French rugby

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Robespierre
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French rugby

Post by Robespierre »

This is a new thread forthose of you interested in French rugby - the Top14 and ProD2.
In the Stade Français thread, I'd been posting the possibilities of relegation from the Top14 and promotion from ProD2.

However, I have just learnt that as from this season, only the bottom club in the Top14 will be automatically relegated and the club finishing 13th will play against the runner-up in ProD2 ( at the ProD2 club's ground), and the winner will play in the Top14 next season, and the loser in ProD2.

So, tomorrow's match Oyonnax v Brive is going to be rather important.
Just to recap, the bottom of the table looks like this with three matches to play:

Agen 38 points
Stade F 38
Brive 32
Oyonnax 30

The remaining matches concerning these clubs are:

This weekend : Pau v Agen, Oyonnax v Brive, Lyon v SF
April 28th: Agen v Clermont, Oyonnax v Lyon, SF v Brive
May 5th: Brive v Bordeaux, Castres v Oyonnax, La Rochelle v SF, Racing v Agen.

As far as ProD2 is concerned, the top of the table is this, with the last round on Sunday afternoon :

Perpignan 92 points (home to Carcassonne)
Montauban 92 (away to Biarritz)
Grenoble 84 (away to Soyaux Angoiulême)
Mont de Marsan 83 (away to Aurillac)
Beziers 79 (home to Nevers)
Biarritz 75 (home to Montauban

The play-offs are similar to England's Premiership, the first two have a semi final at home and for the others, 3rd plays 6th and 4th plays 5th, the winners of which advance to the semi-finals. The winner of the final is automatically promoted and the runner up plays the 13th placed team from the Top14.
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Lutontiger
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Re: French rugby

Post by Lutontiger »

Mon cher Robespierre,
Thank you for keeping us informed re French rugby. I like to follow former Tigers and other club players if they move to France. Since you registered your concerns re your team Stade Francais, I've been rooting for them to stay up! I have fond memories of sharing the terrace with Stade fans in the past and hope to do so again in the future.
Every blessing for the next few games.
Robespierre
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Re: French rugby

Post by Robespierre »

Lutontiger wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 2:09 pm Mon cher Robespierre,
Thank you for keeping us informed re French rugby. I like to follow former Tigers and other club players if they move to France. Since you registered your concerns re your team Stade Francais, I've been rooting for them to stay up! I have fond memories of sharing the terrace with Stade fans in the past and hope to do so again in the future.
Every blessing for the next few games.
Salut, Lutontiger! My support lies more with Brive as I've fond memories of getting legless with their supporters in Cardiff in '97!!
May Brive and SF both survive!
Also, I'd like to see either Perpignan and/or Mont de Marsan back in the Top14.
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Cagey Tiger
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Re: French rugby

Post by Cagey Tiger »

Robespierre wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:05 pm
Lutontiger wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 2:09 pm Mon cher Robespierre,
Thank you for keeping us informed re French rugby. I like to follow former Tigers and other club players if they move to France. Since you registered your concerns re your team Stade Francais, I've been rooting for them to stay up! I have fond memories of sharing the terrace with Stade fans in the past and hope to do so again in the future.
Every blessing for the next few games.
Salut, Lutontiger! My support lies more with Brive as I've fond memories of getting legless with their supporters in Cardiff in '97!!
May Brive and SF both survive!
Also, I'd like to see either Perpignan and/or Mont de Marsan back in the Top14.
Ditto Perpignan. Had some really good time with the USA pistes :smt030
JP14
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Re: French rugby

Post by JP14 »

Robespierre:
Tu dires que tu es une Stade Français supporter mais il dire qui tu habites dans Toulouse?

How accurate was that?
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Robespierre
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Re: French rugby

Post by Robespierre »

JP14 wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:54 pm Robespierre:
Tu dires que tu es une Stade Français supporter mais il dire qui tu habites dans Toulouse?

How accurate was that?
Not bad, JP, but you could do with a couple of weeks in France with beaucoup de vin rouge to practice!

"Tu dis que tu es un supporter de SF mais tu habites à Toulouse?"

True, I have some allegiance to SF and Brive even though I live close to the Pyrénées, but even more allegiance to Leicester Tigers whose matches I go to whenever I can!
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Robespierre
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Re: French rugby

Post by Robespierre »

Cagey Tiger wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:12 pm
Robespierre wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:05 pm
Lutontiger wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 2:09 pm Mon cher Robespierre,
Thank you for keeping us informed re French rugby. I like to follow former Tigers and other club players if they move to France. Since you registered your concerns re your team Stade Francais, I've been rooting for them to stay up! I have fond memories of sharing the terrace with Stade fans in the past and hope to do so again in the future.
Every blessing for the next few games.
Salut, Lutontiger! My support lies more with Brive as I've fond memories of getting legless with their supporters in Cardiff in '97!!
May Brive and SF both survive!
Also, I'd like to see either Perpignan and/or Mont de Marsan back in the Top14.
Ditto Perpignan. Had some really good time with the USA pistes :smt030
It would be good to have Perpignan back in the Top14. Their supporters are among the most "colourful" in France! Did you know that ex Tiger, Perry Freshwater, is coach of Perpignan's forwards?
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JP14
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Re: French rugby

Post by JP14 »

Robespierre wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 4:52 pm
JP14 wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:54 pm Robespierre:
Tu dires que tu es une Stade Français supporter mais il dire qui tu habites dans Toulouse?

