Top 14 Day 11

[Tony Manx]

We have sooooo much chance that they do not even need Mujati and Tongauhia and Sexton benched!!

 

[gaston le gaff]

Finally the Montpellier squad to play Grenoble ko. 18.30

Effectif:
1. Misha Nariashvili - 2. Mickaël Ivaldi - 3.Maximiliano Bustos - 4.Robins Tchale-Watchou - 5. Thibaut Privat - 6. Alexandre Bias (Capitaine) - 7. Mamuka Gorgodze - 8. Alex Tulou - 9. Jonathan Pelissie - 10. François Trinh-Duc - 11. Yoan Audrin - 12. Thomas Combezou - 13. Anthony Tuitavaké - 14. Timoci Nagusa - 15. Benoît Sicart
Les remplaçants:
16. Charles Géli - 17. Nicolas Mas - 18. Mickael De Marco - 19. Kélian Galletier - 20. Benoit Paillaugue - 21. JP Du Plessis - 22. Anthony Floch - 23. Yvan Watremez
- See more at: http://www.montpellier-rugby.com/news/la-composition-pour-mhr-grenoble#sthash.uUwbf9Ux.dpuf

note JP. Du Plessis has his first outing on the bench for MHR, and Pelissie prefered to Paillaugue at 9, something to do with a little match against The All Blacks next Sat.

 

[gaston le gaff]

Grenoble's squad v Montpellier ko 18.30

Le XV de départ: Gengenbacher ; Thiery, Jaouher, Hunt, Caminati ; (o) Stewart, (m) Hart ; Alexandre, Faure, Best ; Hand, Roodt ; Edwards, Campo, Buckle. Remplaçants: David, Hegarty, Farley, Beal, Bezy, Messina, Nicolas, Choirat.

 

[Tony Manx]

Last night saw Castres invincibility over Clermont at home continue......but only just with Clermont at least getting the draw!...............easy enough win for Toulon!

After the International, I will be heading off to Aguillera for, I reckon, my third last match there this season (after that who knows!!!) due to travel commitments in the New Year. Back for Stade's hammering of Bayonne and to watch the Brive/Toulouse match tomorrow on replay so have to keep away from the results!!

Aupa BO!!

 

[Draggs]

Choking Brock James with a last minute drop goal to give CF a draw.

 

[Tony Manx]

After a fortnight of glorious weather, it poured down from about two hours before KO and continued throughout the match. Biarritz played into the wind and rain and to come in only 9-6 down against Racing was testament to their desire rather than skill!! They were beaten in the scrums, their lineouts were a mess and what ball they did get was sent into the heavens by Yach at 10….sometimes well and sometimes just too far.

We all were looking forward at half time to Yach playing the corners in the second half but there was little ball to do that…….Two penalties including a "beaut" from half way ended the scoring in favour of Biarritz who ended up with their first deserved win of the season and second in all!!

The desire and the drive was obvious and finally Blanco inspired something in the players. Imanol was fairly anonymous before leaving with a cut after about 30 minutes not to return. Trallie came on for the second half at 15 and made some good catches but his handling was awful. Those players apart, I though everyone did what they were asked and what they could with even Yach doing his share of tackling

Racing were, in fact, pretty ordinary and not sure what "McIlroy's girlfriend" was doing on the pitch at 10 as he did not take any of the kicks and surely that is his whole raison d'etre! Their line out was good, (mainly on the basis that the ref allowed it to go crooked all game apart from penalising BO once), and their scrum was on top but BO did start to overcome it toward the end (with some assistance from the ref I felt)!

A good win but the guillotine is still hanging above our heads and am not sure just how much the conditions had to play in this game but continued fight and spirit such as today will encourage the supporters. More than that will be needed in the months ahead though to secure continued participation next season.

 

[gaston le gaff]

Gaston's predictions just short of another 100% forcasting the Castres win when a draw became the reality in the 81 min. with a late Brock James drop goal, but good forcasting giving BO the win which Tony did not have any confidence left, and the excellent prediction of Brive taking apart Toulouse, (shame Gaston is banned from betting) which leaves Montpellier on top of the world with Toulon, now for a weeks deserved holiday for the players while the North and Southern hemispheres knock 7 bells out of each other for the next 3 weeks.

 

[Tony Manx]

All done without looking at Gaston's post or the seeing the Brive result as going to watch that in a few minutes!! More Later..................

