French rugby Updates : Le café du Rugby.

iroced

For the ones who understand French click on the links .

=>http://www.lequipe.fr/Rugby/Actualites/La-ligue-nationale-de-rugby-se-defend-mais-se-dit-prete-a-discuter-avec-la-ffr/600512
Goze (president of the LNR) very quick to put all the blame on the staff and the players while stating that they had unique preparation conditions (the list of 30 : 30 games max for 30 players ; the 3 months preparation).
Goze was reacting to the general "all guilty" feeling in France. Basically he doesn't consider himself guilty :rolleyes:.

=> http://www.lequipe.fr/Rugby/Actualites/La-ligue-ne-veut-pas-de-contrats-federaux/600587
"Casus belli". The word is out there: a case for war! :eek: :rolleyes:... Jeez I was not far off with my Pantera youtube links in my post game post last Saturday. Here's another one :pac:

I'm not particularly supporting the federal contracts idea, I actually don't really have an opinion yet but instead of saying there're going to meet & talk with FFR and make cutting remarks in the press, DO fecking meet & talk FFS and STFU in the press you fecking kid !!!

=>http://coteouvert.blogs.lequipe.fr/toujours-pas-ensemble/
I don't agree with everything he says.

But he's dead right about the everlasting squabble between LNR/FFR. Feels like kids' playground "it's not me it's him". Pathetical. Just pathetical.

iroced

After losing all 3 derbies last year, Racing beat SF 27-18 tonight. Up to 2nd while SF stays on 10th position. Not a great game of rugby from the reports.

stadedublinois

iroced wrote: »

After losing all 3 derbies last year, Racing beat SF 27-18 tonight. Up to 2nd while SF stays on 10th position. Not a great game of rugby from the reports.

Wasn't a great game. Lots of handling errors, but at least trying to play a bit.

On point of interest with all the talk of lack of youth, 3 of the 4 tries were scored by young players in their first season of Top 14. Chat (19 year old Racing hooker) was particularly impressive.

sydneybound

Montpellier V Clermont Auvergne on Sky Sports 5 - Red Button right now, it's been a really good first half.

CatFromHue

Biarritz rock bottom on only 2 points, 5 behind the team above them!

iroced

sydneybound wrote: »

Montpellier V Clermont Auvergne on Sky Sports 5 - Red Button right now, it's been a really good first half.

Shame about this last min try that gave Clermont the LBP. We would have topped Top14 otherwise. It may also be key for a top2 spot by the end of the season and on aggregate when we'll have played the return game in Michelin.

But we kept our good run. Next game home to Toulouse and then away to Mayol. Can't wait to see how we'll fare there.


--

Outside Montpellier, La Rochelle TBP over Agen and Brive winning away to Pau will be important results for the relegation battle. Grenoble beating Castres away (though Castres got a RC just before the hour mark) will count too. Maybe fo a top6 position.
Toulon destroyed Oyonnax & Toulouse got a LBP from Bordeaux.

pickarooney

54-40, 13 tries between Aurillac and Béziers. Sounds like a mad match.

aimee1

http://www.the42.ie/census-johnston-eye-injury-2410795-Oct2015/

ouch

rrpc

stadedublinois wrote: »

Wasn't a great game. Lots of handling errors, but at least trying to play a bit.

On point of interest with all the talk of lack of youth, 3 of the 4 tries were scored by young players in their first season of Top 14. Chat (19 year old Racing hooker) was particularly impressive.

Great name for a hooker

iroced

iroced wrote: »

But we kept our good run. Next game home to Toulouse and then away to Mayol. Can't wait to see how we'll fare there.

Well... A 0 point defeat home to Toulouse. We had the opportunity to get into the LBP territory 8 min till the end but refused to kick a more than kickable pen while Toulouse was down to 14 men. Terrible mistake :eek:. We'd have secured a LBP and would have had 7 min to go and try getting the win :rolleyes:...
This point could be real costly come the end of the season.

Clermont got a TBP win over Castres. Ditto Oyonnax vs Pau. Brive got a LBP away to Racing. Ditto La Rochelle away to UBB. Toulon could only get the LBP away to Grenoble. SF lost again but got the LBP away to Agen.

After ~1/4 of the season, there's 2 championships. Tight enough for the top 8 and extremely tight for the bottom 6 :eek: (only 3 pts between 9th and last!).

1. Clermont 28
2. Racing 92 24
3. Toulouse 22
4. Montpellier 22
5. Bordeaux-Bègles 19
6. Grenoble 18
7. Brive 18
8. Toulon 17

9. La Rochelle 11
10. Castres 10
11. Oyonnax 10
12. Stade Français 9
13. Pau 9
14. Agen 8

vienne86

iroced wrote: »

Well... A 0 point defeat home to Toulouse. We had the opportunity to get into the LBP territory 8 min till the end but refused to kick a more than kickable pen while Toulouse was down to 14 men. Terrible mistake :eek:. We'd have secured a LBP and would have had 7 min to go and try getting the win :rolleyes:...
This point could be real costly come the end of the season.

