French rugby Updates : Le café du Rugby.

nc6000

Looks like Eddie had agreed a package to leave Biarritz.

vienne86

nc6000 wrote: »

Looks like Eddie had agreed a package to leave Biarritz.

Just seen that here:

http://www.lequipe.fr/Rugby/Actualites/Pro-d2-biarritz-se-separe-a-l-amiable-d-eddie-o-sullivan-et-pierre-chadebech/611919

phog

Pau drew with Racing tonight.

vienne86

phog wrote: »

Pau drew with Racing tonight.

Top of the table Racing could only manage a draw at Pau???? I know the French clubs always concentrate on their home games and usually lost the away games, but that sounds pathetic from Racing.

aimee1

dusatoir has retired from international rugby

pickarooney

Parisse staying at Stade Français.

pickarooney

Biarritz won again last night. The turnaround looks to be complete. With Tarbes going down for financial reasons and Aix looking dead certs to back down it looks like they're going to survive.

iroced

Terrible week for Montpellier. Trinh-Duc off to Toulon (could be good for him, probably the step forward he needs to come back into the French squad ; he had linked his future at the club to Galthié's one anyway) and a 0 pt defeat away to our nemesis Castres (TBP win for them) with a hat-trick from our former player Alex Tulou :rolleyes:.

Managerial decisions at the club have turned catastrophic for about 1 full year now.


-

UBB won away to SF that continue to "suffer" this season...
Pau got a last min home draw vs Racing. Great for them.
La Rochelle couldn't get the TBP but secured a key home win over Grenoble.
Toulouse & Toulon cruised at home.

Tomorrow (well this afternoon ) the big (:eek: ) game of the week Brive-Clermont!

pickarooney

Good game so far. Brive playing some lovely rugby.

vienne86

pickarooney wrote: »

Good game so far. Brive playing some lovely rugby.

Finished 21-26, so LBP for Brive, keeping them in the top 6 (5th).

aimee1

apparently the owners of football club PSG are looking to buy Narbonne and invest big time

http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/adrumm/the-billionaire-owners-of-paris-saint-germain-are-looking-to-buy-french-club/

pickarooney

Rocky Elsom owns Narbonne??

former total

Give the clicks to the guys who actually broke the story (and get a much better read):

http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/france-countries/cash-rich-qatar-circle-rocky-elsoms-narbonne-52674

Pundit Arena is essentially just a blog site.

pickarooney

So young people in your country want to learn more about a sport. Do you:
a) bring them out and teach them a bit about the game
b) show some matches on TV with analysis geared towards new spectators
c) buy a club ?

sydneybound

former total wrote: »

Give the clicks to the guys who actually broke the story (and get a much better read):

http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/france-countries/cash-rich-qatar-circle-rocky-elsoms-narbonne-52674

Pundit Arena is essentially just a blog site.

Yes this news has been going round for a while.

I wonder why Narbonne. If I where them I'd go for Lyon or Perpignan in ProD2. Lyon with its massive population while Perpignan are already a massive club ate better bets in my opinion

pickarooney

Perpignan are in freefall and just fired their manager (one of three ditched last weekend in ProD2). Lyon will already be back in the Top 14 by next year so if the project is to take a team up and keep it there Narbonne is on of the better options. Plus they were forced to get their finances in order a couple of years back.

vienne86

aimee1 wrote: »

apparently the owners of football club PSG are looking to buy Narbonne and invest big time

http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/adrumm/the-billionaire-owners-of-paris-saint-germain-are-looking-to-buy-french-club/

I think there is a long tradition of rugby in Narbonne - didn't they feature in the Challenge Cup/Shield at some stage? There's probably still a good following locally.

iroced

vienne86 wrote: »

I think there is a long tradition of rugby in Narbonne - didn't they feature in the Challenge Cup/Shield at some stage? There's probably still a good following locally.

A long tradition. Narbonne is a historical place of French rugby. Narbonne is home to Jo Maso and the Spanghero brothers, figures of French rugby.

pickarooney wrote: »

Perpignan are in freefall and just fired their manager (one of three ditched last weekend in ProD2). Lyon will already be back in the Top 14 by next year so if the project is to take a team up and keep it there Narbonne is on of the better options. Plus they were forced to get their finances in order a couple of years back.

Perpignan need better men at the head of their club. There's everything to build a big club there (at least one in the "range" of Grenoble, Brive, La Rochelle etc...). But they need to sit down and focus on a mid to long-term project instead of blaming their lack of cash power. They were the club that dealt the best with the professionalism turn. They had a good president then though...

LuckyGent88

Toulouse and Toulon on sky sports 4 now.

And I thought saili's intercept was bad earlier.... Nonu just threw the worst Iv ever seen on his own 5 metre line

stadedublinois

Novès is announcing his first group today. It is not a squad as such but a group that will go for 1 day to listen to his project. Will still be interesting to see who is on it.

swiwi_

Conrad getting one over his old mate, hi hi.

