Top 14 Day 10

[Tony Manx]

[TABLE="width: 98%"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]25/10[/TD]
[TD]20:45[/TD]
[TD]Aviron Bayonnais v[/TD]
[TD]Montpellier Hérault Rugby BT Sport Midnight[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]26/10[/TD]
[TD]14:55[/TD]
[TD]Stade Toulousain v[/TD]
[TD]Rugby Club Toulonnais BT Sport Live[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]18:30[/TD]
[TD]Castres Olympique v[/TD]
[TD]Biarritz Olympique[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]18:30[/TD]
[TD]ASM Clermont v[/TD]
[TD]CA Brive-Corrèze[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]18:30[/TD]
[TD]Grenoble v[/TD]
[TD]Oyonnax[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]18:30[/TD]
[TD]Perpignan v[/TD]
[TD]Union Bordeaux Begles[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
- 20.35 Racing Metro 92 v Stade Fitzwilton BT Sports 11.30 Sunday

Loads of interesting match ups here

MHL have to overcome the "drunks" of Bayonne, several of whom may be missing if the club disciplinary hearing today decides to cut their own throats and ban Brett and the unbiqitous Phillips etc……does Mike have a problem as this is at least the third such escapade that I have heard about!! MHL should make this one although the Bayonnaise could make it difficult and get the bonus point.

Of course, second match is arguably the big one of the round and with Toulon players being "tired" according to LaPorte and the loss of McAllister for four months for Toulouse this should make life interesting. However, unless Toulouse step up their game (and what chance Beauxis starting), cannot see them beating Toulon at home. EDIT although they might seeing as they are at home themselves!!!!!

For the match against Castres, Biarritz has a plethora of injuries:

Baby (tendinitis) Balshaw (knee), Couet-Lannes (acromioclavicular) Dubarry (scapula), Heguy (foot), Lakafia (cervical spine) Magnus Lund (calf) and Ruffenach (knee).

In addition, seven players are in recovery: Broster (knee), Fono (knee), Geneva (hamstring),Harinordoquy (knee), Roussarie (concussion), Placines (elbow) and Thomas (intercostal cartilage).

The question, on the BO website, is how many will make the trip to Castres this weekend? Sorry guys, if you do not know why ask us?!!

I cannot see BO winning on the road and not at Castres even if they had a full squad available! More doom and gloom in the sun……..

I think Brive are the club that may shock Clermont and come close but not close enough…..

Genoble and USAP host crunch games against Oyonnax and UBB respectively and I expect home wins at both.

 

[gaston le gaff]

The disiplinary is today i can not see a ban as they will be desperate for a win, but i recommend the ban, we are soaking our kit in Whisky for the rest of the week just in cases the 3 drunkateers are playing and that should help us gain victory,one sniff and Phillips will starting thinking he is Charlotte Church and start singing some sheep shagging welsh folk song. The Montpellier team could have a slightly different look this Fri as the fridge door has been open by God.

 

[Tony Manx]

The disiplinary is today i can not see a ban as they will be desperate for a win, but i recommend the ban, we are soaking our kit in Whisky for the rest of the week just in cases the 3 drunkateers are playing and that should help us gain victory,one sniff and Phillips will starting thinking he is Charlotte Church and start singing some sheep shagging welsh folk song. The Montpellier team could have a slightly different look this Fri as the fridge door has been open by God.

 

[gaston le gaff]

After yesterday's disiplinary Bayonne have decided to keep the findings behind closed doors so we will have to wait till the end of the week to see if the Drunkateers have been banned of just told to sober up for Fridays game against us!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gaston le gaff]

Gaston's perdictions for this weekends TOP 14 Day 10 matches

Castres v BO home win.
Clermont v Brive ditto.
Grenoble v Oyonnax ditto
USAP v Bordeaux Begles ditto
Racing v Stade Francaise ditto but could be very close.
Toulouse v Toulon home win with Toulouse starting to hit good form, Toulon could be in trouble, and under pressure Toulon do not play well.
and finally the Friday night Montpellier love affair with Canal + and Isabelle, who hopefully receives no more shi*** from the Bayonne Boozer (Phillips) This will be a difficult game for Montpellier after their defeat last weekend at home to Ulster but God has opened the Fridge door so there will be changes, to the starting XV some tactical some enforced and some surprising but that will be published Fri. sometime. A hard fought victory to Montpellier by few points but will keep this as my Joker just in case the preverbial hits the fan.......

