French rugby Updates : Le café du Rugby.

aimee1 · 06-06-2015 2:27pm

what time is clermont - toulouse on at

shrapnel222 · 06-06-2015 2:45pm

iroced wrote: »

Fantastic win for Stade Français tonight!

In the end, it's logical they beat RCT thrice this season (home, away and neutral :pac:).

Burban had a brilliant game, outside his interception try he made 2 crucial turnovers in a row 5 min to the end.

Toulon are not unbeatable!

Mazette, Ca fait bien longtemps qu'on l'attend cette finale. Allez le stade!!!!!trop content

:D

shrapnel222 · 06-06-2015 2:46pm

aimee1 wrote: »

what time is clermont - toulouse on at

3.15pm

vienne86 · 06-06-2015 2:52pm

aimee1 wrote: »

what time is clermont - toulouse on at

On SS3 from 3. No red button needed today.

06-06-2015 2:54pm

shrapnel222 wrote: »

3.15pm

vienne86 wrote: »

On SS3 from 3. No red button needed today.

Niiice. Only have Sky Go so no red button for me.

vienne86 · 06-06-2015 3:53pm

Pretty evenly matched these two. Haven't seen Rougerie on the wing before.

aimee1 · 06-06-2015 3:57pm

vienne86 wrote: »

Pretty evenly matched these two. Haven't seen Rougerie on the wing before.

he was a winger when he first came onto the scene

aimee1 · 06-06-2015 4:06pm

breakdown is a mess, ref needs to flash a few cards to sort it out

vienne86 · 06-06-2015 4:31pm

29 degrees in Bordeaux.....I wouldn't mind a bit of that, but it is tough for rugby. Fitness will be crucial.

thomond2006 · 06-06-2015 5:09pm

Clermont 15-14 up with 6 to go.

thomond2006 · 06-06-2015 5:12pm

When Brock turns up, he can be magnificent.

A glorious touchfinder in the corner and minutes later nails a drop goal. 18-14.

total former · 06-06-2015 5:17pm

Delighted that James gets to be the hero.

thomond2006 · 06-06-2015 5:19pm

Clermont vs Stade Francais next week. Unfortunately I'll miss it, both teams play a good brand of rugby so hopefully it will be a cracker. Today's match was a bit drab tbh.

Buer · 06-06-2015 5:26pm

vienne86 wrote:

Pretty evenly matched these two. Haven't seen Rougerie on the wing before.

He's a winger by trade. Over 50 international starts there. Bloody good too.

vienne86 · 06-06-2015 5:37pm

Delighted for Clermont and their fans. At one stage I thought they were trying to lose the match! Next week should be great!

vienne86 · 06-06-2015 5:38pm

Buer wrote: »

He's a winger by trade. Over 50 international starts there. Bloody good too.

Ah OK - I'd forgotten that. Just associate him with the 13 shirt for Clermont.

seanm187 · 08-06-2015 9:25am

.ak wrote: »

The amount of knock ons and forward passes was unusual. You'd swear they were playing in the pissings of rain up a hill. At times Stade just looked comfortable going through the motions, the only time they really had to push themselves was in the last 7 minutes when Toulon were knocking on the door, then some hero level stuff from Parisse and Burban got them out of trouble.

I wonder how the death of Jerry Collins might have affected the 3 former All-Blacks in the Toulon team.. It might have filtered through the rest of the team. From what I saw of the match their heads did not seem to be 100% there...
Just a theory

.ak · 08-06-2015 9:26am

seanm187 wrote: »

I wonder how the death of Jerry Collins might have affected the 3 former All-Blacks in the Toulon team.. It might have filtered through the rest of the team. From what I saw of the match their heads did not seem to be 100% there...
Just a theory

Yeah maybe but it was really Giteau that was the worst and caused the most issues. Think it's just been a long season for them.

thomond2006 · 08-06-2015 10:26am

Hayman, Botha, Williams and Masoe is a huge amount of experience to lose in one go. It's a big challenge for Ma'afu, POC, Manoa and Vermeulen (tbc).

Masoe's performances this season have been immense in particular considering his age (turned 36 last month), the competition in the backrow and the fact that he returned from surgery on a torn ACL. Keeping out Fernandez Lobbe and Gorgodze out of the starting team is some feat!

Giteau was in absolutely brilliant form at the start of the season but then ran into injury troubles around the New Year. Perhaps he needs some off season recovery to get back to his best.

iroced · 08-06-2015 10:47am

seanm187 wrote: »

I wonder how the death of Jerry Collins might have affected the 3 former All-Blacks in the Toulon team.. It might have filtered through the rest of the team. From what I saw of the match their heads did not seem to be 100% there...
Just a theory

It definitely had an impact. Laporte said that it was a strange day when he arrived in the locker room in the morning everyone was crying... The players insisted on their will to play though. But yeah very understandable that their head was maybe not 100% into the game.

Laporte and his players reactions after the game was great though. They barely mentioned it and mainly acknowledged Stade Français great performance (and season). Laporte said that they've been great in victory so now they have to be great in defeat (like that's how a great team behaves).

pickarooney · 08-06-2015 11:14am

Masoe had a very good semi-final. He certainly wasn't a weak link for any reason.

pickarooney · 08-06-2015 11:31am

Now that Aix have made it to ProD2, Marseille have come along and stuck their name on the team and the logo is changing to some poxy silver fern lookalike with an olive branch. Next they'll move the team and change the strip to white and blue.

Why bother building your own team when you can just steal your neighbours'? Pricks. I think Lyon basically did the same with Bourgoin.

iroced · 08-06-2015 12:19pm

pickarooney wrote: »

Now that Aix have made it to ProD2, Marseille have come along and stuck their name on the team and the logo is changing to some poxy silver fern lookalike with an olive branch. Next they'll move the team and change the strip to white and blue.

Why bother building your own team when you can just steal your neighbours'? Pricks. I think Lyon basically did the same with Bourgoin.

... You mean LOU "stole" Bourgoin know-how and identity ?

I don't know the Marseille situation at all but whatever efforts they're making / will make I'm really not sure rugby can develop in this town. It's exactly the same than trying to add a competitive rugby section to FC Barcelona. USAP tried for years to develop rugby there and get closer to Barça business (notably using the powerful catalan identity tool) but there don't really seem to be a strong enough interest on the other side of the Pyrenees. And I feel it's the same in Marseille.
Marseille is a "strange" town. Only football manages to prosper. They tried making OM a multisport club by e.g. adding a strong handball section in the 90ies but for various reasons it didn't last. The only other sports that are doing well in Marseille are water-polo and their swimming "circle". But nothing to do with OM and you just can't compare with "major" sports in terms of business, support, media importance.

total former · 08-06-2015 12:22pm

Aix is a small enough town with a huge city only down the road, a city that happens to have no pro rugby team of its own; I'd say they're falling over themselves to try to tap into that market.

Not sure what the Lyon/Bourgoin story is?

sydneybound · 08-06-2015 1:14pm

To be honest the jump from federal 1 to ProD2 is huge. Aix will need an awful lot more funding to even say in ProD2. Given its not a biggest of towns and have probably already exhausted their sponsorship streams in the pursue of ProD2 the move to get more businesses from Marseille involved given it has a population of 850,000 makes sense.

The owners of Aix probably want to embrace Marseille as must as Marseille wants to embrace them.Theres a massive city in the south of France which needs to be tapped further into. If the outcome of this move (or part move) helps promotes rugby and gets into the Marseille market I personally wouldn't be at all against it.

Besides I doubt they would play all their games in Marseille probably a certain percent. On another note I really hope Lille in the north of France stay in ProD2 next year. I would like a team like them to get promoted to the Top14, would be great for the geographically spread of the game in France.

baker59 · 08-06-2015 11:10pm

Hey, slightly off topic but I feel this thread is where I might be able to get advise.

For next season, I'm thinking of getting Canal Plus, main reason is Top 14.
Can anyone tell me if the package Canal+ with Canal Sport gives you one sports channel or if there are multiple games at once, you can choose which one you want to watch, or is that Canal Sat??

Thanks

pickarooney · 09-06-2015 6:58am

Castres and Oyonnax are smaller than Waterford and Kilkenny respectively. It would be horrible if these clubs lost their identity in being subsumed by some nearby metropolis with no interest in the game.

thomond2006 · 09-06-2015 9:26am

Isabelle the pundit: http://www.rugbyrama.fr/rugby/top-14/2014-2015/finale-top-14-isabelle-ithurburu-clermont-stade-francais-une-vraie-finale-de-haut-niveau_sto4775296/story.shtml

She is predicting a Clermont win despite her husband being the head coach of Stade Francais! :pac:

seanm187 · 09-06-2015 9:35am

baker59 wrote: »

Hey, slightly off topic but I feel this thread is where I might be able to get advise.

For next season, I'm thinking of getting Canal Plus, main reason is Top 14.

I take it you are living in France.
I would advise you to wait as the contract is going out to tender for the Top14 so it could be Canal+ or BeIN. Canal+ "won" it last year, but apparently it wasnt a fair process and BeIN complained so the courts cancelled the contract so it has to go out to tender again.
I would wait until August before doing anything..

sydneybound · 09-06-2015 10:43am

Hasn't this been sorted out already in the sense that after BeIn requested another hearing Canal+ bid an extra 3 million euro and now have the full rights?

http://advanced-television.com/2015/01/21/canal-retains-exclusive-top-14-rugby-rights/

sydneybound · 09-06-2015 9:48pm

I see Racing won't be signing anymore British or Irish players anytime soon.

http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/france-countries/top-14-racing-metro-cast-their-eyes-enviously-at-stade-francais-46046

Lorenzetti was on the Rugby World programme a few months back and came across like a decent chap. He seems a lot more down to earth than other high profile owners.

