French rugby Updates : Le café du Rugby.

GerM

Second half starting: http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/95222/2/watch-biarritz-olympique-vs-aviron-bayonnais.html

12-6 to Biarritz. Only caught last 10 minutes of first half. Biarritz worth their lead from what I saw. Taking them on up front and making hard yards continually.

GerM

18-6. Biarritz motoring and Bayonne not getting a sniff. Being completely beaten up in the forwards. Biarritz would be out of sight if Yachvilli was on the pitch; they've missed several kickable penalties.

GerM

Bayonne creeping back into it with Phillips leading the way. One or two sloppy errors from Biarritz including knock ons and kicks out on the full give Bayonne field position which results in a couple of penalties. Boyet kicking perfectly.

Flavell yellow card for very bad high tackle on Balshaw. Slid up but then drove him back and to the ground by the throat. Biarritz back in enemy territory but give away possession.

Fitzgibbon ref I think. Some odd decisions but generally doing alright and keeping control of a very fired up encounter. He's definitely adapted his refereeing for the T14. Letting the scrums go completely with people popping up and binds breaking. Letting players make a mess of the rucks. No way he would ref it like this if it was Pro12. Interesting to see.

GerM

Bayonne try! Cross field kick and Ngwenya makes a complete mess of it allowing Bayonne centre to collect and break through before offloading for a simple try. Boyet converts. Biarritz will be wondering how on earth they're behind here. They've thrown this away.

CatFromHue

Troy Flavell still plays :eek:

GerM

Bayonne knock on at 10m line in 79th minute. Biarritz pack down and drive Bayonne right back on scrum. Fitzgibbon finally gives a penalty at the scrum. Last kick of match and Biarritz nail it to win. Great scenes at final whistle, Biarritz players and supporters go crazy. Pure Basque derby passion. Not a classic spectacle but full of drama. Biarritz should have sewn it up long before though. Missed 3 or 4 penalties and a few very achievable drop goals.

thomond2006

What was the score?

duckysauce

21-19 to poxy Biarittz peno in the 81st min

GerM

thomond2006 wrote: »

What was the score?

21-19. Peyrelongue with 5 pens and Traille with 2 drops. Boyet 4 pens, 1 conversion, Lacroix try. 3 yellow cards.

iroced

I think the expression "match à l'ancienne" could not suit better yesterday's game.

Can't believe Harinordoquy's father reaction though :eek:. That's just wrong for rugby... Anyway this refused try and this fight with Harinordoquy's dad is probably going to trigger passionate debates in France...

iroced

Great game from Montpellier tonight. We were in control during the whole game. Lyon had almost no opportunity to believe in something else than the defeat. We couldn't grab the WBP in the end but 3 days only after our intense battle against Clermont, an away victory 30-10 is much welcomed and very encouraging for the future. We were solid in the scrum again, efficient in our kicking (Moyano had a great game), unfortunately we made some mistakes in our attacking phases (hence our inability to get the WBP) but overall a very goog game.
I know it was "only" the promotted Lyon but well in the beginning of the season we lost at home to Begles-Bordeaux, the other promotted team.

Only bad news of the evening are Julien Thomas and Benjamin Thiery getting injured. Didn't look too bad for Thomas but it's a month for Thiery.

Now, let's recover well and focus on the big game in Biarritz. A victory would re-open the chase towards European positions and TOP 14 final phases.

thomond2006

Can't wait for Toulouse vs Toulon on Saturday, should be a cracker.

Ah nous les terribles guerriers du Pilou Pilou qui descendons la montagne vers la mer!!!!

thomond2006

Great games coming up tommorrow: Toulouse vs Toulon at 1:05pm and Stade Francais vs Racing at 3:15pm at Stade de France. Wilkinson and Giteau both starting for Toulon. Watch out for Henry Chavancy of Racing at outside centre, potential international.

