case in the Premiership.
Who's going to win? Naturally, I'm supporting my local team and feel they could just sneak it as they have players like the lightning quick Cheslyn Kolbe at fullback and Guitoune in the centre. However, Clermont have Damien Penaud and Wesley Fofana in their backline who are equally dangerous.
Let's hope it's a goodun!
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Re: France - end of season round up.

Post by strawclearer »

Would love to see Kayser walk away with a winner's medal. I know - sentimental old fool!
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