Will Skelton returns to face forgotten English playmaker

Today’s Top 14 meeting between La Rochelle and Pau (9pm), part of Round 19, will be notable for a long-awaited return. For La Rochelle, it marks the comeback of Australian lock Will Skelton, absent since January 10 and the clash with Leinster.

The Wallaby has featured far too little in yellow and black this season, managing just four Top 14 outings.

Visitors Section Paloise will also reclaim a key figure at Marcel-Deflandre: Joe Simmonds.

Expected to start from the bench, the English fly-half will pull on the green-and-white for the first time since 18 October, when Pau claimed a landmark 30–26 win over Toulouse at the Hameau. It was that night the former Exeter man tore his calf, an injury initially expected to keep him out for no more than five or six weeks.

He came close to returning in early December before the same calf gave way again.

Once more, the projected six-week recovery window passed without a comeback, fuelling frustration and confusion among supporters.

Pau’s trump card for the run-in?

Pau were entitled to fear the prolonged loss of their main playmaker and the Top 14’s top points-scorer over the previous two seasons. But Section Paloise coped admirably in his absence, with young Axel Desperes stepping in with maturity and composure.

Despite a few early hiccups off the tee, the Garlin native steered the attack smartly and contributed heavily in defence—vital currency at the top end of the French game. His form was impressive enough to earn call-ups to Marcoussis with the French national side during the Six Nations window.

Five months on, Simmonds returns to find Pau exactly where he left them: second behind Toulouse. He is now too far adrift to chase the objective he outlined to RugbyPass at the start of the season—claiming a third straight Top 14 points-scoring crown, with 126 points separating him from current leader Harry Plummer.

“Big Joe,” as he’s known in Béarn, has zeroed in on a different mission: regaining top form and helping steer Section Paloise through what is shaping up to be a historic campaign. Short of a collapse, Pau are on track for their first-ever Top 14 playoff berth.

And the club knows the next phase may demand an even bigger performance from Simmonds than the five-month slog they endured without him.