French rugby 2023/24

[LE18]

Stade beat La Rochelle, does that give us hope?

OUI, OUI!!!

My optimism might be tempered with the news that France’s outstanding No8, Gregory Alldritt will resume playing in early January.

Il sera rouillé (apologies Robes no accent on e and I had to use translator for that word - editted now)

[Robespierre]

OUI, OUI!!!

My optimism might be tempered with the news that France’s outstanding No8, Gregory Alldritt will resume playing in early January.

Il sera rouillé. (apologies Robes no accent on e and I had to use translator for that word.)

Fixed! , mais ton optimism est un peu mal placé!

[LE18]

My optimism might be tempered with the news that France’s outstanding No8, Gregory Alldritt will resume playing in early January.

Il sera rouillé. (apologies Robes no accent on e and I had to use translator for that word.)

Fixed! , mais ton optimism est un peu mal placé!

Merci Robes, non, il fait bon.

[Robespierre]

Round 11 results:

Lyon 20 Montpellier 18 (after this defeat and in spite of an lbp, Montpellier are now 5 points adrift at the bottom)
Bayonne 27 Racing 23
Toulon 19 Stade Français 5
La Rochelle 29 Toulouse 8 (send a weakened team to La Rochelle and you'll get thrashed! Tigers, take note!)
Oyonnax 34 Pau 13 (first game for All Black Sam Whitelock for Pau)
Clermont 35 Bordeaux/Bègles 40 (UBB are most certainly on the up!)
Castres 13 Perpignan 17 (a very unexpected away win for Perpignan lifting them clear of Montpellier at the bottom)

1 Racing 35
2 UBB 32
3 Toulon 32
4 Pau 31
5 SF 31
6 Castres 29
7 Toulouse 27
8 La Rochelle 26
9 Clermont 24
10 Bayonne 23
11 Oyonnax 20
12 Lyon 20
13 Perpignan 17
14 Montpellier 12

Round 12 is next weekend:

Saturday 6th
Pau v La Rochelle
Perpignan v Oyonnax
Racing v Castres
Stade Français v Clermont
UBB v Bayonne
Toulouse v Lyon
Sunday 7th
Montpellier v Toulon (a tough task for Montpellier to narrow the gap between 14th and 13th)

[Robespierre]

Top14 round 12 results:

Montpellier 27 Toulon 17 ( important win for Montpellier narrows the gap between 14th and 13th place)
Pau 20 La Rochelle 29 (La Rochelle are back in business)
Perpignan 27 Oyonnax 12 (Perpignan are now clear of the relegation zone)
Racing 34 Castres 30
Stade Français 14 Clermont 14
Union Bordeaux/Bègles 24 Bayonne 23 (UBB climb to 2nd)
Toulouse 45 Lyon 0 (impressive 2nd half put pointless Lyon to the sword)

1 Racing 40
2 UBB 36
3 SF 33
4 Toulouse 32
5 Toulon 32
6 Pau 31
7 Castres 30
8 La Rochelle 30
9 Clermont 26
10 Bayonne 24
11 Perpignan 21
12 Oyonnax 20
13 Lyon 20
14 Montpellier 16

The next two weekends are European Champions' Cup so round 13 (the half-way point) will be played on Jan 27/28.
UBB v SF
Bayonne v Oyonnax
Castres v Clermont
Lyon v Perpignan
Montpellier v Pau
Toulon v La Rochelle
Racing v Toulouse

[TigerFeetSteve]

Top14 round 12 results:

Montpellier 27 Toulon 17 ( important win for Montpellier narrows the gap between 14th and 13th place)
Pau 20 La Rochelle 29 (La Rochelle are back in business)
Perpignan 27 Oyonnax 12 (Perpignan are now clear of the relegation zone)
Racing 34 Castres 30
Stade Français 14 Clermont 14
Union Bordeaux/Bègles 24 Bayonne 23 (UBB climb to 2nd)
Toulouse 45 Lyon 0 (impressive 2nd half put pointless Lyon to the sword)