How accurate was that?
Not bad, JP, but you could do with a couple of weeks in France with beaucoup de vin rouge to practice!

"Tu dis que tu es un supporter de SF mais tu habites à Toulouse?"

True, I have some allegiance to SF and Brive even though I live close to the Pyrénées, but even more allegiance to Leicester Tigers whose matches I go to whenever I can!
😂😂 good good
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LE18
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Re: French rugby

Post by LE18 »

JP14
You should write all your postings in French, better spelling than your English! :smt005

By the way, mon cher is a bit familiar isnt it, surely mon ami? :smt043
JP14
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Re: French rugby

Post by JP14 »

LE18 wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 7:46 pm JP14
You should write all your postings in French, better spelling than your English! :smt005

By the way, mon cher is a bit familiar isnt it, surely mon ami? :smt043
woah my spelling on here is usually good, I’m better than when I 1st came on here a year ago when I used text speech
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Robespierre
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Re: French rugby

Post by Robespierre »

Bonjour à tout le monde.

With two rounds of the normal season to go there's still a lot to play for at the top of the Top14.
The leaders are:

Montpellier 76 points
Toulouse 70
Racing 70
Toulon 68
Lyon 66
Castres 64
Pau 62
La Rochelle 61

As in the Premiership, the teams finishing first and second automatically qualify for a semi-final at home, and for the rest, 3rd plays 6th and 4th plays 5th.

At the bottom, Agen are safe from relegation having surprisingly won at Pau. Oyonnax stuffed Brive 40-17 and SF came a distant second to Lyon 44-3. Brive now seem doomed but they could survive if they win at SF and beat Bordeaux at home in the last game.

Agen 42 points
SF 38
Oyonnax 34
Brive 32

The next round is on the 28th of April:

Toulon v Castres
Agen v Clermont
Montpellier v Pau
Oyonnax v Lyon
SF v Brive
Bordeaux v Racing
Toulouse v La Rochelle

And the final round on May the 5th

Brive v Bordeaux
Castres v Oyonnax
La Rochelle v SF
Lyon v Montpellier
Pau v Toulon
Racing v Agen
Clermont v Toulouse

The top of ProD2 before the play-offs is:

Perpignan 97 points
Montauban 92
Grenoble 89
Mont de Marsan 84
Beziers 84
Biarritz 80

So in the play-offs next Saturday, Grenoble are at home to Biarritz and Mont de Marsan at home to Beziers. The semi-finals are on the 27th and the final on May the 5th.
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ourla
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Re: French rugby

Post by ourla »

Thanks for keeping us up to date. Big game for Stade next week. Is it on the telly?
Robespierre
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Re: French rugby

Post by Robespierre »

ourla wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:49 am Thanks for keeping us up to date. Big game for Stade next week. Is it on the telly?
Yes, a very big game! Both sides have to win. Brive, however, will have to win both their last two games to survive. If they do beat Stade Français then SF will have a mountain to climb the following week at La Rochelle who have an outside chance of making the end of season play-offs, or probably of greater importance, top flight European rugby next season for the first time!
Oyonnax too, have it all to do with a home match against Lyon (currently 5th) and then away to Castres(6th).
Backs against the wall!!

Will the SF match be on telly? Don't know yet, but probably yes.
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Robespierre
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Re: French rugby

Post by Robespierre »

We now know the ProD2 semi-finalists :

Saturday 28th April Montauban v Grenoble
Sunday 29th April Perpignan v Mont de Marsan

At the weekend's play-offs, Grenoble (home team) beat Biarritz 33-26 and Mont de Marsan (home team) beat Beziers 31-23.

For the semis, one would normally expect the home sides to be favourites, but it's worth noting that in October, Mont de Marsan thrashed Perpignan (in Perpignan) 44-20 and then earlier this month won the home match too, 23-18! The regular league matches between Montauban and Grenoble were close - Grenoble winning at home 24-21 and losing at Montauban 25-23.

The final will be played on Sunday May the 6th with the winner promoted to the Top14, and the loser will be in a play-off against the 13th placed side in the Top14 to decide which of the two will be in the Top14 next season.
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Robespierre
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Re: French rugby

Post by Robespierre »

The Top14 is down to the wire now with the last round of regular matches to be played tomorrow (May 5th) at 21h00.

At the bottom, Brive (32 points) will play in ProD2 next season. Above them are Oyonnax with 39 points and Stade Français with 42.
Both teams are away tomorrow, Oyonnax at Castres and SF at La Rochelle. If Oyonnax spring a surprise and beat Castres (who need to win to make the play-offs) and SF lose at La Rochelle, then SF will have to play the loser of Sunday's ProD2 final between Perpignan and Grenoble. However, I can't see Castres losing, so SF should be safe!

The top of the table is like this and tomorrow's matches are in brackets:

Montpellier 81 points (away to Lyon)
Racing 75 (home to Agen)
Toulouse 74 (away to Clemont)
Toulon 73 (away to Pau)
Lyon 66 (home to Montpellier)
Castres 64 (home to Oyonnax)
La Rochelle 62 (home to SF)
Pau 62 (home to Toulon)

The first two clubs are automatically in the semis and the next four will contest the play-offs (3rd plays 6th and 4th plays 5th).
Racing should beat Agen and cement their place in the semis. Elsewhere, Toulouse and Toulon will play their play-offs at home; I expect Lyon to beat Montpellier (who will surely rest several first choice players) and Castres to beat Oyonnax. However, we can expect La Rochelle and Pau to fight to the end in case the teams above slip up.
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