Clermont got a TBP win over Castres. Ditto Oyonnax vs Pau. Brive got a LBP away to Racing. Ditto La Rochelle away to UBB. Toulon could only get the LBP away to Grenoble. SF lost again but got the LBP away to Agen.

After ~1/4 of the season, there's 2 championships. Tight enough for the top 8 and extremely tight for the bottom 6 :eek: (only 3 pts between 9th and last!).

1. Clermont 28
2. Racing 92 24
3. Toulouse 22
4. Montpellier 22
5. Bordeaux-Bègles 19
6. Grenoble 18
7. Brive 18
8. Toulon 17

9. La Rochelle 11
10. Castres 10
11. Oyonnax 10
12. Stade Français 9
13. Pau 9
14. Agen 8

I still find it extraordinary to see Stade down in 12th!

iroced

vienne86 wrote: »

I still find it extraordinary to see Stade down in 12th!

Last season was some kind of a "bug" though. They took advantage of everything that went their way (and fair play to them for that) but I think they overperformed and may have put themselves under too much pressure this year.

What's worrying for them is their next 2 are Clermont, that are firing on all cylinders, at home and Grenoble away. Would not be that crazy to see them lose both.

And in between, ERCC will start with a game away to Leicester and home to Munster. Tough schedule that could put them in a real crisis if things go bad. They have Castres example no to follow!

On the bright side, Montpellier a couple of years ago used HCup (despite losing games) to recover their form and climb back up in Top14.

stadedublinois

iroced wrote: »

Last season was some kind of a "bug" though. They took advantage of everything that went their way (and fair play to them for that) but I think they overperformed and may have put themselves under too much pressure this year.

What's worrying for them is their next 2 are Clermont, that are firing on all cylinders, at home and Grenoble away. Would not be that crazy to see them lose both.

And in between, ERCC will start with a game away to Leicester and home to Munster. Tough schedule that could put them in a real crisis if things go bad. They have Castres example no to follow!

On the bright side, Montpellier a couple of years ago used HCup (despite losing games) to recover their form and climb back up in Top14.

I'm not sure that it's too much pressure but more that the luck we had last year has turned. At the beginning of the season 4 props were in their world cup squads and two more were injured. A few games were lost in the scrum. The injury list is still long but Steyn is back and Genia and Alberts will be arriving soon.

I'm confident relegation will not be a problem but getting in the 6 will be difficult.

On another note it has been confirmed that Novès will not be able to select players from teams in the semi finals. I had a quick look and if the four favourites are in the semi finals (Toulon, Clermont, Toulouse, Racing), around 40 players who could hope to be selected will be unavailable. Explains in part why we used so many players over the last 4 years. A lot of the young players who should be benefitting from the absence of the star players are actually at the same clubs.

stadedublinois

Montpellier have just got two yellow cards in the first 15 minutes against Toulon.

19543261

Lovely try. This was only ever going one way-- what's happened to Montpellier lately?

irishbucsfan

Cooper just handed that try to Montpellier...

Kiwi_knock

That is the frustrating aspect of Cooper, just doesn't know when the pass is on.

errlloyd

Cooper has been class apart from that.

pickarooney

19543261 wrote: »

Lovely try. This was only ever going one way-- what's happened to Montpellier lately?

12 changes from last week. Back to the usual crap with the Top 14 where teams throw every second match. Grenoble and Oyonnax did the same. I don't know how you can instill a sense of pride in your players doing that or go the fans keep paying to see such deliberately one sided games.

stadedublinois

Very big win for Stade Français. The Clermont bench nearly won it though.

Both teams tried to play running rugby but the amount of knock ons was unbelievable.

iroced

iroced wrote: »

But we kept our good run. Next game home to Toulouse and then away to Mayol. Can't wait to see how we'll fare there.

Well. 0 pt from these 2 games is certainly not the expected outcome. And the "traditional" hammering in Mayol puts a dampener on our season start. Same old' same old' :rolleyes:...

Now we have a game away to Harlequins in the Challenge Cup. I'd like us to play this comp' seriously and try win it. Let's see how seriously we take it...

-

Lots of big home wins this week. Toulon, Toulouse (home to Grenoble), Castres (home to Racing), La Rochelle (home to Oyonnax) got comfortable TBP wins. Brive beat UBB 16-3 and climb up to 5th (2 pts from 3rd) place. Pau won the "relegation battle" game home to Agen in a 33-31 thriller (Agen missed the winning drop in the last min). But Agen LBP could count come the end of the season.

And finally, as stadedublinois said, SF beat Clermont and go into the ERCC fortnight with a much lighter mind . Parisse was back and made an immediate impact. I know it's a bit of a usual leap to say it but it's not wrong anyway .

ArmchairQB

Noticed Denis Coulson started at loosehead for Grenoble last week against Toulouse, huge win for them

iroced

iroced wrote: »

Now we have a game away to Harlequins in the Challenge Cup. I'd like us to play this comp' seriously and try win it. Let's see how seriously we take it...

