What's at stake and for who ahead of the final round of regular Top 14 season
Two of the northern hemisphere’s leagues – the Premiership and Pro14 – have entered the play-off phase, but rugby’s most gruelling competition still has one more weekend to run before it is cut from 14 to six.
Three Top 14 teams can relax. The top two, Toulouse and Clermont, have already earned themselves a week off by qualifying direct for the semi-finals in Bordeaux, so can sit back and watch four teams become two next weekend.
Lyon, meanwhile, will be involved in the qualifying play-off barrages for the right to travel to Bordeaux for the semi-finals. They have earned themselves home advantage for that one-off play-off.
That leaves four teams – Racing 92, reigning champions Castres Olympique, Montpellier, and La Rochelle -separated by three points, chasing the final three all-important play-off places … which grants them a shot at the Top 14 title and Champions Cup rugby next season.
Here are the games that really matter in the Top 14 in the final week of the regular season – when all seven matches kick off at 4.15pm (France time) on Saturday.
Agen (12th – 38pts) v Racing 92 (4th – 69pts)
On paper, this looks simple enough for moneybags Racing. But, despite their lowly league position – and because of their loss at home last weekend to Racing’s play-off rivals Castres – Agen have a point to prove. They’ll want their fans to go into the summer with a smile. This could be more difficult than many expect for the visitors – but even a defeat would not be entirely disastrous … unless Racing fail to get a bonus point and their play-off chasing rivals all win…
A note: A ‘home’ barrage match is out of the question, even if Racing hold on to fourth spot, which promises home advantage. French popstar Mylène Farmer is due to play nine shows at La Defense Arena between June 7 and June 22, and will be deep into rehearsals on barrage weekend of May 31 / June 1. If Racing are ‘at home’ for their play-off qualifier, they will relocate to their former home at Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes.
Castres Olympique (5th – 69pts) v Toulon (10th – 53pts)
Last year, Castres became the first team to finish in the sixth and final play-off spot that then went on to lift the Bouclier de Brennus. This year, they should have ensured their place in the end-of-season knockout phase before last weekend’s crucial play-off saving win at Agen.
But they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in back-to-back run-in home matches against Toulouse and Montpellier to ensure their play-off challenge became more difficult than it needed to be. Even so, their future remains in their hands. A win ensures a top-six finish. A draw or a defeat, however, leaves them watching results elsewhere, nervously.
Clermont (2nd – 82pts) v Montpellier (6th – 66pts)
You can’t ignore who they’re playing, but this game is all about Montpellier. All-but out of the play-off reckoning a couple of months ago, Vern Cotter’s side have won seven of their last eight games – the one blot on their recent copybook a one-point loss at Racing 92 – and moved back into the top six for the first time since October with a last-gasp bonus-point win over Stade Francais.
Their record against La Rochelle this season has given Montpellier a crucial advantage going into the final weekend of the regular season. Match or better the Rochelais and a play-off place is theirs for the taking. A home barrage is not yet out of the question, either – for Montpellier or La Rochelle. But, you can’t ignore who they’re playing.
La Rochelle (7th – 66pts) v Bordeaux Bègles (9th – 57pts)
Different league, definitely not different rules. This is the match Sale fans should watch very closely. If La Rochelle can get themselves back into the top six after dropping out last week, the Premiership side will qualify for next season’s Champions Cup.
The Rochelais have already booked their seat at Europe’s top table next season, by virtue of being losing Challenge Cup finalists to Clermont, whose qualification by Top 14 league position supercedes their qualification by Challenge Cup victory. But La Rochelle have French title ambitions so will be keen to ensure their interest continues beyond this weekend.
Opponents Bordeaux blew their outside chances of qualification when they let slip a bonus-point win at home to Toulouse to finish with nothing from a game in which they had scored five tries. Frankly, they’ll be mad, and not in the mood to let their Atlantic coast rivals have it all their own way, even at Stade Marcel Deflandre.
The complicated bit
So far, so straightforward. But now the maths gets complicated. Fourth-placed Racing have the advantage over all three play-off rivals courtesy of one-on-one results this season against the three other sides in case they finish the season level on points.
Past results, meanwhile, this season favour Castres over Montpellier if those two sides finish level on points, but if La Rochelle and Castres both finish their campaigns with the same number of league points, the Rochelais will finish higher than the defending champions.
Got that?
Whatever happens, the side that finishes third will host the sixth and final placed side in the barrages, while the side that finishes fourth will play the one that ends up fifth on the weekend of May 31 / June 1.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments