Top 14 Drilldown: French stars impress. La Rochelle survive boos and kicking woes

All the talking points from the French rugby weekend
Bordeaux-Begles' French fly-half Matthieu Jalibert (R) avoids a tackle by Pau's New Zealand centre Tumua Manu and scores a try during the French Top14 rugby union match between Section Paloise Bearn Pyrenees (Pau) and Union Bordeaux Begles (UBB) at Stade de Hameau in Pau, south-western France, on October 16, 2021. Photo by GAIZKA IROZ/AFP via Getty Images

Bordeaux-Begles' French fly-half Matthieu Jalibert (R) avoids a tackle by Pau's New Zealand centre Tumua Manu and scores a try during the French Top14 rugby union match between Section Paloise Bearn Pyrenees (Pau) and Union Bordeaux Begles (UBB) at Stade de Hameau in Pau, south-western France, on October 16, 2021. Photo by GAIZKA IROZ/AFP via Getty Images

Mon, 18 Oct, 2021 - 10:11
James Harrington

France coach Fabien Galthie was due to announce his first November international squad on Monday afternoon. He probably had all 42 slots filled by the time the weekend’s Top 14 matches kicked off - but it’s never a bad idea to impress the national coach, and maybe get the nod in one of a few and/or positions.

So, fly-half Mathieu Jalibert scored 25 points to ramp up the unspoken rivalry with Romain Ntamack; tighthead Wilfrid Hounkpatin and hooker Gaetan Barlot caught the eye for Castres; and Ibrahim Diallo and Sekou Macalou surely put their backrow call-ups beyond doubt.

Expect to see, too, wingers Matthis Lebel and Donovan Taofifenua given a chance alongside Gabin Villiere and Damian Penaud. Don’t be too surprised, either, if Galthie’s soft-spot for Teddy Thomas sees the Racing player selected, despite not playing at all this season.

But that - plus the captaincy question in Charles Ollivon’s continued absence - is to come. Right now, day-to-day French domestic rugby matters take centre stage.

Visiting sides ruled in the seventh round of French rugby’s Top 14 season, with only Lyon and Castres able to keep the traditional home win fires burning.

 

For the second weekend in a row, referees kept their red cards in their pockets, content to show yellow 11 times in the seven matches - in which teams scored 29 tries.

Lyon’s victory over previously unbeaten Toulouse closed up the top of the table. Last week, the champions were seven points clear of second-placed Bordeaux. Now, seven points separates them from their next opponents, Castres, in fifth.

 

Plisson’s dog day afternoon highlights La Rochelle’s kicking woes 

Brive president Simon Gillham issued a public apology for the behaviour of sections of the crowd at Stadium de Brive when La Rochelle’s Jules Plisson was lining up kicks at goal in an ugly match that ended 6-8 in favour of Ronan O’Gara’s visitors.

 

The barracking of Plisson, on in the seventh minute following an injury to starting 10 Pierre Popelin, was constant, loud, savage and meaningless, thanks to Arthur Retiere’s 68th-minute try … a rare highlight in a determinedly unenjoyable encounter.

After nailing his first effort, Plisson missed a tricky long-range effort late in the first period, before firing wide two second-half penalties that he would usually expect to slot.

The crowd bothered more than just Plisson. La Rochelle president Vincent Merling headed pitchside. "It was so unbreathable that ... I left the stands in protest," he later told regional newspaper Sud Ouest. He was among the first to speak to Plisson when he came off after 54 minutes.

The barracking, however, merely detracted from the truth of La Rochelle’s ongoing kicking woes. On Saturday, Popelin, Plisson and conversion clutch kicker Brice Dulin missed five of six.

It’s ironic that a side run by the metronomic O’Gara has such issues. They got away with it against a wasteful Brive, who fell to a first home defeat of the season.

They haven’t fared so well in the past - and won’t in future. It’s why the boss will roll out the red carpet for Antoine Hastoy at the end of the season.

Kolbe intro as good as it got for Toulon 

An injured Cheslin Kolbe was introduced to an excited crowd at Toulon’s Stade Mayol before Saturday evening’s match against Racing 92.

 

There’s no official timescale for his club debut - doctors need to assess the extent of his knee injury - but Toulon clearly need him off the sidelines and on the pitch sooner rather than later.

 

On Saturday night, Racing had two tries on the board and an unassailable 24-6 lead before Toulon belatedly ramped up excitement in the stands with two scores of their own in the last 10 minutes. By then, it was too late. The final 20-27 scoreline flattered the hosts in their first loss at home this season.

 

Club president Bernard Lemaitre - who has basked in vicarious Kolbe glory since his expensive hire arrived on Thursday afternoon - has said there would be something that seems to be a lot like a performance review of the coaching set-up after the Racing match.

 

Ten stirring minutes against Racing and the return of something approaching team spirit, shouldn’t hide the lack of league points or the disappointment that has come before. Freddie Michalak is rumoured to be taking up a consultancy role on the coaching staff in December: will Lemaitre be willing to wait that long?

Crossbar challenge 

Handre Pollard’s 81st-minute penalty miss summed up Montpellier’s afternoon as they fell to a second home defeat of the season in agonising circumstances.

It wasn’t an easy kick. It hadn’t been an easy afternoon. But it was in Pollard’s capabilities - a ‘nine times out of 10’ kick for the South African, according to opposition coach Jono Gibbes afterwards.

