Players get a breather in season marathon
The relief on the faces of those players playing Top 14 rugby in France this weekend when the final whistles blew on their matches was evident.They had navigated their way through an unrelenting ten-week block of games since the season kicked off on September 4, and could look forward to a little respite before the next set of fixtures start on Nov 27.
It’s long been understood that the nearly 11-month Top 14 season – the final in Saint-Denis is at the backend of June – is a savage marathon of a competition.
But it has been noticeable that the French domestic season – unlike, say, the English Premiership – hasn’t really kicked into high tryscoring gear. Even in the early part of the season, when weather conditions favoured high-pace, running, attacking rugby on fast hybrid or synthetic pitches.
It was also very noticeable that, in the early weeks of the season, referees were very busy. French arbitres – and the LNR’s disciplinary committee – regularly adopt a zero-tolerance approach to dangerous tackles early in the campaign, to remind players of the rules.
But the number of penalties this year were higher than usual, averaging 25 per game early on. It would be easy to claim over-refereeing was the cause of the problem.
But national director of refereeing Franck Maciello has rejected claims from some quarters that laws introduced at the start of the season have contributed to a dip in the number of times that teams have crossed their opponents’ whitewash.
“With the coaches, the feedback is numerous and regular, but I do not think that the problems we encounter are related to the new rules,” he told Midi Olympique.
“The 50:22 rule has already led to very interesting situations for the teams that have taken advantage of it; the goal-line drop-out rule saves a lot of time by avoiding 5m scrums.
“On the other hand, what has struck me this season and which is the beginning of an explanation, is that we have felt a very strong, very committed rhythm since the first day.
“Usually, every year, there are three or four days that serve as observation rounds. This year, we felt that the stakes were very high from the very first games, and that they were only going to get higher.”
Maciello has a point. The stakes this season appear higher than ever in the French top flight. One coach – Toulon’s Patrice Collazo – has already lost his job. Another, Stade Francais’ Gonzalo Quesada, has been the subject of speculation and presidential public votes of confidence. Yet more, including La Rochelle’s Ronan O’Gara and Clermont’s Jono Gibbes, have found their new jobs rather more difficult than their old ones.
It would be little wonder, then, if coaches retreated to the tried and the trusted defend-and-kick method of game management. There’s been a bit of that, admittedly, but, on the whole, teams are adapting to the new laws in attack and defence.
There’s been an uptick in tries scored in recent matches prior to last weekend, when the weather played a key role in several games – notably at Toulon where an ‘episode cevenol’ weather event dumped a huge amount of rain on the area. Interim coach James Coughlan admitted this week that the game against Biarritz, which was played in diluvian conditions, was close to being called off. Local authorities had warned the club in the hours before the match that they were considering issuing a red weather warning, he said.
The good news is that – after a slow start – sides are starting to get their acts together. Importantly, they’re getting to grips with breakdown rules to allow quicker ruck clearance. And the tries are starting to come. Except at Brive, where only one was scored yestyerday to be the exception that proves the changing rule.
Surprisingly, Bordeaux were unable to score any under Friday night lights at La Rochelle, as Ronan O’Gara’s side rolled back the clock to last season, with a destructive defensive performance reminiscent of their Champions Cup semi-final win over Leinster and their Top 14 playoff semi-final against Racing 92.
With O’Gara watching from the stands, having picked up a two-week touchline ban following an altercation with a match official in the win over Toulon a fortnight ago, La Rochelle controlled the game from start to finish, 26-3 victors. Bordeaux coach Christophe Urios ruefully called the result – just Bordeaux’s second defeat of the season, and their first since the opening weekend – ‘a big stop’.
Castres will rue their indiscipline in the first half of their 30-23 loss at Lyon, while lineout coach Yannick Caballero will have plenty of work to do on the lineout work of thirdand fourth-choice hookers Brendan Lebrun and Brice Humbert after the visitors lost five lineouts, including two in attacking positions in the closing moments of the game.
On-loan Jordan Joseph scored his first try for new club Pau 62 minutes into his first start, as they came back from 21-9 down on the hour to beat Biarritz 31-21 with three tries in the closing 18 minutes.
Meanwhile, Stade Francais achieved the unusual and unwanted double of a try-scoring bonus, for scoring three tries more than opponents Montpellier, and a defensive bonus, for losing by five points or less. The match finished 27-31, with the hosts outscoring the visitors four tries to one. But the addition of seven penalties and a drop-goal were enough to see Philippe Saint-Andre’s side head home with the four league points for a win.
Perpignan briefly led Toulouse 15-8 in the first half at the champions’ Stade Ernest Wallon. But normal service was resumed in the second period as Ugo Mola’s hosts – shorn of 12 key players to international call-ups – kept the Catalans scoreless in the second period to finish up 37-15 winners, with Maxime Medard scoring his 89th Top 14 try to move to within 12 of league record holder and friend Vincent Clerc. The bonus-point win moved Toulouse back to the top of the table, after Bordeaux’s slip-up less than 24 hours earlier.
The weekend’s penultimate Top 14 game was an exception to the tryscoring rule as Brive suffocated a depleted Racing 92 to end a fourmatch losing streak with a 12-10 victory, despite a first Top 14 try for the visitors’ Anthime Hemery at the death.
“The French domestic season hasn’t really kicked into high try-scoring gear”