En fait ca me fait du bien de parcourir le forum de la section paloise. On se rejouit de la forme de Slade et de Smith. Sans parler de la charmante Isabelle, elle-meme d'origine paloise.

The Irish lads Coughlan, Butler etc also getting a mention.

pickarooney

On rugbyrama or a dedicated Pau forum?
Nonu back to his old habit of phoning it in in a non world cup year I reckon.
Tom Taylor looks like taking some time to adjust and QC has replaced Michalak for better and worse.

swiwi_

pickarooney wrote: »

On rugbyrama or a dedicated Pau forum?
Nonu back to his old habit of phoning it in in a non world cup year I reckon.
Tom Taylor looks like taking some time to adjust and QC has replaced Michalak for better and worse.

The dedicated Pau forum there pickarooney. Their fans are pretty happy Mourad went with Cooper and Nonu and they got Slade & Smith. Slade was always going to be a good signing, one of those guys without an ego who just gets stuck in. Was always just short of being a really top class international but he had a great couple of last seasons with the Crusaders and they got themselves a good signing. Although not cheap I understand.

Makes a change from the absolute bilge that has been this forum today anyway.

pickarooney

How did Crusaders end up losing Carter, Slade, Taylor and Blyendaal all at the same time? Have they another batch of replacements off the belt or are they a bit light at ten this year? I suppose Blyendaal and Taylor are no great loss based on what we've seen so far but Slade would surely have been starting at Crusaders and a good bet for the all black Jersey.

swiwi_

pickarooney wrote: »

How did Crusaders end up losing Carter, Slade, Taylor and Blyendaal all at the same time? Have they another batch of replacements off the belt or are they a bit light at ten this year? I suppose Blyendaal and Taylor are no great loss based on what we've seen so far but Slade would surely have been starting at Crusaders and a good bet for the all black Jersey.

Not the right thread, I suppose, so I'll be brief.

Blyendaal 4th best 10 at Crusaders, no chance of ever playing for NZ, saw the writing on the wall.

Carter - end of career pension opportunity, change of scene, absolutely nothing left to achieve in NZ! Since I have followed the Crusaders we had Mehrts then DC, it's sad times

Slade - don't think he would have featured too much for NZ, but an excellent 10 at Super Rugby level. The NZRU couldn't/wouldn't match Pau's offer. He took a good while to make his choice.

Taylor - IMO a very good 10/12/15, certainly an excellent goalkicker, should have moved to the Blues if he wanted to further his career as he was blocked at the Crusaders by better players, I imagine he is earning much more in France than he would have in NZ on a Super Rugby contract. I would have liked him to stay, a very handy player to have around.

The Crusaders let Damian McKenzie go the Chiefs, which was unfortunate, as he is a good bet to pull on black in 2016. I guess they didn't foresee all 3 10s leaving en un seul coup.

Instead, we have his brother (the less able one Marty), the Fijian 10 Volavola (so-so), and then promotions from the ITM cup Hunt and Mo'unga, whom I have never seen play.

I don't see the Crusaders winning Super Rugby in 2016...

Mes excuses aux partisans du café du rugby d'avoir détourné momentanément la discussion...

pickarooney

It's all relevant what with super rugby being the de facto feeder league for the Top 14...

Taylor actually belongs to the penniless Aviron Bayonnais if I'm not mistaken. Wonder what he's earning. They're a good bet to go back up though so he might not be too long in the var.

swiwi_

pickarooney wrote: »

It's all relevant what with super rugby being the de facto feeder league for the Top 14...

Taylor actually belongs to the penniless Aviron Bayonnais if I'm not mistaken. Wonder what he's earning. They're a good bet to go back up though so he might not be too long in the var.

Slade is on €400,000 - €500,000 season.

Taylor was signed for Bayonne, tu as raison, I would expect he is in the €200,000+ bracket, otherwise he might as well have stayed in NZ.

pickarooney

What would the likes of Nonu have been on at the Hurricanes?
He's on much less at Toulon than the likes of Madigan will be at Bordeaux if reports are to believed.

swiwi_

pickarooney wrote: »

What would the likes of Nonu have been on at the Hurricanes?
He's on much less at Toulon than the likes of Madigan will be at Bordeaux if reports are to believed.

TBH his Hurricanes contract wouldn't have been the money-maker, more his AB status. From memory a top SXV contract is about NZ$250,000, but he would have at least doubled that with his AB duties. NZ players don't stay in NZ for the money, they virtually always take a pay increase when they move.

Nonu (despite his amazing 2015 NZ season) is ageing, and with a history of underwhelming provincial output (at least when not involved with Wellington/Canes), so I wouldn't have paid him megabucks either. He was outshone by Luke Fitz, and his Top 14 start hasn't been too flash.