1 Racing 40
2 UBB 36
3 SF 33
4 Toulouse 32
5 Toulon 32
6 Pau 31
7 Castres 30
8 La Rochelle 30
9 Clermont 26
10 Bayonne 24
11 Perpignan 21
12 Oyonnax 20
13 Lyon 20
14 Montpellier 16

The next two weekends are European Champions' Cup so round 13 (the half-way point) will be played on Jan 27/28.
UBB v SF
Bayonne v Oyonnax
Castres v Clermont
Lyon v Perpignan
Montpellier v Pau
Toulon v La Rochelle
Racing v Toulouse

Odds in your opinion of La Rochelle going full bore against us this weekend I'm guessing are pretty high?

[Robespierre]

Top14 round 12 results:

Montpellier 27 Toulon 17 ( important win for Montpellier narrows the gap between 14th and 13th place)
Pau 20 La Rochelle 29 (La Rochelle are back in business)
Perpignan 27 Oyonnax 12 (Perpignan are now clear of the relegation zone)
Racing 34 Castres 30
Stade Français 14 Clermont 14
Union Bordeaux/Bègles 24 Bayonne 23 (UBB climb to 2nd)
Toulouse 45 Lyon 0 (impressive 2nd half put pointless Lyon to the sword)

1 Racing 40
2 UBB 36
3 SF 33
4 Toulouse 32
5 Toulon 32
6 Pau 31
7 Castres 30
8 La Rochelle 30
9 Clermont 26
10 Bayonne 24
11 Perpignan 21
12 Oyonnax 20
13 Lyon 20
14 Montpellier 16

The next two weekends are European Champions' Cup so round 13 (the half-way point) will be played on Jan 27/28.
UBB v SF
Bayonne v Oyonnax
Castres v Clermont
Lyon v Perpignan
Montpellier v Pau
Toulon v La Rochelle
Racing v Toulouse

Odds in your opinion of La Rochelle going full bore against us this weekend I'm guessing are pretty high?

There’ll surely select their strongest team!

[Robespierre]

Round 13 of the Top14 was played this weekend, and a few clubs suffered with 6Nations call-ups:

Racing 22 Toulouse 27 (good away win for Toulouse, Racing previously unbeaten at home, but despite 6N call-ups Toulouse had Antoine Dupont, Jack Willis, Richie Arnold and All Black prop Nepo Laulala in their team)
Bordeaux/Bègles 26 Stade Français 30 (BB certainly missed Lucu and Jalibert)
Bayonne 21 Oyonnax 17 (precious losing bp for Oyonnax)
Castres 20 Clermont 23 (Clermont seem to be on the up!)
Lyon 36 Perpignan 24
Montpellier 22 Pau 17 (the Simmonds brothers up against each other)
Toulon 25 La Rochelle 23 (surely LR would've won with their 6N players?)

1 Racing 40
2 SF 37
3 BB 37
4 Toulouse 36
5 Toulon 36
6 Pau 32
7 Castres 31
8 La Rochelle 31
9 Clermont 30
10 Bayonne 28
11 Lyon 24
12 Perpignan 21
13 Oyonnax 21
14 Montpellier 20

Round 14 is next weekend, the first 6N weekend.

Perpignan v Racing
Clermont v Lyon
La Rochelle v Montpellier
Oyonnax v SF
Pau v Castres
Toulouse v Bayonne
Toulon v BB

[Robespierre]

Round 14 results:
Toulon32 Bordeaux/Bègles 37
Perpignan 26 Racing 5
Oyonnax 19 Stade Français 23
Clermont 38 Lyon 21
La Rochelle 18 Montpellier 10
Pau 33 Castres 44
Toulouse 46 Bayonne 23 (11 tries altogether with Toulouse securing a winning bp in the last minute and Bayonne get a losing bp having scored 4 tries. To get a winning bonus point in the Top14, a team has to score at least 4 more tries than their opponents)

