Top 14 drilldown: O'Gara has few complaints as La Rochelle outmuscled by Toulouse

Both the home sides in the barrage round of the play-offs won their matches, to set up semi-finals on Friday and Saturday that pit first in the league against fourth, and second against third.
Top 14 drilldown: O'Gara has few complaints as La Rochelle outmuscled by Toulouse

Toulouse's French lock Thibaud Flament (R) is tackled during the French Top 14 rugby union match against La Rochelle at the Ernest Wallon stadium in Toulouse on Saturday. 

Mon, 13 Jun, 2022 - 11:23
James Harrington

Knockout rugby, in the Top 14 as in any other competition, is usually a very different beast to league rugby.

But, so far, results have gone pretty much to script. Both the home sides in the barrage round of the play-offs won their matches, to set up semi-finals on Friday and Saturday that pit first in the league against fourth, and second against third.

At the other end of the table - for the first time ever - a Top 14 side won the promotion-relegation play-off against the losing ProD2 finalist. This is as the script really should be, but - until Sunday - has never gone that way.

Here, then, are the results from the weekend’s matches as a season that kicked off in early September finally draws to a close. Just three matches to go… 

Toulouse crash La Rochelle’s season 

 “We learned a lesson in fighting spirit and aggressiveness in the rucks,” La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara said after defending Top 14 champions Toulouse had done to them what they had done to Leinster in the Champions Cup final two weekends previously.

But it’s unfair to say the scoreboard flattered the new European champions.

Their spirit on the night - their season overall after a dodgy start - deserved better than to end on a scoreline that reflected the pounding Toulouse inflicted on them at Ernest Wallon but, as O’Gara admitted the 33-28 result hinted at a closer match.

“It was no photo finish,” he said. “[Toulouse] were much better than us.”

Converted tries from Pierre Bourgarit and Jules Favre in the game’s dying two minutes pulled an evidently fatigued La Rochelle out of the mire of an ignominious end to what should still be a celebration season. But, by that time, the game was decided.

Only La Rochelle’s refusal to die wanting kept them, nominally, in the game. They were two tries down inside 12 minutes thanks to the brilliant Dupont, who made one and scored one, and 21-7 behind at the break.

Gregory Alldritt’s solo back-of-the-scrum burst pulled the visitors to just a score in the second half - but Toulouse replied with double interest in the next 13 minutes to put the result beyond doubt before the visitors’ late double.

Toulouse coach Ugo Mola wasted no time switching focus to Friday’s semi-final in Nice against Top 14 table-toppers Castres. And he predicted a tougher test still. “We will need to be even better than tonight to win [the semi-final],” he said. “Castres … deserve more attention, we don't talk about them enough. They have a full complement of players, they're fresh.” Toulouse do have injury concerns in the lead-up to Nice. Francois Cros limped off after 20 minutes with a knee injury and was on crutches at the end of the match, while replacement tighthead, 21-year-old Paul Mallez, picked up a shoulder injury - but they should be able to count on the return of former All Black Charlie Faumina for the trip.

Campaign failure 

 “Yes, the season is a failure,” Racing 92 centre Henry Chavancy admitted after his side lost to Bordeaux 36-16 in the weekend’s second Top 14 barrage-round match to set up a semi-final in Nice on Saturday against Montpellier.

 “When you play at Racing, you have the ambition to go further and win the title. We can't be satisfied with a quarter-final in the Top 14. Racing must do better.” 

He’s right. Racing’s inconsistent season ended with an inconsistent and inferior performance as Bordeaux - after a first-half most politely described as ‘cagey’ - scored three second-half tries in quick succession to take the game by the throat, before wrapping things up with one final score as the clock ticked into the red.

But all is not sweetness and light in the Bordeaux dressing room. 

Manager Christophe Urios called out his star players Matthieu Jalibert and Cameron Woki last week after their anonymous performance in the defeat at Perpignan that cost them a bye to the semi-final.

He claimed this successful end justified the means. “I offended the players and I took a risk - I got the dressing room on my back,” he said afterwards. “We just did what we should have done last week … we just set the record straight.

“Now we're just back to where we were last season, in the semi-finals. I took a risk because I targeted players. It was the first time that my players were all against me."

But Jalibert, clearly stung by Urios’s words, had a slightly different take. “This week it has been tense with statements in the press from our manager targeting players,” he told Canal Plus immediately after the whistle.

“We are not playing for Christophe (Urios), we are on a mission for [retiring] players like Francois Trinh-Duc, Louis Picamoles. We took charge and we played a great game.” 

One play-off win, it seems, won’t make a summer in the Bordeaux dressing room… The aftermath of next week’s semi-final could be interesting.

Perpignan survive in style 

Having finished 13th in the table, last season’s ProD2 champions Perpignan had one last shot at Top 14 redemption in the promotion-relegation play-off against this season’s losing ProD2 finalists Mont-de-Marsan.

They took it - winning 41-16 to become the first Top 14 side to survive this match since it was introduced in 2018.

This is never an easy fixture for the Top 14’s second-from-bottom side. They travel to the ProD2 side’s home ground - in this case Stade Andre et Guy Boniface, a fortress, where Mont-de-Marsan - Stade Montois, to give them their official name - had won 15 of 15 this season, picking up 10 try-scoring bonus points, and scoring 56 tries while conceding just 18.

Melvyn Jaminet, who will play for Toulouse next season, was relieved at the result. "We couldn't hope for better,” he said. “This week, everyone worked very well and it showed in the final result.

 “I am very happy [Perpignan] will remain in the Top 14 next season, I can leave relieved. Once the technical errors were corrected, we managed to put our game in place... Simple things, even if everything wasn't perfect.” 

 They will miss him next season.

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