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The Top 14 season in review - club by club

Have Racing 92 salvaged something from a season to forget?

Six teams and five matches remain in the race for the French championship’s Bouclier de Brennus – but the regular Top 14 season is now over. James Harrington reviews each club’s campaign

La Rochelle

Contrary to usual practice and convention, everyone loves this particular fearless Top 14 over-achiever. The genuine surprise package of the season beat all-comers to finish the regular season seven points clear of second-placed Clermont. And they did it with smiles on their faces – and with one of the league’s lowest playing budgets (they rank 12th on the spending list, if you must know). The fear is they may be coming off the boil at the business end of the season. They horlicksed home advantage against Gloucester in the Challenge Cup semi final, and a three-week break before their next outing – a small and meaningless Top 14 play-off semi in Marseille – could actually work against them.

Clermont

Once again, Clermont are  where they should be at the end of the regular Top 14 season, competing for major honours on two fronts. Once again, there’s that nagging fear they’ll come unstuck in both Europe and France. They have been here before. In 2015, they reached the finals of both tournaments. They lost both, prompting club president Eric De Cromieres to write an open letter of apology to fans. He will not want to write another one. At least this year, Clermont have a week off after the European Cup final in Edinburgh to recover, win or lose.

Montpellier

How Jake White would love French rugby’s big prize to sign off his two-and-a-half seasons at Montpellier with a metaphorical Andrew Mehrtens-style gesture. His win-first, impress-later policy has won silverware, in the shape of last season’s Challenge Cup, but it hasn’t won hearts and minds in France. It’s a shame he left it so late to realise that big can also be beautiful, as his monster-sized team started playing some brutally stunning rugby in the latter part of this season. A semi-final trip along the south coast to Marseille should be in the bag. But quarter-final opponents Racing will be poring over videos of the weekend’s match against Stade Francais with interest. Few have come as close to winning at the Altrad this Top 14 season as the Paris side. There may be clues, there.

Toulon

As in England, so in France. A double helping of blood on the managers’ carpet stains a troubled season that has ended – more by sheer will than good judgement – in fourth, the play-offs, and a seat at Europe’s top table next season. Toulon remain a shadow of their former galactico selves – but now Mourad’s finally got his man in incoming director of rugby Fabien Galthie, can we expect better things from Toulon next season? One thing’s for sure, the rugby will be sexier. But first, a home play-off quarter-final against Castres under rather more abrasive temporary head coach Richard Cockerill – another who’s probably quietly daydreaming about hand gestures of a certain kind towards his former employers at Leicester, if Toulon win the title.

Castres Olympique

The Christophe Urios project sounds like a ropey 70s prog rock band. But at the end of its second season, this project seems to be working at Castres. The side Urios inherited when he arrived from Oyonnax at the end of the 2014/15 season had avoided relegation to the ProD2 only by the application of advanced Top 14 mathematics. In his first season in charge, they finished the regular season in sixth. This season, they’re fifth and Urios was, publicly at least, unimpressed with their Champions Cup campaign.

Racing 92

Credit where it’s due. After compiling the dictionary definition of a season from hell, Racing pulled themselves back from the edge of post-title-winning embarrassment to sneak into the play-offs at the death. But it took the failed merger bomb to inject anything approaching life on the pitch. Until that rugby world-shaking announcement, they looked lethargic and lumpen and ready for any excuse to give up on a game. But four wins from the final five matches saved their campaign. Just. Jacky Lorenzetti will expect much better next time. As will fans and neutrals.

Stade Francais

Seventh in the Top 14, and a Challenge Cup final in their immediate future. At one point, not so very long ago, both seemed well beyond Stade Francais’ reach. But coach Gonzalo Quesada’s final season before he takes over at Biarritz next season will extend beyond the 26 of a regular campaign. Win or lose the Challenge Cup showpiece in Edinburgh against Gloucester on Friday, Stade still have a play-off route to the Champions Cup, courtesy of that seventh position. As for the future – new coach, new president, new owner. Interesting times ahead at Stade.

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Brive

Anywhere between eighth and 10th seems to be Brive’s preferred end-of-season position. And they have managed it again. Which is nice.

Pau

The double loss of World Cup winners Colin Slade and Conrad Smith to injuries as the run-in gathered pace hit Pau harder than they’d care to admit. And more than they were able to hide. A winning run just after Christmas saw them leap into the play-off places, but they lost their way when the Slade-Smith axis was removed. A shame. They promised so much. Next season, maybe.

Lyon

Perennial yo-yo side Lyon have, this time, managed to avoid relegation this season after winning promotion at the end of the last one. And it was reasonably comfortable, too, but a last-game hammering at relegated Grenoble will really hurt. Now, the side with the sixth-largest budget in the Top 14 – more than Pau, Brive, Castres, Montpellier, and La Rochelle, who all finished above them this season – have to push on to greater heights.

Bordeaux

There’s no wonder president Laurent Marti’s patience ran out with charismatic head coach Raphael Ibanez midway through the season. While the club were in a post-Christmas freefall, the man in charge spent several punditry duty awaydays with French Six Nations broadcaster France 2. The result: Ibanez announced he was leaving at the end of the season, and spent the remaining matches of his tenure sulking behind a laptop in the stands. The club routinely attracts 30,000 crowds to Stade Chaban Delmas, and Marti believes they deserve better. He’s right, too. Bordeaux should be a top-six side. Anything less is unacceptable. For too long, Bordeaux – and Rafa, who was once a strong favourite for the France job – have delivered less.

Toulouse

For a club that regards a top-six finish and Champions Cup rugby as a divine right, 12th place and a Challenge Cup future is about as rude an awakening as it’s possible to get. But, maybe, they have finally realised that other sides, with smaller budgets and squads, are better at this game than they are. And there’s money trouble in Toulouse, too. Reports in France say that finances are so tight – and employment law so red-tapey – that head coach Ugo Mola kept his job only because getting rid of him was beyond the club’s means. To be fair to Mola, he inherited many of the problems that came home to roost all at the same time this season. But it doesn’t alter the fact that change is badly needed. Fortunately, change is afoot. It may just take a season or three to take root. So the question is: what are patience levels like at the club? There’ll be a new president in place by the time the new season kicks off, so the answer is … uncertain.

Grenoble

For several seasons, a standard Top 14 campaign for Grenoble ran as follows: Fair-to-middling, bordering on the occasionally decent until about Christmas, before falling away to lower-mid-table mediocrity in the second-half of the season. This season, they didn’t bother with the pre-Christmas bit, so the by the time the second-half decline arrived, they were already deep in the relegation mire. And it just didn’t get better. A final-weekend hammering of arch-Alpine rivals Lyon at least gave fans something to cheer about before they start contemplating the prospect of ProD2 rugby.

Bayonne

Beyond dismal and well on the road to abject. There is literally nothing good to say about Bayonne’s season. It started badly, got worse, suffered a bit of a dip, and then stalled completely before plumbing new depths. There have been worse Top 14 performances, but not many.

Watch every match of the Top 14 streaming live on rugbypass.com, home of the best online rugby coverage including news, highlights, previews & reviews, live scores, and more!

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 3 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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