 

[Draggs]

Must try to watch USAP v UBB. Seems as if James 'Ook is in good form.
Was Lopez injured in he last HCup round?

 

[psychic duck]

Must try to watch USAP v UBB. Seems as if James 'Ook is in good form.
Was Lopez injured in he last HCup round?

Says who? If it was the Western Mail it's invalid.

 

[Tony Manx]

Broadcast times added!

Says who? If it was the Western Mail it's invalid.

Pretty average from what I have actually seen of him.....not bad but not great but that could have something to do with the relatively poor start for USAP?

 

[Draggs]

He looked decent in the HC. Kicked well and kept the points ticking over from both fullback and standoff. Good news if we want him on the bench. Still wish he would have had a better crack at inside centre. I think he could have excelled there. His non passing would have hopefully subsided. Talented player, just misguided and messed around. With Roberts out, Beck in poor form, Allen a nipper we could consider him at inside centre.

 

[psychic duck]

He looked decent in the HC. Kicked well and kept the points ticking over from both fullback and standoff. Good news if we want him on the bench. Still wish he would have had a better crack at inside centre. I think he could have excelled there. His non passing would have hopefully subsided. Talented player, just misguided and messed around. With Roberts out, Beck in poor form, Allen a nipper we could consider him at inside centre.

It's his own fault for wrongly considering himself as a 10. He reminds me of Contepomi, although Felipe was a great talent he didn't have the control at 10 and turned himself into a world class creative centre. Hook could have done the same, but insisted on playing 10, left the Ospreys to do so, reminded everybody why he wasn't a 10 (6N/RWC 2011) whilst ceding his Wales centre place for Jonathan Davies. Forcing himself into a versatility back. Perpignan play him mostly at 15 these days by the way, which is a shame as I wish he was back at 12.

 

[Draggs]

I know. Lopez is their standoff. I don't think Hook had a future in Wales. He wasn't the type of inside centre Gatland likes while he looked uncomfortable at fullback. I can't blame him for leaving Johnson era Ospreys.

 

[psychic duck]

I know. Lopez is their standoff. I don't think Hook had a future in Wales. He wasn't the type of inside centre Gatland likes while he looked uncomfortable at fullback. I can't blame him for leaving Johnson era Ospreys.

I can. Playing in combination with Biggar at 10/12 was working well and getting the best out of him and he threw it all away to play for a side in the Amlin Challenge Cup and in his two lesser positions. Gatland played a Hook/Roberts combination for a season and that was one of the high points of the 2010 year as well.

Also Scott Johnson was probably the best Ospreys coach. That 2010 side he had knocked out Leicester and beat Clermont and could have won the Heineken Cup but for some cheating antics by George Clancy. He coached the side to a better unit than Lyn Jones ever managed and the side peaked under him. Unfortunately it tailed off in 2011.

 

[Draggs]

The one issue there is Bishop was at outside centre, and retreading him as a 12 wouldn't have worked. Now he might be a good option outside Beck, unless Ben John continues to improve and move infield from the wing. My biggest issue with Johnson was with that team he had (front row, Collins, Holah, Phillips, Byrne, Williams) the Ospreys should have been a genuine threat every year. It was, on paper, one of the top European teams. We both have said before they deserved further in 2010. We really don't have strong coaching in Wales, our best national coaches have been foreign.

 

[psychic duck]

The one issue there is Bishop was at outside centre, and retreading him as a 12 wouldn't have worked. Now he might be a good option outside Beck, unless Ben John continues to improve and move infield from the wing. My biggest issue with Johnson was with that team he had (front row, Collins, Holah, Phillips, Byrne, Williams) the Ospreys should have been a genuine threat every year. It was, on paper, one of the top European teams. We both have said before they deserved further in 2010. We really don't have strong coaching in Wales, our best national coaches have been foreign.

