French rugby Updates : Le café du Rugby.

Pienaar is a shadow of the player he used to be.

Buer

Deleted User wrote: »

Pienaar is a shadow of the player he used to be.

He wasn't a fraction of the player he once was in his final year in Belfast either but that wasn't a popular thing to say. Ulster actually upgraded their scrum half performance this past season in my opinion.

Buer

Thought that turnover was completely fair. Was on the ball before ruck formed and on his feet when ripped.

Huge moment now. Montpellier score a try from this attack and it's game on. Yellow card close for Castres.

sydthebeat

Jerome isn't far away from a castres card here I think.

For all the quality in that Montpelier pack, they are the most one dimensional set of forwards I've seen all season.

sydthebeat

He could have carded anyone of about 10 castres players there

Buer

Incredible passage of play. We've a proper T14 match now. That was the intensity of a RWC knock out. Referee needs to take a stronger hand and missed a rake of stuff there. A lot of dangerous play and professional fouls in those phases. Also clear knock on missed.

Squidgy Black

It's hilarious how poor this Montpellier team have been, given the wage bill of the lot of them.

sydthebeat

Game on

Buer

Nathan Hines is in better shape than any lock on the field.

Buer

Squidgy Black wrote: »

It's hilarious how poor this Montpellier team have been, given the wage bill of the lot of them.

You're right but we're guilty of not giving this Castres side enough credit. Much more than the sum of their parts here. Incredible performance from their pack.

Buer

Poor pass from Kockott hurt that drop goal chance.

10 fixing his socks before a kick in front of the posts and 20 minutes left!!!

Buer

Pienaar needs to realise his team is behind. Why kick for touch from such a strong position against 14 men?

Killed the final two mins of the sin bin ultimately.

nc6000

Shocking miss.

Buer

Bottled.

Squidgy Black

Tomane's on

sydthebeat

Steyn is like a prop playing at 12, same speed anyway

Edit :13 actually

Buer

Cruden now. Why kick the ball away when you're deep in opposition territory and desperately need a try?

And a penalty to Castres from the resulting line out. Gulf in intelligence between the respective halfbacks tonight. Kockott has been immense in his direction and all round play.

sydthebeat

That's shocking from monty

Tigerandahalf

Is there a limit on how many Saffers can be in French teams?

Squidgy Black

Buer wrote: »

Cruden now. Why kick the ball away when you're deep in opposition territory and desperately need a try?

And a penalty to Castres from the resulting line out. Gulf in intelligence between the respective halfbacks tonight. Kockott has been immense in his direction and all round play.

He's been absolutely everywhere, great performance from him.

Pieenar has been terrible, and honestly Ulster came out of it well seeing him leave. Cruden has just been dull and the ball hasn't really gone further than 10 anyways the backline have been completely anonymous.

sydthebeat

Even kocketts counter rucking has been very impressive

sydthebeat

Sine e

nc6000

Game over.

coco0981

That's the game, great win for Castres

Brilliant. That's well the game now.

Garces got fairly cleaned out there!

Elvisjuice

do they do hias for refs ?

cantwbr1

Score?

Elvisjuice

13-29

Buer

Excellent.

Utterly bewildering how Pienaar stayed on for 80 minutes.

Buer

Downside for Leinster fans is that Montpellier are possibly a second seed in Europe now.

Buer

Buer wrote: »

Downside for Leinster fans is that Montpellier are possibly a second seed in Europe now.

Yeah

Was just thinking that. Castres are rarely competitive in Europe so a nice top seed to get.

sydthebeat

Buer wrote: »

Downside for Leinster fans is that Montpellier are possibly a second seed in Europe now.

There's quite a bit of 'twilight players' to be disposed of on that team I think.

6 of that starting 15 are well on the wrong side of thirty, and it certainly showed tonight.

Clegg

The only times I've seen Pienaar play for Montpellier was in game against Leinster and tonight's final. Based on that very small sample he doesn't look half the player he was at Ulster.

Buer

sydthebeat wrote: »

6 of that starting 15 are well on the wrong side of thirty, and it certainly showed tonight.

7 of the Leinster team that beat Racing were over 30 and it would have probably been higher if SOB or McFadden were available.

They're not a young side but we've seen with Toulon and Saracens that the experience of top class guys who know how to win more than offsets their diminished speed and stamina.

