French rugby 2019/20

[Robespierre]

Bonjour everyone!
The first round of the Top14 was last weekend, and there were a few surprises.
Here are the results:

Agen 25 - 44 Toulon
Castres 26 - 25 Montpellier
Lyon 43 - 9 Stade Français
Pau 33 - 14 Brive
Racing 17 - 24 Bayonne
Bordeaux 30 - 25 Toulouse
Clermont 28 - 10 La Rochelle

First of all, the two Parisian sides - SF were well and truly thumped by Lyon and Racing surprisingly lost at home to Bayonne.
Elsewhere, Tigers' European opponents, Pau, beat newly promoted Brive but without a bp. Champions Toulouse who were missing a lot of first choice players to the National XV lost at Bordeaux but came home with a losing bp.
Clermont, despite missing several internationalists, disposed of La Rochelle but without a winning bp.

This weekend's fixtures are as follows:

Bayonne v Clermont
Agen v Brive
La Rochelle v Stade Français
Montpellier v Pau
Bordeaux v Toulon
Racing v Castres
Lyon v Toulouse

[Robespierre]

For those of you who are interested with what's going on over here in the Top14, here are the results of the 2nd and 3rd rounds:

2nd round :
Bayonne 30- 34 Clermont
Agen 16-10 Brive
La Rochelle 28-26 S Français
Montpellier 43-22 Pau
Bordeaux 34 - 12 Toulon
Racing 23-14 Castres
Lyon 22-12 Toulouse

3rd round:

Castres 32-34 Bordeaux
Toulon 6-20 Lyon
Montpellier 30-16 La Rochelle
Stade Français 33-27 Bayonne
Pau 18-12 Agen
Brive 28-21 Clermont
Toulouse 20-17 Racing

Looking at the table after 3 rounds, we find Lyon and Bordeaux unbeaten on 13 points. Toulouse, minus a shed load of players in Japan secured a precious but tight win against Racing (they'd have been bottom if they'd lost!).
Toulon have had a shaky start to the season and are wallowing in 11th place.
1 Lyon 13
2 Bordeaux 13
3 Montpellier 10
4 Clermont 8
5 Pau 8
6 Racing 5
7 Bayonne 5
8 Toulouse 5
9 S Français 5
10 Castres 5
11 Toulon 5
12 Agen 4
13 Brive 4
14 La Rochelle 4

Next weekend's fixtures:
La Rochelle v Toulouse
Bayonne v Castres
Clermont v Pau
Lyon v Brive
Bordeaux v SF
Agen v Montpellier
Toulon v Racing

[Robespierre]

Round 4 results:

Agen 29 - 10 Montpelier
Toulon 32 - 29 Racing
La Rochelle 28-13 Toulouse
Clermont 28- 37 Pau!!!
Bayonne 27-17 Castres
Lyon 59-3 Brive
Bordeaux 52-3 Stade Français.

Leaders Lyon and Bordeaux continue to sweep aside their opponents with ease.
Take note Tigers! Pau win at Clermont and climb to 3rd!!
Current champions Toulouse suffer another heavy defeat and are in a lowly 12th. Even after the return of their players in Japan, it'll be a mighty ask to defend their title.

Standings:
1 Lyon 18
2 Bordeaux 18
3 Pau 12
4 Montpellier 10
5 Bayonne 9
6 Toulon 9
7 Clermont 8
8 La Rochelle 8
9 Agen 8
10 Racing 6
11 Castres 5
12 Toulouse 5
13 SF 5
14 Brive 4

[CitizenSmiff]

Champions Toulouse who were missing a lot of first choice players to the National XV lost at Bordeaux but came home with a losing bp.
Clermont, despite missing several internationalists, disposed of La Rochelle but without a winning bp.

How have the squads been affected by the World Cup would you say? They do tend to hoover up talent from around the world.

[Robespierre]

Champions Toulouse who were missing a lot of first choice players to the National XV lost at Bordeaux but came home with a losing bp.
Clermont, despite missing several internationalists, disposed of La Rochelle but without a winning bp.

