Gregory Alldritt to captain Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle at Clermont on Sunday

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026 - 22:10

James Harrington

Gregory Alldritt will captain Ronan O’Gara’s internationals-heavy La Rochelle at Clermont in the Top 14 on Sunday night, a week after Harlequins dumped them out of the Champions Cup and days after he was left out of the 42-player France squad for the opening match of the Six Nations against Ireland.

Alldritt — left out of Les Bleus’ squad following a dip in form — leads a side featuring Uini Atonio and Paul Boudehent, likely starters on February 5, and Oscar Jegou, who has been named on the bench. Meanwhile, fellow non-selected internationals Antoine Hastoy and Reda Wardi are also in the run-on 15.

Hastoy will form a halfback partnership with 19-year-old scrum-half prospect Nolhann Couillaud for a second time, four weeks after they played alongside one another in the 60-14 defeat at Toulouse. Winger Hoani Bosmorin, 21, will provide cover at nine.

But Will Skelton has rejoined the club’s busy infirmary after his Achilles injury flared up again — prompting O’Gara to name Boudehent in the second row for the seventh time this season, rather than his preferred backrow role.

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The primetime outing will be the second Top 14 match of the day on Sunday, after the match between Toulon and Montpellier was rescheduled because of severe storm warnings in the Var. Authorities in the southern department have clearly learned from the farcical scenes in September when the match between Toulon and La Rochelle was called off shortly before kick-off.

Despite several flashes of personal brilliance — his solo try will make the week’s highlight reels — Matthieu Jalibert could not carry a rotated and misfiring Bordeaux, as Stade Francais overtook them in the table with a well-deserved 28-33 victory in a thoroughly entertaining nine-try encounter at Stade Chaban Delmas.

An equal spread of eight tries in perfect under-the-roof conditions at La Defense Arena, as Racing 92 came from 13-24 down after 50 minutes to win 35-34 on the whistle, courtesy of a late Antoine Gibert penalty. Australian hooker Taniela Tupou scored twice for the home side, taking his tally to four in three since making his debut on December 27.

Tries elsewhere were fewer and further between on Saturday afternoon, as the dismal late January weather made handling a lottery and scrums the common result.

But Perpignan scored four — veteran Peceli Yato getting two of them — as they stole a march on opponents and relegation-zone rivals Montauban, with a bonus-point 31-8 win. They now have a seven-point advantage over the bottom-placed side but are 14 adrift of 12th-placed Lyon.

After their historic first-ever Champions Cup victory over Munster in Limerick, Castres made it back-to-back wins on the road with a breathlessly low-scoring and hard-fought 10-13 victory at Bayonne to end the Basque side’s unbeaten 21-match unbeaten home run in the Top 14, and pile the pressure on coach Gregory Patat. Bayonne have only won one of their last six in all competitions.

Toulouse made a mockery of the top-two battle against Pau at Stade Ernest Wallon, scoring nine tries to the visitors’ three to bag a 59-22 bonus-point victory, avenge their last-gasp defeat at Stade du Hameau earlier in the season, and open up a lead at the top of the table.