CatFromHue · 09-06-2015 11:21pm

Signing Lydiate and Roberts wasn't a great idea as neither of them have had great club careers and their success is all with Wales. Even saying that Roberts went through some leans years from 09-13 form wise with Wales.

the perfect ten · 10-06-2015 8:55am

Was signing Sexton a great idea?

Buer · 10-06-2015 9:16am

the perfect ten wrote: »

Was signing Sexton a great idea?

At the time, yes. In hindsight, not so much. Lost him to a lot of international windows and he suffered some knocks on test duty that badly affected his involvement with Racing. Didn't get a great return on their investment there.

sydneybound · 10-06-2015 9:26am

Buer wrote: »

Didn't get a great return on their investment there.

Big understatement! Last year he worked out ok but with international duty and that long period out this season it was a disaster for Racing given the massive money he was on.

molloyjh · 10-06-2015 10:04am

Buer wrote: »

At the time, yes. In hindsight, not so much. Lost him to a lot of international windows and he suffered some knocks on test duty that badly affected his involvement with Racing. Didn't get a great return on their investment there.

I don't think you can judge the idea on hindsight though. That extended spell on the sidelines could have happened to anyone at any time really so it doesn't change the quality of the decision. Racing bought a world class 10 and got a good deal out of him last season. This season not so much mainly due to the injury really. However you also have to look at the side as a whole. Was Sexton going to be able to deliver what they wanted in that set-up? I'd argue he wasn't. Racing are doing a good job of proving that cash and big names aren't everything.

10-06-2015 10:34am

You’ve got to feel for Jacky Lorenzetti. All that money he’s spent in the last two years to turn Racing Metro into the strongest side in France, and what’s he got to show for it? Not much,

Au contraire, I am less than sorry for the failures.

baker59 · 10-06-2015 10:36am

molloyjh wrote: »

Racing are doing a good job of proving that cash and big names aren't everything.

Apart from Dulin, I'd agree.

The 2 Laurents look like their contracts will be extended unfortunately. Racing won't do much while they are there and if they do....it won't be pretty to watch.

thomond2006 · 10-06-2015 11:23am

Racing have actually confirmed their signings today.

Tameifuna
Castrogiovanni
Fa'aoso
Carizza
Nyanga
Masoe
Tales
Carter

http://www.rugbyrama.fr/rugby/transferts/2014/transferts-top-14-le-racing-officialise-les-arrivees-de-castrogiovanni-tameifuna-et-fa-aoso_sto4777300/story.shtml

I'm amazed they signed Castro tbh. He's been a flop at Toulon and was third choice TH this year. In general that recruitment looks a little dodgy, a lot of players past their best.

Reports as well that Johan Goosen could be on his way home. There may not be much gametime for him next year with Carter and Tales at 10 and Dulin at 15.

pickarooney · 10-06-2015 11:44am

Tales has to be one of the least inspiring OHs in the game. I don't see what anyone sees in him. I'll eat my hat if Carter plays more than 15 games next season.

Buer · 10-06-2015 12:08pm

pickarooney wrote: »

Tales has to be one of the least inspiring OHs in the game. I don't see what anyone sees in him. I'll eat my hat if Carter plays more than 15 games next season.

You wouldn't know. With test rugby out of the picture, I'd say they'll be eager to get what they can out of him. Carter strikes me as a bloke who would want to play too.

I don't see him being flogged but I do see him being one of their more prominent players. Between ECC and T14, I'd say he'll be starting 20 games for them and might well feature a bit at 12.

Half the reason he was signed was for PR and marketing. They need him out on the field getting people through the gate.

Agree on Tales. I don't think he's a bad player...just a tad pedestrian for the level he's attained.

thomond2006 · 10-06-2015 1:51pm

Carter will essentially be the poster child of Arena 92, when it opens.

vienne86 · 13-06-2015 9:50am

So 8 pm. tonight (9 p.m. French time......very late, but it is France!) the Top 14 final Clermont v Stade. Should be a good game.....and so good that Toulon aren't involved!

nc6000 · 13-06-2015 10:01am

Funny looking starting team for Clermont. They must have a lot of injuries.

Buer · 13-06-2015 10:21am

I think SF will do it having looked at the Clermont side. No Fofana, Davies, Nakataci, Bonnaire, Cudmore or Debaty. Doesn't look as threatening behind the pack as it normally does.

With SF full of confidence at the moment and the game in their backyard, combined with Clermont's fragility, I can see them squeaking this.