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Top 14, r24 preview - Toulon and
Biarritz turn their focus back to play-off qualification
15 April 2011
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Jonny Wilkinson: Looking
for the perfect pick-me-up
Photo: Eoin Mundow/Cleva Media |
European memories, fond or
foul, must be swiftly put aside as Top 14 action returns
this weekend with Round 23 (of 26) demanding complete focus.
Vanquished Heineken Cup
quarter-finalists Biarritz and Toulon both have must-win
home games as they continue to pursue their play-off hopes,
but their respective opponents could not be more different.
Biarritz entertain a Brive side which has virtually
guaranteed its Top 14 survival, while Toulon host leaders
Stade Toulousain at Marseille's impressive Stade Vélodrome.
Defeat for either 'home' side
could spell the end in terms of the play-offs - and that in
turn would also discount them from next season's Heineken
Cup, so the stakes could not be higher.
Top 14 League Table 2010/11
But it's not just Toulon and
Biarritz who are in the 'shit-or-bust' saloon...
The weekend kicks off tonight
(Friday) with almost doomed La Rochelle at home to SU Agen,
their nearest rivals but still a mighty nine points away.
'The Maritimers' simply have to win to maintain any serious
hopes of survival, but their preparation this week hints at
an acceptance of the seemingly inevitable with the club's
coaching staff having been completely overhauled.
Victory for Agen - should that
happen - would appear to be the final nail in La Rochelle's
Top 14 coffin, but the home team will surely give it
everything they have in one last throw of the dice.
Leading scorers in Top 14 2010/11
Elsewhere, there's a preview of
the all-French ACC semi-final with Stade Francais playing
host to Clermont Auvergne at the Stade Charléty, while
Heineken Cup semi-finalists Perpignan are bound to be given
a rousing reception for their home match against
second-placed Racing-Métro 92.
The Parisian visitors travel
with the incentive of having an outside chance of topping
the table come Saturday night, and Pierre Berbizier's men
will be hoping their relative freshness will count in their
favour against a team perhaps groggy from last weekend's
Spanish exertions.
Should Racing slip up, however,
then Montpellier are ideally placed to usurp them in second
place as they are at home to a Bayonne side which has at
last seen the club's unseemly off-field power battle
resolved this week.
The weekend's other match sees
basement boys Bourgoin play their penultimate home match in
Top 14 (for how long?) as they welcome a Castres team which
is also pushing hard for a top two finish.
It's been yet another
dispiriting week for Bourgoin with the financially stricken
club slapped with two fines and a suspended European ban, so
Castres must fancy a rare away win to bolster their own
play-off aspirations.
Top 14, Round 24 fixtures
(Current league position in brackets)
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La Rochelle
(13th) |
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SU Agen (12th) |
Stade
Marcel Deflandre, 15/04/11, 20.45 |
Just one position
separates these two sides but the current nine-point gap
must seem like an ocean for 'Maritimers' La Rochelle. That
is a massive gap to make up in three games, but a victory
tonight - coupled with denying Agen any tangible return -
would at least offer the hosts an element of hope. Seven
defeats from their last eight games underlines how desperate
La Rochelle's cause has become, but they will take some sort
of inspiration from their solitary victory during that
three-month spell - a 20-16 home win against high-flying
Montpellier. They can also look back to last season's
corresponding encounter between these two sides - admittedly
it was in ProD2 - when La Rochelle won out 20-10. Agen, by
contrast, go into this match on the back of successive
victories against Clermont and Castres, although both were
achieved on home soil. Indeed, Agen's excellent recent home
form - seven wins from eight - is the sole reason why they
are currently nine points above La Rochelle, with their away
wins column still registering just one for the entire
season. That should offer La Rochelle further hope for a
game they simply cannot afford to lose.