1 SF 41
2 Toulouse 41
3 UBB 41
4 Racing 40
5 Toulon 37
6 Clermont 35
7 Castres 35
8 La Rochelle 35
9 Pau 32
10 Bayonne 28
11 Perpignan 26
12 Lyon 24
13 Oyonnax 22
14 Montpellier 20

No matches next week, and round 15 will be played on February 17/18:

Lyon v La Rochelle
UBB v Pau
SF v Perpignan
Racing v Montpellier
Toulouse v Oyonnax
Bayonne v Clermont
Castres v Toulon

[Rugbygramps]

How are the French reacting to the Irish defeat Robes. Is Galthie feeling the pressure

[Robespierre]

How are the French reacting to the Irish defeat Robes. Is Galthie feeling the pressure

Shocked!
Apparently, all is not well within the coaching team. A pal of mine with whom I went to the Toulouse v Bath game, knows one of them very well and he and his colleagues have strongly disagreed with some of Galthié's selections.

Some changes will be made: another 2nd row in place of the daft Willemse and a prop for the injured Wardi. I'd love to see Le Garrec in the starting XV but rumour says that Galthié will stick with Lucu. Two young centres have been included, Depoortere of UBB and Gailleton of Pau, one of whom may get a bench spot. The team'll be announced at 11h30 on Thursday.

Here's the squad:

Props : Baille, Priso, S. Taofifenua, Aldegheri, Atonio, Laclayat

Hookers : Marchand, Mauvaka, Barlot

2nd row : Tuilagi, Woki, Gabrillagues, Halagahu

Back row : Alldritt, Cros, Ollivon, Abadie, Boudehent, Roumat

Scrum halves : Le Garrec, Lucu

Fly halves: Gibert, Jalibert

Centres : Danty, Depoortere, Fickou, Moefana, Gailleton

Wingers : Bielle-Biarrey, Penaud, Lebel

Fullbacks : Barré, Ramos

[sam16111986]

What's the story with Baptiste Jauneau, he doesn't seem to be getting many starts at Clermont and looks like a natural understudy to Dupont in terms of attacking game.

[Robespierre]

What's the story with Baptiste Jauneau, he doesn't seem to be getting many starts at Clermont and looks like a natural understudy to Dupont in terms of attacking game.

He was on the bench on Saturday for Clermont's bp win over Lyon and came on the pitch after 60mins or so.
He's still only 20 and full of promise and will hopefully be considered by Galthié soon.

[Robespierre]

Here's an update after round 16 of the Top14 (apologies, but I missed round 15)

First of all, watch this great try by Stade Français winger Peniasi Dakuwaqa against Racing:

https://sportingnews.com/ar/rugby/news/ ... 99e142ac4a

Montpellier 28 Bayonne 23
Castres 41 UBB 12
Lyon 43 Oyonnax 26 (Oyonnax will surely be relegated now)
Pau 17 Toulon 9
Perpignan 27 La Rochelle 15 (a resurgent Perpignan against an under strength La Rochelle)
Racing 11 SF 27 (a try, 3 conversions and 2 penalties from former Tiger Zack Henry)
Clermont 33 Toulouse 37

1 SF 50
2 Toulouse 50
3 Castres 44
4 UBB 41
5 Pau 40
6 Racing 40
7 Toulon 37
8 Clermont 36
9 La Rochelle 35
10 Lyon 35
11 Bayonne 33
12 Perpignan 31
13 Montpellier 29
14 Oyonnax 22

Round 17 next weekend:

Toulouse v Castres
Bayonne v Lyon
Oyonnax v Montpellier (important match for both teams 14th v 13th)
SF v Pau
Toulon v Perpignan
UBB v Racing
La Rochelle v Clermont

[Rugbygramps]

What’s the French reaction to the Italian game Robes