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Pts[/TD]
[TD]J[/TD]
[TD]G[/TD]
[TD]N[/TD]
[TD]P[/TD]
[TD]p[/TD]
[TD]c[/TD]
[TD]+ / -[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Toulon Rugby Club[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]304[/TD]
[TD]197[/TD]
[TD]107[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Montpellier Hérault Rugby[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]287[/TD]
[TD]205[/TD]
[TD]82[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]ASM Clermont[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]297[/TD]
[TD]233[/TD]
[TD]64[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]Stade Toulousain[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]241[/TD]
[TD]186[/TD]
[TD]55[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]Stade Francisco[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]209[/TD]
[TD]200[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]Perpignan[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]235[/TD]
[TD]231[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]Grenoble[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]202[/TD]
[TD]241[/TD]
[TD]-39[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]CA Brive-Corrèze[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]241[/TD]
[TD]228[/TD]
[TD]13[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]Racing Metro 92[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]182[/TD]
[TD]207[/TD]
[TD]-25[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]Castres Olympique[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]235[/TD]
[TD]194[/TD]
[TD]41[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]Union Bordeaux-Begles[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]243[/TD]
[TD]277[/TD]
[TD]-34[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]Bayonne[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]177[/TD]
[TD]265[/TD]
[TD]-88[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]Oyonnax[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]195[/TD]
[TD]261[/TD]
[TD]-66[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]Biarritz Olympique[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]143[/TD]
[TD]266[/TD]
[TD]-123[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]French stage [/TD]
[TD] 13-9[/TD]
[TD]Bayonne[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Biarritz Olympique[/TD]
[TD] 9-6[/TD]
[TD]Racing Metro 92[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Montpellier Hérault Rugby[/TD]
[TD]25-18[/TD]
[TD]Grenoble[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Oyonnax[/TD]
[TD]22-9[/TD]
[TD]Perpignan[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]CA Brive-Corrèze[/TD]
[TD]25-13[/TD]
[TD]Stade Toulousain[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Castres Olympique[/TD]
[TD]22-22[/TD]
[TD]ASM Clermont[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Toulon Rugby Club[/TD]
[TD]37-17[/TD]
[TD]Union Bordeaux-Begles[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

 

[Tony Manx]

Watched most of the Brive game and a wonderful performance from Brive it was......from the first minute they got stuck in and the energy and skill levels were tremendous. Has to be said that the "bad" Toulouse turned (or rather did not turn) up again and I know Gaston will claim that they were not allowed to play!!

If you cannot win a line out for love nor money, a clean scrum, mishandle when not under pressure and are too slow all round the pitch, you cannot expect small town clubs to roll, over and let you walk all over them!!

Well done Brive...............

 

[Big Ewis]

a brave Brive, huh ? Headlines say that, others emphasize how badly Toulouse failed....verdict ?? I'm too busy these days to watch like 4 matches per day.

 

[Tony Manx]

a brave Brive, huh ? Headlines say that, others emphasize how badly Toulouse failed....verdict ?? I'm too busy these days to watch like 4 matches per day.

Both............Brive were tremendous (I think "brave" should be left to the battlefield) and energetic and skillfull and Toulouse were as bad as they can be with the squad they have - which is still better than Biarritz before anyone else says it!!

 

[gaston le gaff]

I thought that Brive deserved their victory, lucky first try but when you've got it good luck often works for you, the forwards gave Toulouse a good going over and the Toulouse backs were scruffy, absolutely nothing to do with not letting them play Tony they are a tough side to beat at home that is why Gaston predicted a Brive win.

 

[Big Ewis]

Both............Brive were tremendous (I think "brave" should be left to the battlefield) and energetic and skillfull and Toulouse were as bad as they can be with the squad they have - which is still better than Biarritz before anyone else says it!!

no, no, I don't do cheap shots ! Toulouse, my fav. team in the league, is often much worse than they should be. They can be close to fkn useless on the road at times tbh...very frustrating. They've definitely, definitely under-produced in recent years without question.

P.S.: speaking of which, congrats !! Nice win against a very good team there.

 

[Big Ewis]

hey, totally aware this is way late but I'll some times keep a match for the week to watch.
Just finished the Toulon UBB match, and man, Bordeaux looks awesome ! They held right in there the whole way. 37-17 isn't very flattering either, but man they looked powerful that match, did UBB !
Absolutely fkd Toulon up in the scrum the - whole - 80min. They even got a TO against Toulon in the scrum ??!!! Even when Castro came in late, (with Ali Williams and Bakkies in the second row) they still messed them up good in the scrum. Sure pays to have Ibanez coach the forwards, ay.
They showed fantastic attacking ability, even the tries they didn't score, what fluid movement with the ball. They defended fantastically, despite the 37 points which really don't tell the story...got a bunch of turnovers at the breakdown...all that in Mayol. Seriously, goddamn.

It's almost amazing that they're just 11th out of 14 teams, i.e. only Bayonne, Oyonnax and Biarritz are behind them. This really shows what the Top 14 has become, when a team like UBB is 11th in a league.
Of course I'm not judging them on just one performance, but I saw bits of other matches, and looking at their results, they haven't been blown out often, just that game in Clermont which I'm sure they threw away.

Honestly, what a team ! I liked them last year, but they're a lot more focused and pro this year, and consistent.
Remember when they killed Toulon last year 41-0 ?

[video=dailymotion;xxekwp]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxekwp_bordeaux-toulon-41-0-j17-saison-2012-2013_sport[/video]

 

[Tony Manx]

I agree with you about UBB and would add that I also think, traitor that I am, that Bayonne are too good to go down too which makes the job for Oynnaz and Biarritz nigh on impossible!!

 

[Big Ewis]

I agree with you about UBB and would add that I also think, traitor that I am, that Bayonne are too good to go down too which makes the job for Oynnaz and Biarritz nigh on impossible!!

maybe Biarritz deserve what they're getting this year....
but Fort Oyonnax has got this weirdo's support !!