Drexl Spivey

Tomorrow:

World Sevens quarter final: France V South AFrica

Toulon V Toulouse


Hope those will be on Sky

Hype710

Going to the game at Stade de France tomorrow, hoping for a great game. Contepomi vs Hernandez should be fascinating

pickarooney

That winger, Saubade, he's good :pac:

Drexl Spivey

IRB Sevens: France moves on to the semi finals after an impressive win over South Africa 19 - 5

iroced

Great game from Toulouse. WBP against Toulon (33-12). Toulon was disappointing. They couldn't do anything wioth their attacking balls. Twice they were 15 against 14 and they only managed in conceding points...

"Easy" victory for Clermont in the meantime (33-16). Castres only managed to deny them their WBP in the last min.


Fantastic game at the moment in the "Parisian Derby". Stade Francais seems to have finally find their from after their great win in Perpignan last week. They really dominate this first half so far.

tolosenc

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ah nous les terribles guerriers du Pilou Pilou qui descendons la montagne vers la mer!!!!

Ta gueule, mec !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUAh-6wBKS4

:P

"On vient, on gagne, et on s'en va !"

thomond2006

ugh, Toulon, putain...

iroced

Great victory for Montpellier last Sunday. WBP in Biarritz ... despite their "traditionnal Blanco-esque refereeing" :P. We controlled the whole game (even when Biarritz was ahead). We played well. Dominated the scrum. Proposed some nice attacking phases. Paillaugue is improving fast. He now offers great competition to Julien Thomas at scrumhalf position. Biarritz only responded with a counter attack try (very very nice try by the way) and the strenght of their line-out (with their Norwegian lad I forgot the name of & Harinordoquy). Amorosino & Trinh-Duc were top class and both scored a great try.

I was quite worried 10 days ago with this marathon week {Clermont (H) - Lyon (A) - Biarritz (A)}. 3 victories and 13 points after not only I'm relieved but I think we can start to be ambitious again .

It's really incredible how much the Leinster game changed our season so far. It could really be a major turning point !


Only bad point again is the "injury list". Ouedraogo is now sidelined for 3 weeks with a rib injury. We can thank the FFR for making us play 3 times in a week with each time one day recovery less than our opponent. I hope they'll never ever talk about protecting the so-called physical integrity of the players because they've just really showed that they don't give a sh*t .


Also Perpignan lost (again — 7 defeats in a row !!! —) in Lyon. They are now just a couple of points on top of the relegation zone and it looks like they'll fight for their survival in the elite league this season...

Burgo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UsiKlaBRgU

heres the biarritz try, and it was a cracker to be sure.

duckysauce

Cracking try and no help from Daddy either

thomond2006

http://www.rugby365.com/tournaments/super14/news/2831944.htm

Toulon sign Flaky Freddie for next season. Can't really understand that one, they've plenty cover at 9 (Tillous-Borde, Cibray, Henjak, Magnaval) and 10 (Wilkinson, Giteau, Dumora).

At least he's actually French qualified!

pickarooney

Are there any French players left playing abroad now?

thomond2006

Jauzion signs on for another year at Toulouse while Poitrenauld signs on for 2 more.

thomond2006

According to various reports in the French press, Toulouse hooker William Servat is set to become the latest high-profile player to join Toulon.

33-year-old Servat, who has 43 caps for France, is believed to have agreed to a three-year deal starting next term.

After 13 seasons at Stade Toulousain, the 2011 World Cup finalist is hoping to revitalise his career with the ambition of playing at the 2015 RWC in England.

"I always saw myself as a one-club man but, little by little, I've started telling myself that might not necessarily be the case," admitted Servat in November after initially seeking a two-year extension at Toulouse.

Now, la ''Bûche'' (the Log) seems set to follow the example of former team-team Cédric Heymans, who left for Bayonne after ten years in the Ville Rose.

Servat is set to join the growing squad of superstars in Toulon with Sharks playmaker Frédéric Michalak having also recently agreed to join Mat Giteau, Jonny Wilkinson et al. on the French South coast.

