O'Gara hopes heft of Alldritt and Jegou helps Sunday assault on high-flying Pau

Top 14 round-up: Antoine Dupont returned to action for Toulouse more than eight months after suffering an ACL injury in France’s Six Nations win over Ireland, for his first Top 14 outing since last October.

Sat, 29 Nov, 2025 - 22:32

James Harrington

France internationals Gregory Alldritt and Oscar Jegou return to the La Rochelle line-up along with a quartet of debutants, as Ronan O’Gara rotates his squad for Sunday evening’s difficult Top 14 trip to high-flying Pau six days ahead of their Champions Cup opener at home against English side Leicester.

Alldritt and Jegou line up alongside Levani Botia in a familiar-looking back row for the trip to Stade du Hameau. In the front row, 20-year-old tighthead Upaleto Feao gets his first professional start alongside Tolu Latu and Reda Wardi.

Another 20-year-old, Charles Kante Samba, is quickly gaining game time in his breakout season, as he makes his third start alongside Thomas Lavault in the second row.

New midfield signing Adrien Seguret will start his first game outside UJ Seuteni in the Rochelais’ midfield just over a week after joining from Castres. Thomas Berjon’s run at nine continues, with Nolann Le Garrec in the infirmary. He forms a halfback partnership with Antoine Hastoy, while Jules Favre, Jack Nowell and Dillyn Leyds make up the starting line-up.

Scrum-half Nolhann Couillaud, an unused sub in last week’s home defeat against Castres, could make his professional debut off the bench, as could 19-year-old flanker Kirill Fraindt.

Antoine Dupont returned to action for Toulouse more than eight months after suffering an ACL injury in France’s Six Nations win over Ireland, for his first Top 14 outing since last October.

Twelve minutes after he came on in the 50th minute, Dupont’s chip over the top gifted Mathis Lebel his second try of the match against Racing 92. He then supplied the final pass for Ange Capuozzo’s score as they went on to win 48-24.

Expect Dupont to start next week against URC side Sharks.

La Rochelle’s conquerors last week, Castres, doubled down with back-to-back wins before their Champions Cup opener at Gloucester. They beat winless Perpignan 23-7 at Stade Pierre Fabre to leave the visitors rooted to the foot of the table, with just one league point from their 11 Top 14 matches to date.

Lucas Tauzin scored with the clock in the red to drag Clermont back from the jaws of a home defeat against Stade Francais. His touchdown and Harry Plummer’s conversion handed Christophe Urios’s side — who are at Saracens next Saturday — a much-needed 36-32 win.

Doubles for Mathieu Smaili and Mathis Ferte helped Toulon to a confidence-boosting 54-28 win over second-from-bottom Montauban at Stade Mayol ahead of their Champions Cup trip to Edinburgh next Sunday.

But Champions Cup holders Bordeaux face a long journey to face Bulls in South Africa, after their second loss in a row. Montpellier’s rising star Lenni Nouchi scored twice as they won 28-24 at the Septeo Stadium.

Bayonne held on to record their 20th Top 14 win on the bounce at fortress Jean-Dauger, a 22-20 victory over Lyon six days before they host Stormers.