Old Hob wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 6:43 pm
In the Biarritz/ Toulouse game the ref has just awarded a free kick for a crooked feed !!!. Nearly spilled my Chablis.
Did the scrum half put the ball at the feet of the No 8?!!
Good man, Old Hob, for keeping a grip of your Chablis!
Let's take a look at the ProD2 table after 6 matches. There are a few former Tigers who are currently playing in ProD2, whose names are in brackets. One surprise is the demise of Vannes, who came within a gnat's cock of winning promotion to the Top14 last season.
ourla wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 11:20 am
Are Agen in free fall?
In short, yes! They lost all 25 matches in the Top14 last season and are in search of their first win in ProD2 having played 6 and lost 6. They targeted last Saturday’s match at home to 10th places Narbonne, but it was not to be. There’s talk of a change of coaching staff but believe the President has said that head coach Regis Sonnes “has his full backing”, which may not mean much. I hope solutions will be found because they’re a club with heaps of tradition in French rugby (like Dax, Lourdes who find themselves in lower leagues)
Stade Français 22 Clermont 14 (have SF turned the corner? They're no longer in 14th place - just!)
Biarritz 5 Lyon 40 (Guess who's 14th now?)
Bordeaux 27 Montpellier 23
La Rochelle 29 Castres 10 (after a hesitant start, La Rochelle are finding some overdue form)
Racing 17 Perpignan 14 (Racing were leading 17-0 until the 68th minute and Perpignan score two tries to get a deserved lbp)
Toulouse 38 Pau10 (Pau were leading 7-0 at half time then Toulouse got their act together and scored 5 converted tries)
Toulon 13 Brive 9 (Brive are a hard nut to crack this season and a well worth their 5th place)
Brive v La Rochelle
Castres v Biarritz
Pau v Bordeaux
Perpignan v S Français
Montpellier v Clermont
Toulon v Racing
Lyon v Toulouse (Toulouse's first defeat looms!)
Former French No8, “King” Louis Picamoles (82 caps) has announced his retirement at the end of the current season. Currently with Bordeaux, he’s played for Montpellier, Toulouse and of course Northampton.
Round 7 of the Top14 was played at the weekend with some tight games.
Toulouse's unbeaten run came to an inevitable end in Lyon (who did the double over Toulouse last season), Stade Français scraped home in Perpignan by one point, Clermont by two in Montpellier and the same for La Rochelle in Brive.
Tigers' Champions'Cup opponents Bordeaux appeared to be running away with their match in Pau and then Pau came back and got a deserved lbp.
Another defeat for Toulon at the hands of Racing. Head coach Patrice Collazo can't last much longer!
Lyon 25 Toulouse 19
Brive 6 La Rochelle 8
Castres 38 Biarritz 20
Pau 33 Bordeaux 37
Perpignan 22 S Français 23
Montpellier 20 Clermont 22
Toulon 20 Racing 27
1 Toulouse 7/26
2 Bordeaux 7/23
3 Lyon 7/21
4 Racing 7/20
5 Castres 7/19
6 Brive 7/16
7 La Rochelle 7/15
8 Pau 7/14
9 Montpellier 7/14
10 Clermont 7/13
11 Toulon 7/12
12 SF 7/12
13 Perpignan 7/10 (The two promoted sides already find themselves in the danger zone)
14 Biarritz 7/8
Round 8 next weekend:
Clermont v Pau
Biarritz v Brive
Bordeaux v Perpignan
S Français v Lyon
Racing v Montpellier
Toulouse v Castres
La Rochelle v Toulon
Thanks for posting this, kk! Have Agen turned the corner and will they avoid relegation?
This win must have been so important for such a club with so much tradition and I hope that whoever are appointed the new coaching team for the rest of the season can begin to build on this win to ensure ProD2 rugby next season, and maybe a return to the Top14 in the next few seasons, cos it won't happen overnight.
La Rochelle 39 Toulon 6 (Toulon take a thrashing and are second from bottom)
Clermont 42 Pau 20
Biarritz 37 Brive 9
Bordeaux 39 Perpignan 13 (Hope Tigers were watching an impressive Bordeaux)
S Français 23 Lyon 18 (Good to see SF moving up the table)
Racing 21 Montpellier 32 (I certainly hadn't forecast a Montpellier win at Racing!)
Toulouse 41 Castres 0 (Not a lot to say!)
Next weekend's fixtures:
Castres v Brive
Pau v S Français
Toulon v Biarritz
Montpellier v Lyon
Bordeaux v Clermont
Perpignan v La Rochelle
Racing v Toulouse
Toulouse scrum half, Antoine Dupont, has been named captain of the French XV for their Autumn Tests against Argentina, Georgia and New Zealand. Charles Ollivon was captain before the summer tour to Australia and is still injured, but as Fabien Galthié is spoilt for choice at flanker, there must be some doubt if he’ll even regain his place in the side. My guess is that he won’t.
1. Unsurprisingly, considering the disappointing start to the season (played 8, won 2, drew 1 and lost 5, and currently 13th in the Top14), Patrice Collazo has been "relieved of his responsibilities" as head coach of Toulon and will be replaced, until further notice by James Coughlan (ex Munster and Pau back row).
2. It's likely that France will begin their Autumn campaign with Bordeaux fly half Mathieu Jalibert at 10 with Toulouse fly half Romain Ntamack at 12. Tigers beware! Jalibert has been in scintillating form this season!
Following on from my previous post, Franck Azéma (formerly head coach of Clermont) takes charge at Toulon.
From December, he'll be joined by Frédéric Michalak who'll be repsonsible for "player development.
Elsewhere, Stade Français have signed an enormous 19 year-old Fijian, Janeiro Wakeham, who's an impressive 2m08 and weighs in at a mere 140 kg! He's signed a three-year contract initially with the development squad.