Well we lost 41-18 with our first team :rolleyes:... Meanwhile our coach said he could be interested by the English job :rolleyes:...

3 defeats in a row now. Last year, around about the same time, we started our catastrophic run that ended Galthié era and almost sent us down...

stadedublinois

iroced wrote: »

Well we lost 41-18 with our first team :rolleyes:... Meanwhile our coach said he could be interested by the English job :rolleyes:...

3 defeats in a row now. Last year, around about the same time, we started our catastrophic run that ended Galthié era and almost sent us down...

It was a bizarre game. Montpellier were dominant for the first half hour (there was a 10 minute period with over 90% possession) and then just fell to pieces with the yellow card and the two (contestable) tries. 2nd half they looked like a different team

iroced

stadedublinois wrote: »

It was a bizarre game. Montpellier were dominant for the first half hour (there was a 10 minute period with over 90% possession) and then just fell to pieces with the yellow card and the two (contestable) tries. 2nd half they looked like a different team

Yeah it was the same in Mayol. We defended well, even down to 13 men. And despite conceding 2 tries fought back before half-time (think it was 19-8 at HT) just to vanish in the second half...

vienne86

Brive won their Challenge Cup match v Newcastle this evening. And they're fourth in the Top 14. For a club that has been turfed out of the Top 14 and fought themselves back in, they are going well....a long tradition of rugby in that town, and nice to see them back in form.

duckysauce

stadedublinois wrote: »

It was a bizarre game. Montpellier were dominant for the first half hour (there was a 10 minute period with over 90% possession) and then just fell to pieces with the yellow card and the two (contestable) tries. 2nd half they looked like a different team

Ian Davies did you big time 2 trys were not trys . His ear piece was not even working utter joke of a ref

jacothelad

Today...Je suis un Français.

pickarooney

Tarbes have effectively been double-relegated from Pro D2 for financial irregularities and falsifying documents. Good news for the bottom of the table strugglers in that they only to be better than Biarritz now, although BOPB have finally managed a couple of wins lately.

CatFromHue

What's the story with Eddie O'Sullivan and Biarritz now? Did they fire him or what?

vienne86

CatFromHue wrote: »

What's the story with Eddie O'Sullivan and Biarritz now? Did they fire him or what?

I'm pretty sure he's still in situ.

pickarooney

Last I saw the team was travelling without him to away games. I guess they can't afford to fire him or hire a new coach but need someone to use as a scapegoat.

nc6000

pickarooney wrote: »

Last I saw the team was travelling without him to away games. I guess they can't afford to fire him or hire a new coach but need someone to use as a scapegoat.

So he's only coach for the home games then?

vienne86

nc6000 wrote: »

So he's only coach for the home games then?

Sounds ridiculous.

pickarooney

nc6000 wrote: »

So he's only coach for the home games then?

He probably has to buy a ticket though so they have to let him in the stadium but not on the bus! The team picks itself too with only about 20 professional players available.

nc6000

Toulon have signed Trinh-Duc. All getting a bit silly now.

vienne86

nc6000 wrote: »

Toulon have signed Trinh-Duc. All getting a bit silly now.

Ah for heaven's sake! Who's next?

thomond2006

nc6000 wrote: »

Toulon have signed Trinh-Duc. All getting a bit silly now.

Cooper and/or Michalak will be out in the summer.

It's not a great sign that a Montpellier stalwart wanted out. I don't think Toulon would have offered much more money.

Hagz

At least he's French. I approve.

Journeyman_1

Cooper was granted permission to play 7's afaik so maybe that had an impact. Michalak is probably going to retire also.

aimee1

http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/adrumm/nemani-nadolo-and-joe-tomane-agree-to-join-top-14-club/

nadolo and tomane off to montpellier

pickarooney

Biarritz win away to Dax and are suddenly out of the relegation zone.

vienne86

Racing have just beaten Toulouse 28-13. It was a cracking match with a hatfull of tries. Racing very impressive this season IMO.

Clegg

Toulan's starting 15 for the Clermobt game is ridiculous. Samo Manoa at lock, Gorgodze, Fernandez-Lobbe and Vermeulen in the back row. Giteau at 10 and Drew Mitchell on the wing. They've dropped Cooper because they can and Ma'a Nonu hasn't even started a game for them yet. It's disgusting how many stars they have.

LuckyGent88

Clermont v Toulon now on sky sports 4.

Giteau back for Toulon and vermulan makes top 14 debut

LuckyGent88

Lovely try by Toulon. Showed great patience initially and then the passing was very good to open up the Clermont defence

LuckyGent88

Toulon absolutely battering Clermont. 19 points clear with 20 mins left and Clermont are down to 14 for the next 10 mins.

LuckyGent88

Absolutely pathetic from Clermont at the end.

Way too easy for Mitchell to score. Once again steffon armitage with 2 turnovers in just 10 minutes.

Bonus point victory for Toulon.

thomond2006

9-35 FT, wow!

vienne86

thomond2006 wrote: »

9-35 FT, wow!

In Stade Marcel Michelin too! Not the bastion it once was.