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Almost 11 months after it kicked off, Castres Olympique were crowned Top 14 champions as the final whistle blew on French rugby’s epicly long season at Stade de France. So, without any further ado, here is the Rugby Pass Top 14 team of the season.
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15 Julien Dumora (Castres) – Once, Dumora was regarded among opposition sides as a costly error waiting to happen. No more. Solid and brave in defence, and liquid danger in attack, he scored 12 times for his club this season – including the opener in the Top 14 final against Montpellier. Deserves his call-up to the French Barbarians.
14 Chris Ashton (Toulon) – A record-breaking 24 Top 14 tries in a single season, selected here in his preferred position rather than at fullback where he has also been pretty decent. It was far from a bad opening-campaign effort from the rookie. Have you been watching Eddie Jones?
13 Henry Chavancy (Racing 92) – Rugby purists will frown on having two battering rams in midfield, and rightly so as the game needs silk to go with the steel, but Chavancy and Bastareaud both have subtlety to go with their brute force, and the Racing man rarely has a bad game
12 Mathieu Bastareaud (Toulon) – Since taking the captain’s armband from Duane Vermeulen, Bastareaud has done nothing wrong and almost everything very right. His recall to the French squad was utterly justified and grabbed with both hands. Set to captain France on their tour of New Zealand.
11 Semi Radradra (Toulon) – While he prefers a central role, the Fijian is more than capable of doing a job on the wing, and is so hungry for work, he will pop up just about anywhere, frequently providing the break and offload for Ashton to score. No doubt Alivereti Raka would be challenging for this spot, if he’d stayed fit.
10 Ben Botica (Oyonnax) – Finished top of the Top 14 points-scorers’ list with 311 – 55% of his side’s season total of 566, and almost but not quite nearly single-handedly saved Oyonnax from relegation. Not all heroes are winners. Castres’ Benjamin Urdapilleta close to stealing Botica’s spotlight with a near-perfect second-half to the season and a personal 19-point haul in the final.
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9 Baptiste Couilloud (Lyon) – A tough position to call in France right now, with Parra, Machenaud, Dupont and Serin all serious challengers for the international shirt when fit, with the likes of Coville and Meric hard on their heels. But the young Lyon 9 shades it for a fantastic breakthrough season. In the France Barbarians squad for the June tour, but must have been close to the main series in New Zealand.
7 Mathieu Babillot (Castres) – The Castres backrower, vice-captain of his club at just 24, is equally comfortable on either side of the scrum and will do what needs to be done from first whistle to last.
8 Victor Vito (La Rochelle) – Mr Consistent in an inconsistent season of two halves for the Rochelais. He was brilliant when the club was brilliant in the opening months, as they raced to the Champions Cup quarter-finals at the first time of asking. And he remained brilliant when they stuttered in the second half of the season.
6 Liam Gill (Lyon) – Although he can play 7, the abrasive Gill, a player who never knowingly takes a backward step has impressed most on the other side of the backrow since joining Lyon from Toulon. Mourad Boudjellal must regret letting him go.
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5 Leone Nakarawa (Racing 92) – European player of the year. The gamechangers’ gamechanger. Ludicrously talented and immensely powerful, with an engine that will run all day.
4 Felix Lambey (Lyon) – A player who is still trekking along the foothills of his mountainous potential. If he stays fit, he could be a big part of the answer to a long-running engine-room problem in French rugby.
3 Rabah Slimani (Clermont) – Some referees and opposition loosies may not like him, but it’s hard to imagine there’s a more destructive tighthead in world rugby.
2 Adrien Pélissié (Bordeaux) – Jacques Brunel looked way down the established hooker pecking order when he plucked Pélissié from relative obscurity as injury cover during the Six Nations. The Bordeaux man did not let his former club boss down – and he’s done enough to get a seat on the plane to New Zealand.
1 Dany Priso (La Rochelle) – A mere 1.82 and 110kg, Priso is a streamlined prop with a razor-sharp beard who’s solid in the scrums and rapid and useful in the loose – a by-product of his youth when he played either in the backrow or at centre.
Coach – Christophe Urios (Castres) Urios took Castres from sixth at the end of the regular season to champions in the space of three post-season weeks, beating third-placed Toulouse at Toulouse, second-placed Racing in the semi-final in Lyon, and near-permanent table-toppers Montpellier in Paris to lift the Bouclier du Brennus. He’s a coach whose star has long been on the rise in France – and, now, he’s heading to New Zealand to coach the France Barbarians – before returning to Castres for the final year of a four-year contract … and major interest from bigger clubs.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
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