Top 14: Lyon end Bordeaux run, La Rochelle go for youth

The 20-year-old New Zealander Leupolu is one of 14 academy players in La Rochelle's matchday 23

Lyon's players celebrate their victory at the end of the French Top14 rugby union match between Union Bordeaux-Begles (UBB) and Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby (LOU) at the Chaban-Delmas Stadium in Bordeaux, south-western France, on January 25, 2025. Photo by PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Backrow Tyreese Leupolu and second row Simon Huchet will make their senior debuts on Sunday as Ronan O’Gara plays the youth card for La Rochelle's match against Toulon at Stade Mayol.

O’Gara has had to make several changes to his line-up after France coach Fabien Galthie decided not to release Gregory Alldritt, Uini Atonio, Georges-Henri Colombe and Oscar Jegou ahead of Friday’s Six Nations opener against Wales at Stade de France.

Injuries, meanwhile, have cut his options in several key positions.

The 20-year-old New Zealander Leupolu – one of 14 academy players in the matchday 23 – will line up alongside Levani Botia and Matthias Haddad at the back of the scrum.

Second row Simon Huchet, meanwhile, starts in the engine room next to the experienced Thomas Lavault.

Georgian hooker Nikolozi Sutidze, 21, wears the number two shirt for a second time in his career, while high-potential 20-year-old winger Hoani Bosmorin starts for the first time this season, after six outings off the bench.

Meanwhile Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Antoine Hastoy are reunited at the hinge, as a shell-shocked La Rochelle look to regain some domestic impetus after two Champions Cup defeats in a row.

Galthie, however, released six of the seven players he had initially selected from Toulon, allowing Pierre Mignoni a near-full deck of players for the final Top 14 match before a two-week Six Nations’ break.

The called-up Dany Priso, Matthias Halagahu, Esteban Abadie, Gabin Villière, and Gaël Dréan all slipped straight into the home side’s starting line-up, while Antoine Frisch is on the bench for the final Top 14 match before a two week Six Nations' hiatus.

France fly-half reject Leo Berdeu slotted a nerveless 79th-minute penalty to cancel out opposite number Joey Carbery’s 78th-minute strike as Lyon ended Bordeaux’s nine-match winning streak with a thoroughly deserved 22-20 victory on the road at Stade Chaban Delmas.

Stuart Lancaster’s Racing 92 have not won a Top 14 match since the beginning of November as they endure their worst domestic run since their return to the French top flight in 2009. Despite a second-half fightback they should consider themselves lucky to only lose 20-27 to Castres at La Defense Arena.

The visitors’ new head coach – who took over from Jeremy Davidson a week before January’s Champions Cup fortnight – now has three wins in as many matches to his name, and should be disappointed to miss out on the try-scoring bonus on Saturday.

Perpignan climbed above Racing courtesy of a hard-fought 16-11 win over Bayonne at Stade Aime-Giral, while Pau held tough against Clermont to win 20-14 in a rain-soaked mudfest at Stade du Hameau.

In similar conditions, Toulouse – missing no fewer than 10 players after Galthie exercised his droit de sélectionneur – eased through the gears in the second half to record a comfortable 27-17 win over Montpellier at Stade Ernest Wallon. Highlight-reel tries for Demitri Delibes and Blair Kinghorn set the tone for a festival in the second half, after a dismal opening period had ended with Stuart Hogg’s penalty the only evidence of action on the scoreboard.

Bottom-of-the-table Vannes picked up a crucial 33-28 win over 13th-place Stade Francais at Stade de la Rabine, cutting the gap between the two sides to four points despite playing more than 70 minutes with 14 after Francis Saili was sent off for a dangerous challenge on Leo Barre.