Top 14 drilldown: And then, 29 punishing weeks later, there were two...
FINALLY: Castres' lock Florent Vanverberghe and flanker Mathieu Babillot celebrate their French Top 14 semi-final win over Toulouse in Nice
ANS now, 29 punishing weeks and nearly 11 months after the 2021/22 Top 14 season kicked off in early September, there are two. Table-toppers Castres will face second-placed Montpellier at Stade de France this Friday.
As a swathe of southwest France blistered in a 40C-plus heatwave, the four leading sides in France’s senior men’s league - Castres, Montpellier, Bordeaux and Toulouse - battled it out this weekend in mere 30C conditions in Nice, over in the southeast of the country to decide which two sides would play for the Bouclier de Brennus in Saint-Denis this Friday night.
Castres faced derby rivals and defending champions Toulouse at the Allianz Riviera in the first semi-final on Friday evening. Twenty four hours later at the same venue, it was the turn of second-placed Montpellier and third-placed Bordeaux.
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 19, 2022
Retour sur un week-end absolument épique 🤯 📸
Et rendez-vous vendredi pour la finale 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wltDlLXqUR
This is the story of what happened next, and how we got to a rerun of the 2018 final.
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 17, 2022
Match indécis jusqu'au bout, les Castrais auront réussi à tenir tête au Champion de France en titre et ainsi remporter sa 4e demi-finale disputée d'affilée ! pic.twitter.com/umVKmnkh3L
Former Bayonne coach Yannick Bru - fresh from guiding the Basques back to the Top 14 at the first attempt - set the tone in the lead-up to the semi-finals. “Bordeaux and Toulouse are favourites,” he told Midi Olympique, “but they will have to cross barbed wire put up by Castres and Montpellier.” That was the impression. This was flair and brilliance versus organisation and determination. But it ignored crucial facts that quickly became clear as each match progressed.
Quelle communion avec nos supporters ! Vous êtes les meilleurs !! 🔵⚪️🔥#TeamCO #TousEnsemble #NICE2022 pic.twitter.com/KYZaTfDOqS
— Castres Olympique (@CastresRugby) June 17, 2022
Season-weary Toulouse, running on empty after a brutally difficult season, were tackled and harried into the ground by a determined, united - and, crucially, fresher - Castres 23.
The Castres gameplan was to keep Toulouse running. They deliberately did not kick to touch, they kept the champions’ big pack moving, and relied on their bench to bring the late impact. Savagely simple. Brutally effective.
"We knew that, sooner or later, we would have less fuel in the engine or run out of fuel," Toulouse president Didier Lacroix admitted a few weeks ago. They’ve done just that twice since his comments at the semi-final stage of both competitions.
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 17, 2022
25 minutes de jeu et tout reste à faire... (6-10) pic.twitter.com/li64bynwgW
On Friday, Toulouse’s energy reserves quickly dipped after a blistering start, in which they went 10-0 ahead in 17 minutes via Matthis Lebel’s individual try and Thomas Ramos’s boot.
Little by little, the high cost of just getting to Nice began to show. Toulouse didn’t just look tired, they played tired.
Fatigue begat errors. Errors begat cards. Rory Arnold was perhaps lucky just to see yellow for a high tackle on Filipo Nakosi after 21 minutes; Julien Marchand was binned for slapping the ball out of Castres scrum-half Santiago Arata’s hand at a ruck just before halftime.
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 17, 2022
Moins de 20 minutes à jouer et tout reste à faire dans cette demie... (16-18) pic.twitter.com/yRArVjzTkB
And Castres fought their way back. First with the boot of player-of-the-match Benjamin Urdapilleta, then via tries from Arata and - at the death - the underrated Julien Dumora. After weathering that early Toulouse storm, they took control of the game.
Even when Romain Ntamack scored Toulouse’s second to take them back into the lead shortly after Arata had touched down, it was clear the champions were spent.
“We seemed blunted in key moments,” coach Ugo Mola admitted afterwards. And then an even more important truth came out. “We have to better manage our big players next season,” he added.