Last season:
La Rochelle 20 SU Agen 10 (in ProD2)
Verdict: La Rochelle win
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Stade Francais
(10th) |
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Clermont Auvergne
(5th) |
Stade
Charléty, 16/04/11, 14.15 |
This may be a foretaste of
their upcoming ACC semi-final, but both sides have played
down its significance in that regard as this game poses a
number of different questions. Stade Francais have not had
the best of weeks - with news emerging of further financial
strife and the possibility of president Max Guazzini
stepping aside - and one wonders how 'up for it' they will
be given their current league standing. Stade Francais were
French champions five times between 1998 and 2007, but the
mighty have fallen dramatically in the past two seasons and
go into this match with nothing but pride and ACC starting
places to play for. At 10th in the league standings with
just 49 points they are closer to 12th-placed SU Agen than
ninth-placed Bayonne. That says it all in terms of Stade's
disastrous league season. Defending French champions
Clermont should be fresher having not been involved in last
weekend's European games, but their away record this season
is nothing short of atrocious. They travel to Paris on the
back of nine successive away defeats in Top 14 and knowing
that yet another loss could see them drop out of the
play-off zone. That is an unthinkable scenario for a team
which was supposed to kick on this season after finally
breaking clinching their maiden Top 14 title last season,
and Kiwi coach Vern Cotter will surely have his
under-achieving troops fired up for this one.
Last season:
Stade Francais 19 Clermont Auvergne 10
Verdict: Clermont Auvergne win
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Perpignan (8th) |
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Racing-Métro 92
(2nd) |
Stade
Aimé Giral, 16/04/11, 14.30 |
Where are Perpignan's priorities now? Victory
in Barcelona last weekend set them up for a Heineken Cup
semi-final away to Northampton, but as they currently lie
eighth in Top 14 they still need to keep winning
domestically to ensure their participation in that cherished
competition next season. Will that hard-earned win against
Toulon have a positive or negative effect on the team which
Jacques Brunel fields on Saturday? Sapped or inspired will
be the overriding question as second-placed Racing-Métro
head into town seeking a victory of their own which could
yet see them head Top 14 at the end of the weekend. For that
to happen they would require a bonus-point win at the Stade
Aimé Giral, as well as a blank return by Stade Toulousain
away to Toulon, but any type of victory in Perpignan would
be another huge step towards securing a Top 14 semi-final
berth. That, surely, is the real goal for Racing this
weekend. Perpignan, by contrast, are presently three points
behind sixth-placed Biarritz and have two hugely testing
league games to follow - away to Toulon and at home to
Castres. Anything but a win here would virtually end their
own play-off hopes, making that Heineken Cup semi-final an
even more high-staked affair for the 2009 French champions.
Last season:
Perpignan 31 Racing-Métro 12
Verdict: Perpignan win
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Biarritz (6th) |
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Brive (11th) |
Parc des Sports Aguiléra,
16/04/11, 14.30 |
Biarritz, like Toulon,
must cast aside the bitter disappointment of last weekend as
they refocus on trying to secure a play-off spot in Top 14.
The Basques head into this match knowing that victory could
take them as high third spot, while the unpalatable thought
of defeat would almost inevitably see them slip out of the
top six with just two away games to follow. They take on a
Brive side which also lost in Europe last weekend, but the
Limousin club had no real expectation of beating Munster -
even though they came mighty close - and has trained its
energies on ensuring Top 14 survival instead. Back-to-back
home wins against Bourgoin and La Rochelle has virtually
secured that, and one suspects it will be Biarritz's greater
hunger which will triumph here. Brive still have a home game
against Montpellier to follow - should they need a further
win to stay up - and can also look towards a last day trip
to SU Agen if needs be.