Phillips was shiit for the Ospreys. He was a big name, but also the biggest ever waste of money ever, simply wasn't intelligent enough to work out the system, if Marshall had been retained then the side would have been a much better force, even during Januarie's brief stint the side played much better with him there, Phillips killed the link between forwards and backs. He continues to be a bit of a thicko, got into more trouble again lately at Bayonne (which has gone surprisingly unreported in the UK, think of how much a tiny mistake Henson makes gets).

The other reason why the side wasn't in the finals every year was through some dismal coaching in the Lyn years. Another factor was some god awful luck with the pool draws, Leicester and Clermont in 2010 made it impossible to get a home draw, the year before was Leicester and Perpignan as T14 champions, and the year after was Munster and Toulon. That's no excuse, but it doesn't help. In the past inferior sides have got fluked way to the knockout stages with home ties based on ridiculous pool draw luck, London Irish in 2008 springs to mind.

 

[gaston le gaff]

From the matches i have seen and that is most of them, Hooky is more or less automatic choice at 15 for USAP, the other week Lopez did have a couple of knocks but it was probably more squad rotation than anything else. His kicking game have improved and with the length he gets from his kicks he relieves pressure constantly for his team, he may get on the bench but can't see him being first choice he has also resigned for USAP, not quite sure what but probably the usual 2+1 yrs contract.

 

[gaston le gaff]

Bayonne v Montpellier starting xv + bench
1. Misha NARIASHVILI - 2. Mickaël IVALDI - 3.Nicolas MAS - 4.Jim HAMILTON - 5. Robins TCHALE WATCHOU - 6. Alexandre BIAS - 7. Mamuka GORGODZE - 8. Kélian GALLETIER - 9. Benoit PAILLAUGUE - 10. Enzo SELPONI - 11. Yohann ARTRU - 12. Hamish GARD - 13. Thomas COMBEZOU - 14. Timoci NAGUSA - 15. Benoît SICART

Les remplaçants:

16. Charles GELI - 17. Maximiliano Bustos - 18. Thibaut PRIVAT - 19. Fred QUERCY - 20. Jonathan PELISSIE - 21. François TRINH-DUC - 22. Anthony TUITAVAKE - 23. Na'ama LELEIMALEFAGA
- See more at: http://www.montpellier-rugby.com/news/la-composition-pour-bayonne-mhr-0#sthash.3iFq98IP.dpuf

 

[Croket66]

Interesting forward pack. Weak backs.
Who is Fred Quercy? A flanker I guess...
The bench could make the difference if Montpellier is in the mood at 50'

 

[Tony Manx]

Interesting forward pack. Weak backs.
Who is Fred Quercy? A flanker I guess...
The bench could make the difference if Montpellier is in the mood at 50'

Weak backs is only comparatively and they have some great backs on the bench..Quercy is a back row who has only played 18 minutes ( v Ulster) in the "firsts".....

Edit "The bench could make the difference if Montpellier is in the mood to GET (not AT) 50"!!!

 

[Big Ewis]

I'm very eager to watch the Toulouse Toulon one.
Toulouse on a super high note, with many things to correct though (notably a more fluid attack, they got penalized in those rucks not releasing, the whole team has to follow in the plays, htye were a little discontinuous in Wembley).
Toulon not only played like utter crap, they actually lost a game....against a not that amazing Rabo team, which on that day didn't even play spectacularly. Fatigue, says Laporte. I'll agree with him. There was no reason Toulon should be intimidated by that place or the team they were up against - and again, Cardiff didn't exactly play the game of the decade.

Much at stake for both teams, and this taking place in Toulouse, it could be a huge confidence annihilator for Toulon to lose this heavily, and a great return to hegemonic form if they take it from Noves' troops.

The scrums will be very interesting, to test Toulouse' true strength there against the int'l juggernaut that is the RCT pack.
And both teams have formidable backs, but Wilko won't be facing the genuine Toulouse starting 10 with Mcalister out all this time...

ALLEZ TOULOUSE !!! But with a bit of fear of Toulon...

 

[gaston le gaff]

[h=1]Top 14, Aviron bayonnais: Mike Phillips licencié ![/h]Yes breaking news Mike Phillips sacked by Bayonne maybe now he will leave the sauce alone a complete and under Richard Head !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!