Club president Mourad Boudjellal has spoken of his desire to build an "army" capable of winning the Top 14 title.

"We're looking for a loosehead prop, a hooker, a lock and a number eight," said Boudjellal recently, adding that the latter would be a world-class player.

According the local newspaper Var Matin, at least five other players have agreed to join RCT including London Irish lock Nick Kennedy and England full-back Delon Armitage.

The newspaper also suggests that a number of players including Laurent Emmanuelli, Eifion Lewis-Roberts, Jean-Philippe Genevois, Kris Chesney, Dean Schofield, Joe El Abd, Joe Van Niekerk, Fabien Cibray, Matt Henjak, Willie Mason and Christian Loamanu could all be released.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_7406830,00.html

Signing Servat would make sense, Bruno is probably retiring at the end of the season. I can't see Toulouse letting him go without a fight though.

I'm not surprised they are looking for a second row, they are pretty light there in terms of quality in depth. Schofield and Chesney are average while it remains to be seen if Bakkies Botha can get back to his form a few seasons ago.

I'm be shocked if they released Van Niekerk, unless his body is giving up. He's a top class backrower. Lobbe will be back come next season too after his RWC knee injury.

I wish they'd stop signing average English players though. Armitage would fit in quickly because he speaks French but he's a liability. Nick Kennedy is nothing special either. For a team with serious cash they'd want to recruit better than that.

Anytime I've seen Henjak play at 9 I've been really impressed. He's restricted at Toulon because he's a non EU player and only plays when the likes of Hayman are left out. He'll sign for a good club I'd say.

Mason only came off the bench once for Toulon since he signed, the Toulon fans are calling him "the tourist". Rumour is he'll be back playing in the NRL next year.

Lapsed Catholic

Agree re the mediocracy of the players from the English PL. An over rated league IMO. The Top 14 seems to be a step up but there are a lot of average games and players around. USAP went from champions to non runners in 3 seasons, bar a run in the HC last season. Like any league there are 3-4 teams of quality and the rest make up the numbers. Castres are second in the table but got stuffed by Saints and were beaten by Munster at home. A Munster team in transition.

I like the Top 14 and have been to several games including 4 finals. The colour, bands and weather all help. But IMO the top levels of the Rabo Pro12 are on a par with anything from France or England, this is usually borne out in head to heads in Europe.

wixfjord

thomond2006 wrote: »

Signing Servat would make sense, Bruno is probably retiring at the end of the season. I can't see Toulouse letting him go without a fight though.

I'm not surprised they are looking for a second row, they are pretty light there in terms of quality in depth. Schofield and Chesney are average while it remains to be seen if Bakkies Botha can get back to his form a few seasons ago.

I'm be shocked if they released Van Niekerk, unless his body is giving up. He's a top class backrower. Lobbe will be back come next season too after his RWC knee injury.

I wish they'd stop signing average English players though. Armitage would fit in quickly because he speaks French but he's a liability. Nick Kennedy is nothing special either. For a team with serious cash they'd want to recruit better than that.

Anytime I've seen Henjak play at 9 I've been really impressed. He's restricted at Toulon because he's a non EU player and only plays when the likes of Hayman are left out. He'll sign for a good club I'd say.

Mason only came off the bench once for Toulon since he signed, the Toulon fans are calling him "the tourist". Rumour is he'll be back playing in the NRL next year.

How is Steffan Armitage getting on over there? Jesus they would be really pillaging LIrish if they got Kennedy and Delon.

porterbelly

wixfjord wrote: »

How is Steffan Armitage getting on over there? Jesus they would be really pillaging LIrish if they got Kennedy and Delon.

Playing very well for them. Seen him a few times and he's impressed, excellent at the breakdown. Once he's over the ball he's impossible to knock of it because of the way he's built and the low centre of gravity.

Toulon are supposed to be keen on Chris Ashton as well although I'd say he'll end up at Saracens