Last season:
Biarritz 12 Brive 6
Verdict: Biarritz win
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Montpellier (3rd) |
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Bayonne
(9th) |
Stade
Yves du Manoir, 16/04/11, 14.30 |
Fabien Galthié's
Montpellier have the chance to reclaim second spot this
weekend if they can win at home to Bayonne and Racing-Métro
lose away at Perpignan. That should be enough of an
incentive to ensure the hosts remain totally focused against
a Bayonne team which has been sidetracked by events off the
field in recent months. This week's resignation of president
Francis Salagoity has finally brought that drama to an end,
but it is probably too late for the Basque club to rescue
what initially began as such a promising campaign. The
early-season leaders are not without hope, however, and
travel to Montpellier just four points off the play-off zone
despite being down in ninth spot An way win here would keep
those slim hopes alive and they will take inspiration from
last season's 22-16 win at this same venue. Much has changed
at both these clubs over the past 12 months - primarily for
the better in both cases - but Montpellier must surely start
as favourites owing to their better overall league form, and
a season-long unbeaten record at the Stade Yves du Manoir.
Only Perpignan have escaped unbowed - thanks to a 12-12 draw
back in early January - and Bayonne's recent away form -
three successive defeats - suggests it will be Galthié's
team which triumphs on Saturday.
Last season:
Montpellier 16 Bayonne 22
Verdict: Montpellier win
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Bourgoin
(14th) |
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Castres
(4th) |
Stade
Pierre Rajon, 16/04/11, 14.30 |
The season's end simply
can't come soon enough for Bourgoin as their 2010/11
campaign continues to go from bad to worse. Cash-strapped
off the field, woeful on it, they go into this match on the
back of 14 straight league defeats, having been fined twice
during the week (by ERC and the LNR) and having also picked
up a one-year ban from European competition (albeit
suspended for five seasons). Their relegation to ProD2 was
confirmed some time ago and what resistance was left appears
to have been broken of late, as the concession of 92 points
in their last two games appears to underline. That should
all add up to give Castres the ideal opportunity to register
only their second away win of the season. Indeed, the
opportunity is clearly there to take the attacking bonus as
well - something which could enable the visitors to climb to
second by the end of the weekend. With five wins from their
last seven games Castres are very much one of Top 14's
in-form sides, and the incentive of avoiding the play-off
quarter-finals should be enough to fire them to a convincing
win at the Stade Pierre Rajon.
Last season:
Bourgoin 16 Castres 9
Verdict:
Castres win
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Toulon
(7th) |
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Stade Toulousain (1st) |
Stade
Vélodrome, 16/04/11, 16.25 |
Lastly, but by no means
least, big-spending Toulon play host to league leaders Stade
Toulousain in front of another huge crowd as they meet at
the Stade Vélodrome for the third successive season. The
Marseille football ground has been favourable to Toulon in
the previous two clashes, with Philippe Saint-André's team
winning 14-6 in 2008/9 and 18-13 in 2009/10. A repeat
victory on Saturday evening would be more than welcome for
the Cote d'Azur club as they seek to brush aside their
Heineken hangover with a win that could see them return to
the top six. To that end there should be little need a
rallying cry, but club captain Joe Van Niekerk will no doubt
make sure his men are up for the task despite the huge
disappointment of last weekend's loss in Barcelona. Toulouse
will also arrive with wary legs after their Spanish
exertions but head coach Guy Noves has openly admitted that
his match "is not a priority" for the European champions.
Noves has since gone on to state that his double-chasing
side would still be travelling in search of victory, but one
can't help feel the club are happy to let this one slide as
they are five points clear of Racing-Métro and eight points
up on third-placed Montpellier. This is also the last of
four successive away games for the mighty Toulouse,
following on from trips to Racing-Métro, Perpignan and
Biarritz. Noves has also stated he will resting some of his
weary players - such as prop Daan Human and fly-half David
Skrela - while injuries continue to rob them of the services
of Thierry Dusautoir, Byron Kelleher, Frédéric Michalak and
Nicolas Bézy. The absence of those last three means a
new-look half-back partnership with fit-again Argentine
Nicolas Vergallo back at scrum-half, alongside tyro fly-half
Jean-Marc Doussain. Toulon also have injury problems of
their own, with Kiwi winger Rudi Wulf and Argentine
back-rower Juan Fernandez-Lobbe both definite non-startes.
Last season:
Toulon 18 Stade Toulousain 13
Verdict:
Toulon win
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