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 17, 2022
De la joie dans tous les regards au @CastresRugby ! pic.twitter.com/5B3riuSQgw
"This group has a bright future. Our average age will fall next season. We will test our ability to bounce back.”
The inter-season arrivals of French internationals Melvyn Jaminet and Pierre-Louis Barassi, and Italian sensation Ange Capuozzo will boost stocks, and add some attack threat that has been noticeably absent this season, following the departure of Cheslin Kolbe and the retirement of Yoann Huget.
Tout simplement merci pour cet accueil ! 💙🤍 pic.twitter.com/n097IFSWbr
— Castres Olympique (@CastresRugby) June 18, 2022
Castres’ Pierre-Henry Broncan, having guided the club to the final in his first full season in charge, admitted he was concerned when Toulouse opened the scoring. “When we conceded a try after three minutes, I remembered our first game [against Toulouse] where we lost 41-0. But we did not panic, we stayed in the game.”
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 18, 2022
Montpellier remporte sa demie après un match cadenassé face à Bordeaux-Bègles ! pic.twitter.com/iP6j1lZYmn
“It's a cold observation, but we didn't deserve to go to the final,” Bordeaux fly-half Matthieu Jalibert told Canal Plus moments after his side had lost 19-10 against Montpellier in the second semi-final, which kicked off in marginally more hospitable conditions on Saturday than the Castres-Toulouse match 24 hours earlier.
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 18, 2022
MONTPELLIER TRIOMPHAL 🤩 pic.twitter.com/DUnyUTXhM1
He also tried to dismiss reports of a dressing room rift between the players and coach Christophe Urios. “We were disappointed with what Urios said … [but] when I said that we didn't play for him, it's just that no matter what he said in the press, his comments weren’t our primary motivation… The group is solid, we are together, the president, the coach, the players.”
The match itself was a frenetic chess game. Both sides kicked plenty, looking for a crucial territorial advantage; and both sides defended strongly, tackling hard and hitting the breakdowns harder. Especially Montpellier, who spent the majority of the second half playing without the ball.
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 18, 2022
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/oJFPPY0IfW
Jalibert and Vincent Rattez shared first-half tries but the difference between the teams - in a match where quarters weren’t given or created but had to be clawed from the unforgiving earth - was with the boot. Paolo Garbisi and Anthony Bouthier both knocked over first-half drop goals, to give Montpellier a 13-10 halftime lead.
🅜🅞🅞🅓 🅕🅘🅝🅐🅛🅘🅢🅣🅔 🔵⚪️#TeamMHR #MHRCO #FinaleTOP14 pic.twitter.com/2MpKZhfJhZ
— Montpellier Hérault Rugby (@MHR_officiel) June 19, 2022
Then, after 30 scoreless minutes in the second-half, replacement scrum half Gela Aprasidze slotted not one but two 55m-plus penalties in the last 10 to pull Montpellier out of sight and set up a repeat of the 2018 final against Castres “There is no argument - [Montpellier] were more aggressive than us, they played better rugby than us,” Urios admitted.
Montpellier boss Philippe Saint-Andre, coming to the end of his first full season in charge after taking over midway through the 2020/21 campaign, like Castres’ coach Broncan, urged caution, reminding his players they had won nothing yet this season.
#DemiesTOP14
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 18, 2022
Comme hier, cette demie est très disputée et il est difficile de savoir qui va s’imposer… tu as un avis ? pic.twitter.com/ScUXiScDcY
“We have just won a semi-final, we won the right to go to the Stade de France. We're 80 minutes away from something that's never happened at this club - bringing Brennus home. But Castres are more used to it than us, we know it will be very hard, very complicated.
“I would have liked a little more respect for my players. It's true we finished 10th last season, but this season we were second after 26 rounds, we were first for nine weeks, we have guys who play as a team, there is solidarity.
“We may not have the individuals of other teams, but we showed character, we played rugby, we passed the ball, we were dangerous - I am very proud of my guys.”
Next Friday, then. Castres against Montpellier at Stade de France. To the winner, the Bouclier de Brennus and the title Champions of France. For Castres it would be their sixth win, their third since 2013. For Montpellier their first, at the third time of asking over the past 11 years.
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