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Montpellier win first Top 14 title in dominant style

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Montpellier dominated Castres to win the Top 14 Final 29-10 at Stade de France in Paris, claiming their first top-tier domestic title.

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Three tries in the opening 12 minutes set up the victory against more fancied Castres 29-10 as they provided a superb display of incisive attack and stoic defence on Friday night.

It was sweet revenge for Montpellier, who lost to the same opponents 29-13 in the 2018 decider but this time never looked like giving up the crown as their dominant first half effort laid the platform.

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Wing Arthur Vincent, lock Florian Verhaeghe and fullback Anthony Bouthier all crossed for tries as the their early blitz provided the perfect send-off for retiring hooker Guilhem Guirado, the influential former France captain able to leave the game with his h ands on a trophy.

Castres managed a consolation score with five minutes remaining through centre Vilimoni Botitu, but were left to rue a nervous and error-strewn start as they were bullied at the set-piece and the breakdown.

“We outperformed them massively and it was a great performance from the lads,” Montpellier number eight Zach Mercer said at the post-match presentation.

“That’s the best start we’ve had all season. The boys were passionate, every pass stuck. We were clinical. What an outstanding team this is, especially when you consider that last year they were fighting relegation.”

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Castres looked shellshocked as they failed to withstand Montpellier’s onslaught and their start went from bad to worse when they lost flyhalf Benjamin Urdapilleta to injury inside 15 minutes.

But as woeful as Castres were, Montpellier were excellent at exploiting their opponents’ nervous beginning with slick handling and huge intensity in the collisions that set the ton e.

They got the opening try when Vincent crosse d in the corner after Mercer’s superb grubber kick, with their second score a sniping effort from Verhaeghe as he dived over a ruck.

Rampant Montpellier got a third from their third visit to the their oppon ents’ 22 as Vincent fed Bouthier with a clever reverse-pass and they led 23-3 at the break.

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Castres were much improved in the second half and camped in Montpellier territory, but scrambling defence and a lack of a clinical edge meant they were kept at bay.

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AM 7 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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