Top 14 Drilldown: Toulon sink into deepening existential crisis
Bordeaux-Begles' French scrum-half Yann Lesgourgues (C) is blocked by Toulon's South African lock Eben Etzebeth (2ndR) during the French Top 14 rugby union match between Toulon (RCT) and Union Bordeaux-Begles (UBB) at the Mayol stadium in Toulon on February 12, 2022. (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
Someone ramped up the weekend’s rugby in France to 11.
There were two enthralling all-in Six Nations encounters in Aix-en-Provence and Saint-Denis - France-Ireland are one-all this year heading into the women’s Six Nations match in Toulouse on April 2.
And rugby fans were treated to no fewer than four no-quarter Top 14 matches, postponed from earlier in the season because of Covid and rescheduled for one of the few remaining free weekends in the domestic top-flight calendar. Every single match was still in the balance in the closing minutes.
Even though the action on the pitches at Toulon, Toulouse, Racing and Brive would have been worth the entrance fee alone, player news out of one club has pretty much overshadowed everything below Stade de France level.
Here are the results from the weekend’s catch-up matches.
#TOP14 - J13bis
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) February 12, 2022
Le point complet après cette session de rattrapage 📝 Le @SFParisRugby frappe un grand coup ⚡️ Le @racing92 et le @CABCLRUGBY assurent à domicile 🏠 Le @RCTofficiel à la relance 🛫 pic.twitter.com/w9VGFAD5vt
And here’s the revised table, as the Covid-19 bend in the league straightens out a little
#TOP14 - J13bis
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) February 12, 2022
Après ces 4 rencontres en retard voici le léger rafraichissement du classement 💈 💇♂️ pic.twitter.com/pjeeVmP6Cs
The situation at Toulon has been, to slip into business jargon, sub-optimal for some time - no side changes coaches two months into a season if things are going well. But what’s happening now smacks increasingly of a deepening existential crisis.
Hours after Eben Etzebeth had played his first game of the season following a concussion stand-down, and it was some game from the lock, Toulon confirmed he will leave in June to return to South Africa for ‘personal reasons’.
💪❤️🖤 pic.twitter.com/4lGvFlpTyW
— RCT – Rugby Club Toulonnais (@RCTofficiel) February 12, 2022
The club has not enjoyed the best of the South African lock - injuries and international call-ups have limited him to 28 appearances since he joined the club in 2019.
[𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐋]
— RCT – Rugby Club Toulonnais (@RCTofficiel) February 13, 2022
A sa demande, 𝙀𝙗𝙚𝙣 𝙀𝙩𝙯𝙚𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙝 quittera la Rade à la fin de la saison.
Le communiqué 👉https://t.co/XFqYTg8LCD pic.twitter.com/84M3WPEDi9
And, shortly before Saturday night’s 21-18 win over Bordeaux at Stade Mayol, the first Top 14 win for Franck Azema’s side since November 27, Canal Plus reported Louis Carbonel was about to jump ship for Montpellier, two seasons before the end of his contract.
Anthony Belleau is also leaving meaning that, as of now, Ihaia West is the only confirmed senior fly-half at Toulon next season - while there are whispers other stars are looking to the exit doors, and that at least one big-name recruit is having second thoughts.
This has all scrubbed the gloss off an intense victory over the league leaders on Saturday evening. The stands at Felix Mayol were noticeably gappy, and the social media storm that blew up as the news got round was more savage than last weekend’s following the loss to Castres.
Which is a shame for the players on the pitch, who finally rediscovered their old appetite for the fight and resisted a late comeback from Bordeaux to move off the foot of the table into the relative safety of 13th place.
🙌 Merci à nos supporters d'avoir fait le déplacement à Toulon !
— Union Bordeaux Bègles (@UBBrugby) February 13, 2022
À dimanche prochain à Chaban face au Racing 😘@UnitedBBrugby #iloveubb #RCTUBB #bordeaux pic.twitter.com/027qxrWvMJ
Unsurprisingly, Azema refused to get drawn into longer-term matters, as he seeks to manage a squad with no defined breaks between now and the end of the season: “I'm happy to see the players respond with actions, rather than words, against a formidable team that is difficult to play against,” he said. “This is a foundation match.”
But, unless Toulon can give their fans some good news - and soon - unease surrounding the club will only intensify. On Saturday, they entertain Perpignan, one place above them in the table. A second win in a row will help, but under-fire president Bernard Lemaitre needs to pull a strong recruitment deal out of the hat.
Twenty-four hours before the league leaders lost their first Top 14 match since the beginning of November, the defending champions slipped to sixth in the table after they were beaten for the fifth time in a row.
It was a back-and-forth ‘Clasico’ in front of a 30,000-plus crowd at Le Stadium in Toulouse. Visitors Stade Francais needed an after-the-hooter penalty from second-half replacement Joris Segonds, minutes after he’d missed a kick from the same place, to decide an enthralling match, which finished 28-29.
