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The Top 14 season in review - club by club
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.
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Comments on RugbyPass
What was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
28 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
83 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
83 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
4 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
28 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
4 Go to commentspure fire
1 Go to commentsA very well thought out summary of all the relevant complications…agree with your ”refer the Cricket Test versus 20/20 comparison”. More also definitely doesn't necessarily mean better!
4 Go to commentsMust be something when you are only 19 y.o and both NZ and France want you. Btw he wasn’t the only new caledonian in french U20 as Robin Couly also lived in Noumea until 17. Hope he’s successful wherever he chooses to play.
13 Go to comments“Several key players in the Stade Rochelais squad are in their thirties” South Africans are going to hate the implications of that comment!
5 Go to commentsI know Leinster did a job on La Roche but shortly after HT Leinster were 30-13 ahead of them and at a similar time Toulouse were trailing Exeter. At 60 mins Leinster were 27 ahead but after 67 mins Toulouse were only 19 ahead before Exeter collapsed. That’s heavier scoring by Leinster against the Champions. I think people are looking at Toulouses total a little too much. I also think Northhampton are in with a real chance, albeit I’d put Leinster as favourites. If Leinster make the final I expect them to win by more than ten and with control.
5 Go to commentsHey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂
5 Go to commentsNot sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
28 Go to commentsI wonder if Parling was ever on England’s radar as a coach? Obviously Borthwick is a great lineout coach, but I do worry he might be taking on too much as both head coach and forwards coach.
1 Go to comments