Madigan, despite his flaws, is a matchwinner with his boot. There seems to be a lot of goalkicking deciding results in the Top 14 from my cursory interest.

pickarooney

They can't breed out halves here for love or money. I don't think I've one kid at up to u16 specialise at ten. They only start kicking at all at under twelve level. Maybe that's normal but the youngsters don't seem to be overly attracted to a position that's pretty much the game runner in most countries. There are no real French hero 10s for them to look up to I guess.

swiwi_

pickarooney wrote: »

They can't breed out halves here for love or money. I don't think I've one kid at up to u16 specialise at ten. They only start kicking at all at under twelve level. Maybe that's normal but the youngsters don't seem to be overly attracted to a position that's pretty much the game runner in most countries. There are no real French hero 10s for them to look up to I guess.

Ah yeah in NZ 10 is the star and gets all the girls...

pickarooney

That's the TH prop's domain here

sheep?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/35373615

Is Mourad is taking the baguette? Surely this is a threat aimed at T14 in an effort to raise the cap?

sheep?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/35373615

Is Mourad is taking the baguette? Surely this is a threat aimed at T14 in an effort to raise the cap?

nc6000

Shame he doesn't want to go further away.

Bridge93

Ubnoxious, aggressive, ignorant, entitled man. Been found out to be cheating the system and tries to make it out like it's everyone else's problem and they aren't ambitious enough.
I hope he's told where to go and has to face the music in France. On what planet does he think this will go through? As if the world would be delighted to have Toulon in their league.
As for comparing it to Monaco in football... smoking something suspicious.

Cookiemunster

Possible trouble for the Top14 TV deal?

BeIN sport losing €200m a year and may be sold.

stadedublinois

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Possible trouble for the Top14 TV deal?

BeIN sport losing €200m a year and may be sold.

Not directly. Top 14 is on Canal +. BeIN have the rights for European rugby though.

astonaidan

swiwi_ wrote: »

Ah yeah in NZ 10 is the star and gets all the girls...

Same here in the whest, its why I play 15 to like even it out :pac::pac:

Winters

It’s symptomatic of the crisis of confidence within the French game. The national team has been in steady decline for years and Guy Noves is the latest coach to be tasked with transforming their fortunes. People talk of a ‘new era’, in much the same way they do in England, but the more discerning French fan knows that Les Bleus’ World Cup failure can only be partly attributed to the coach. The whole structure of the sport in France, from professional level down through to amateur club rugby and youth level, is sclerotic. But France is a conservative nation, one that is wary of change, and there are too many people in power who would rather preserve the status quo than implement the drastic change that is necessary.
Read more at http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/france-countries/the-top-14-going-through-a-crisis-of-confidence-53546#Cw7BLY2GTkAYzXat.99

http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/france-countries/the-top-14-going-through-a-crisis-of-confidence-53546

vienne86

Montpellier 3-16 up against Clermont at half time in Stade Marcel Michelin - playing very well.

vienne86

Montpellier got the win in Clermont - 15-19.

aimee1

http://www.rugbyonslaught.com/2016/01/it-took-bitter-rivals-biarritz-and.html

Buer

vienne86 wrote: »

Montpellier got the win in Clermont - 15-19.

They're on the slide now having lost 4 of their last 5. If Toulouse, Racing and Toulon win their games in hand Clermont drop down to 4th. They need to stem the flow urgently.

Del.Monte

Just watched Toulouse vs Pau - it was car crash stuff and you couldn't look away. 54 - 3 to Toulouse and the scoreline flattered Pau! Despite the presence of Colin Slade, Conrad Smith and James Coughlan... :eek:

Pau's forwards were completely outplayed in every facet of the game - the lineout and scrum failed to function at all, and in general play they were turned over so often that I lost count. Nearly every scrum resulted in a penalty for Toulouse. Still it was entertaining in a sadistic kind of way.

CatFromHue

aimee1 wrote: »

http://www.rugbyonslaught.com/2016/01/it-took-bitter-rivals-biarritz-and.html

It's just not the same without Harinordoquay's Dad involved

sheep?

CatFromHue wrote: »

It's just not the same without Harinordoquay's Dad involved

Ha! That's all I could think of watching that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sypud2O8E00

Bloody lunacy from the two wingers. A couple of red cards would have been justified.

aimee1

cipriani to lyon, punditarena on twitter are saying anyway

thomond2006

Chris Masoe stays on for another year with Racing. It's pretty amazing that he's still playing to a high level at 36 after a written off season two years ago with torn/ruptured knee ligaments.

thomond2006

Big pressure on Oyonnax today at home to Toulon as Pau earned an upset win at Montpellier yesterday. Oyonnax are in the relegation zone and 10 points from Pau.