Montpellier would be a poxy second seed to get. They pushed us all the way in the RDS. I reckon they'll be as good if not better next year in Europe.

thomond2006

It's incredible how Castres have won two titles in recent years. They don't have the finances of other clubs and certainly not the superstar names.

Squidgy Black

thomond2006 wrote: »

It's incredible how Castres have won two titles in recent years. They don't have the finances of other clubs and certainly not the superstar names.

11th out of 14 budget wise in the T14. It's outstanding considering the spending and big names they're going up against on paper should be annihilating them.

Heymans

So delighted to see Castres win over the imported team of Montpellier.

Urdapilleta is a class act and my French player of the season

Tigerandahalf

Too many SAs playing in the Top 14. A lot of them are coming into the end of their careers or are just not very good. A lot of young French players being denied gametime.

I don't see why Racing should be going off signing up Russell or even Zebo. Russell is very inconsistent and hardly much better than Remi Tales. As for Zebo there has to be young French backs deserving of a go. I wonder what the locals think of it.

Edit: didn't realise Tales was 34.

gooch2k9

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Too many SAs playing in the Top 14. A lot of them are coming into the end of their careers or are just not very good. A lot of young French players being denied gametime.

I don't see why Racing should be going off signing up Russell or even Zebo. Russell is very inconsistent and hardly much better than Remi Tales. As for Zebo there has to be young French backs deserving of a go. I wonder what the locals think of it.

Edit: didn't realise Tales was 34.

He's leaving as well. Back to where he started.

MJohnston

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1004990779792584704

roundymac

Delighted for him and Stuart Olding as well.

Squidgy Black

Talk of Lyon wanting to buy Tuisova out of the last two years of his contract in Toulon.

Boujedal apparently has said he wants to keep him but "will let him go for a seven digit figure".

Could be the start of a slippery slope.

Burkie1203

https://twitter.com/andymcgeady/status/1005196404946546690?s=19

iroced

thomond2006 wrote: »

It's incredible how Castres have won two titles in recent years. They don't have the finances of other clubs and certainly not the superstar names.

Squidgy Black wrote: »

11th out of 14 budget wise in the T14. It's outstanding considering the spending and big names they're going up against on paper should be annihilating them.

No, it's not. Castres is not a "small" team and its budget is very deceptive. Not everything is included in the budget rankings. Castres is sponsored by the French multinational pharmaceutical and cosmetics company Pierre Fabre. A world giant. They played 3 finals (and won 2) in the last 6-7 years. I never understood why people think it's a small club (maybe cause they never really seemed to care about Europe).

That said, Montpellier lost the final by themselves... Every single of our so-called big player failed dramatically. Bismarck, Cruden, Pienaar, Steyn, Nadolo. I could not believe how such experienced players (WC winners and leaders in their team) could crack under pressure like this. I'd have kiccked better than Pienaar in this game :eek:. Felt sorry and sad for our locals Fufu, Louis & Kélian. But c'est la vie. Despite a great season, you can expect Nothing after such a pathetic display in the final.

At some point, maybe Vern Cotter should be questionned too (not that I want Jake White back, surely not!). Not the first time that his team, favourite for a final, completely fails to deliver during it...

Burkie1203

iroced wrote: »

No, it's not. Castres is not a "small" team and its budget is very deceptive. Not everything is included in the budget rankings. Castres is sponsored by the French multinational pharmaceutical and cosmetics company Pierre Fabre. A world giant. They played 3 finals (and won 2) in the last 6-7 years. I never understood why people think it's a small club (maybe cause they never really seemed to care about Europe).

Can the same be said for every other team then? That they manipulate budgets which would still mean Castres have a budget that 8 or 9 other teams have bigger budgets

iroced

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Can the same be said for every other team then? That they manipulate budgets which would still mean Castres have a budget that 8 or 9 other teams have bigger budgets

I don't know. But I know that Pierre Fabre is a HUGE company that is behind CO. And I also know that Castres, if a small town, is not a small team. They actually confess themselves that they often use this "David vs Goliath" situation.

Burkie1203

iroced wrote: »

I don't know. But I know that Pierre Fabre is a HUGE company that is behind CO. And I also know that Castres, if a small town, is not a small team. They actually confess themselves that they often use this "David vs Goliath" situation.

A big company owner doesn't mean a bigger budget then everyone else though

pickarooney

They're similar to Pau in that you wouldn't find either place too quickly on a map or their jersey in lifestyle sports but the (potential) cash behind them is massive.

Meanwhile Toulon have signed Jacques Potgieter and are chasing Julian Saves.