How have the squads been affected by the World Cup would you say? They do tend to hoover up talent from around the world.

Good question! I believe these are the figures for the leading clubs:

Toulouse 11 players (8 France / 2 other countries)
Racing 10 (5/5)
Clermont 9 (7/2)
Montpellier 9 (3/6)
Toulon 8 (5/3)
S Français 7 (2/5)

One interesting statistic is that there will be 8 Top14 matches during the World Cup (30% of the season, I think) and in the Premiership there'll only be 3 matches (15%, I think).
So after 4 rounds, current champions Toulouse are down in 12th place with another 4 rounds to play without their star players. As I mentioned above, retaining their title is going to be very tough.

[Cagey Tiger]

Thanks for the updates Robespierre. I like to keep an eye on how various French teams are doing as a result of visiting them and getting such warm welcomes from many of their fans.

[JP14]

Toulouse’s priority should be Europe and staying in Top 6.

[Robespierre]

Toulouse’s priority should be Europe and staying in Top 6.

I’m confident that Toulouse will qualify for the Champions’ Cup, but their priority will undoubtedly be the Top14.

[Robespierre]

France v Argentina is tomorrow morning. Here are the teams:

France: Medard; Penaud, Fickou, Vakatawa, Huget; Ntamack, Dupont; Poirot, Guirado, Slimani, Iturria, Vahaamahina, Lauret, Ollivon, Alldritt

Replacements: Chat, Baille, Bamba, Le Roux, Picamoles, Machenaud, Lopez, Ramos

Argentina: Boffelli; Moroni, Orlando, De la Fuente, Moyano; Sanchez, Cubelli; Tetaz Chaparro, Creevy, Figallo, Petti, Lavanini, Matera (c), Kremer, Ortega Desio,

Replacements: Montoya, Vivas, Medrano, Alemanno, Lezana, Ezcurra, Urdapilleta, Carreras

In the last twelve matches, they have each won six, but I think the French will win tomorrow's match by 10 points or so.
I've been particularly impressed with the new players in the back row, Ollivon and Alldritt and their front row replacements will make Argentina suffer.
We'll see!

[chewbacca]

I think France will win comfortably tomorrow as Im not sure the Argentinian pack is the same standard as previous years. Fingers crossed our man and all our other participants comes through the tournament injury free.

[Robespierre]

Anyone see the match as I missed it? (working Saturday morning!)
So France won by 2 - at least they won!
Should England be worried by these sides?

[chewbacca]

Yes. Was a good contest. Argentina were nowhere first half, likewise France the second. Argentina forwards did better than I thought they would and had the advantage over the French pack. Could have gone either way towards the end but France did just enough to hang on for the win. If the French play as they did first half then their backs could worry anybody. If they play as they did second half then they will be leaving early.

[Robespierre]

Yes. Was a good contest. Argentina were nowhere first half, likewise France the second. Argentina forwards did better than I thought they would and had the advantage over the French pack. Could have gone either way towards the end but France did just enough to hang on for the win. If the French play as they did first half then their backs could worry anybody. If they play as they did second half then they will be leaving early.

Thanks, chewy!

[Robespierre]

Another round in the Top14 at the weekend. Results as follows:

Brive 39 - 12 Toulon
Bayonne 23 - 22 La Rochelle
Castres 30- 27 Agen
Toulouse 24- 23 Pau
Racing 20 - 31 Lyon
Montpellier 17 - 17 Bordeaux
Stade Français 18 - 32 Clermont

Brive have a big win against Toulon.
Toulouse scrape a home win against ever-improving Pau.
Leaders Lyon march on and remain unbeaten.


Looking at the table, the two Parisian teams are propping it up! Pau, Tigers' opponents in November are up in 3rd!

1 Lyon 22 points
2 Bordeaux 20
3 Pau 13
4 Bayonne 13
5 Clermont 12
6 Montpellier 12
7Toulon 9
8 La Rochelle 9
9 Castres 9
10 Agen 9
11 Toulouse 9
12 Brive 8
13 Racing 6
14 S Français 5

[JP14]

Anyone see the Toulon score?