But his kick was almost, but crucially not quite, good enough, and dipped cruelly under the crossbar.

 

Montpellier and Clermont had gone toe-to-toe all game. After a blistering start, with both sides scoring tries in the opening 12 minutes, what followed wasn’t always pretty, or particularly clever, but it was compelling in a ferocious, error-strewn way.

 

The hosts led at halftime, and - thanks to 15 points from starting fly-half Paolo Garbisi - still led with 10 minutes remaining. But he was outshone by Clermont’s wantaway Camille Lopez, whose fifth penalty after 74 minutes, gave the visitors that crucial two-point lead and took his personal tally to 17.

 

The 20-22 win on the road came at a price, however. On the day Clermont welcomed scrum-half Morgan Parra back from injury, they lost livewire Sebastien Bezy to what looked to be a serious knee injury.

Stade’s points snatch 

“Mission accomplished,” Stade Francais’ forwards coach Laurent Sempere said after the Parisians won 22-23 front of a febrile Perpignan crowd. “We came to get points and we leave with four. We also leave with work. We know we're not the finished article yet, but we grew here as a team.”

 

It was a muscular no-quarter-given encounter between sides that started the weekend in 12th and 13th respectively. Sekou Macalou’s try was worth the entrance fee on its own as they slugged it out in a match decided in the 77th minute via a nerveless penalty from rising Stade star Leo Barre.

 

The two sides still ended the weekend in 12th and 13th - but in reverse order.

 

While Stade - notably their social media intern - are toasting their first win on the road, Perpignan will be justifiably disappointed. Their own indiscipline kept Stade in the game - they gave up 14 penalties and lost six of their own lineouts.

 

“This is not the first time this season,” veteran Damien Chouly said afterwards. “We will have to learn quickly, be a little more intelligent and precise.”

 

Wilfrid raises his hand 

With Galthie’s favoured tighthead Mohamed Haouas injured, Castres’ Wilfrid Hounkpatin, who made his international debut in Australia in July, made his bid for the starting slot in France’s opening November international against Argentina.

The 30-year-old scored two tries and made another in typical tighthead fashion, to add to the double he scored against Toulon a fortnight earlier, as Castres beat Biarritz 38-20 for their first bonus-point win of the season. The result also kept the Basque Country outfit rooted to the foot of the table.

 

One of Hounkpatin’s scores was from a tap-and-go penalty 5m from the line. It’s become a speciality - he’s scored four times this way since January, and twice in two weeks.

It’s a clear tactic adopted under Pierre-Henry Broncan and used regularly by Castres. But knowing what’s coming and being able to do anything about it when Hounkpatin, 1.92m and 130kg of impending freight train, stands over the ball - with his front row partners in close attendance and Rory Kockott whispering unsavoury nothings in his ear - is another matter.

 

Another Hounkpatin tap-and-go resulted in a score for lock Florent Vanverberghe. Hooker Gaetan Barlot scored a fourth, while centre Vilimoni Botitu scored two more to keep honour intact for the otherwise try-starved backs. 

Oops, Bordeaux did it again 

The headlines after Bordeaux won 33-37 at Pau focused on Jalibert’s Galthie-attracting two-try, 25-point performance. That ignores the fact they had built a strong lead and then nearly let it slip for the second time in two matches.

 

Last week, they were 27-6 ahead of Montpellier, with a try-scoring bonus point in the bag as the clock ticked towards the hour at Chaban Delmas. That game ended 27-23, and Bordeaux had lost their try-scoring bonus.

 

On Saturday, they were 9-27 to the good at Pau at halftime. Minutes after allowing the hosts to drag the scores back to 26-30 on the hour, they scored the try that should have killed the game, taking the score to 26-37. But another converted try brought Pau back to within four - and they were barrelling forward with the clock in the red when a knock-on ended the game.

 

What can’t be denied is that Bordeaux are still second in the table, with five wins and a draw in seven matches. What can’t be ignored is, if they keep going to sleep like this, they’ll start losing close encounters.

Lyon destined to end Toulouse’s winning run

Toulouse’s bid to break Stade Francais’ nine-match start-of-the-season winning streak ended three matches shy on the synthetic pitch of Lyon’s Stade Gerland.

 

Because of their perennial dismal European performances, Pierre Mignoni’s side are underrated outside the Top 14, but they have now beaten the champions four times in a row.

 

They did it with in-your-face aggressive, disciplined defence that hurried the visitors way out of their comfort zone. It’s an unforgivingly difficult tactic to maintain for 80 minutes - others have tried it and failed against Toulouse, but they were helped by the visitors’ own lack of discipline.

 

It’s not as if Toulouse didn’t have any chances. They did - plenty of them. But they couldn’t convert. Even then, the game might have been different if the TMO had decided there was something in this:

 

There were, ‘a lot of things to review, especially on our 22 entries’, Toulouse’s assistant coach Jean Bouilhou said afterward. He also referred to Toulouse’s inability to win the breakdown and exit strategies.

This defeat has been coming. Biarritz had the beating of Toulouse until Antoine Dupont came on as a replacement earlier this month; Montpellier should have won at the GGL, La Rochelle could have picked up four points rather than one in the season-opener, and Clermont had them rattled.

Make no mistake, Toulouse are still massive favourites for the French title, and they will be heavily involved in the business end of the Champions Cup. Winning matches when you’re not playing well is part of the champions’ credo. But Bouilhou’s right. They have a lot of things to review.

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