L'arrivée au bureau de notre monteur en images 🎞#STSFP pic.twitter.com/k51Y9NZ2E2
— Stade Français Paris (@SFParisRugby) February 14, 2022
“Of course we are worried but worry does not help you move forward,” Toulouse coach Ugo Mola said.
Mola is trying to Leinster his way through an unexpectedly busy Six Nations window, distorted by the rescheduling of matches that had been postponed by Covid like Friday night’s ‘Clasico’ against Stade Francais, relying on his club’s academy production line to see him through the hard weeks without his internationals.
Échauffement en cours 🔥#STSFP pic.twitter.com/ZfDJ8FV9YS
— Stade Toulousain (@StadeToulousain) February 11, 2022
After last week’s humiliation at Perpignan, they were doing better for a while. They had gone in 17-6 up at halftime, and were 20-9 ahead and cruising as the clock ticked to the hour. But indiscipline hurt. Stade - en route to their first victory in Toulouse since 2006 - scored 14 points between the 57th and 66th minute, when the hosts were reduced to 14.
As it was with France, so it was with Stade, who gambled on impact off the bench. Head coach Gonzalo Quesada said afterwards: “We made that bet. Macalou, Gabrillagues, Alo Emile, Segonds, Etien … are players who are used to starting. We thought that bringing them on, fresh, in the second half, would give us something.” It did. Welcome - again - to 21st-century rugby.
News - broken exclusively to the crowd at Stadium de Brive before anywhere else - that captain Said Hireche, 36, has signed a one-year contract extension ensured home fans watching the 103rd Massif Central derby against Clermont had a smile on their face at kick-off.
🔥Un derby qui a tenu toutes ses promesses sur le terrain !
— CA Brive Rugby (@CABCLRUGBY) February 12, 2022
Juste avant le coup d'envoi, le capitaine Saïd Hireche a adressé quelques mots aux supporters sur l'écran géant du stade... 📽️
L'occasion de faire monter la pression et d'annoncer une bonne nouvelle.#SAID2023 #CABASM pic.twitter.com/CwkhbYcguK
And those smiles stayed as the hosts put on their finest, grittiest performance of the season to comeback from 10-0 down to win 27-20 and ensure, no matter what happened later at Stade Mayol, they were in no danger of slipping into the relegation zone - while, for Clermont it increased the gap between them and the play-offs to nine points.
𝐃𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐮𝐫 🖤🤍💉
— CA Brive Rugby (@CABCLRUGBY) February 13, 2022
Que c'est bon de tous se retrouver pour partager cette victoire au Stadium 🤟#WEARECAB pic.twitter.com/AbfZhNyRjl
Brive centre Guillaume Galletier explained afterwards: “It was tough but we expected it. We knew that they would play us up front with strong players who would challenge us in midfield. We got in front of them and we all stood together. We went and got the win.”
#CABASM L’envie n’aura pas suffi dans le derby #Next #SRASM
— ASM Rugby (@ASMOfficiel) February 12, 2022
🧐Le compte rendu du match ⤵️https://t.co/WLZFp6fjJ1 pic.twitter.com/nCfchFLjgW
Derby wins are always special, and this one was extra sweet for the hosts. “Our backs were against the wall,” Galletier said. “The beginning of the week was difficult, stressful even after the heavy defeat at Racing. And then, in Brive, there’s pressure from the supporters before derbies against Clermont.”
Juan Imhoff said it meant a lot for him to score his 100th try for Racing 92, in the 28th-minute of the Francilien side’s 35-29 win over Pau at La Defense Arena - their fourth victory in a row taking them into the play-off places.
“It's something important for me to score 100 tries with the same club,” he said. “Not many people get that chance. Above all, it's 100 different stories, and I remember almost all of them.”
💯eme essai en 💙🤍#RacingFamily #R92SP pic.twitter.com/1abnxIQtnw
— Racing 92 (@racing92) February 12, 2022
It was, otherwise, an odd match at La Defense Arena. Pau outscored their more illustrious opponents five tries to two, to pick up a try-scoring bonus - given to sides that touch down three more times than their opponents. But the normally reliable Antoine Hastoy had an off-day off the kicking tee, missing three of five conversions.
Merci beaucoup à la Racing Family pour son soutien 💙🤍💯#R92SP #RacingFamily pic.twitter.com/zqsXXoZTRW
— Racing 92 (@racing92) February 12, 2022
And the visitors were criminally indisciplined, coughing up a hatful kickable penalties, chances a combination of Maxime Machenaud and Antoine Gibert were happy enough to lap up, notching seven between them.
⏱ Coup d’envoi dans moins de 15 minutes entre le @racing92 et la Section !#R92SP #TOP14 #HonhaSection #EnVertEtContreTous pic.twitter.com/2HSui3XfdI
— Section Paloise Béarn Pyrénées (@SectionPaloise) February 12, 2022
The latter kicked over two in the last seven minutes to deny the visitors what would have been a deserved second bonus point.
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