French Top 14 - Round 22 Wrap

Perpignan 25-10 Toulouse

Patricio Albacete

With USAP being threatened with relegation the club had to get a win to guarantee its survival in the French Top 14. Despite the urgency the club was given little chance of a win over Toulouse even though it was playing at its home fortress of the Stade Aime Giral. Toulouse´s embarrassing performance in the Heineken Cup last weekend which saw the giants fall to Scotland´s Edinburgh resulted in Lionel Beauxis being benched. It enabled Toulouse to actually play some rugby as the young French scrumhalf, Jean-Marc Doussain played in the 10 shirt. At halftime the visitors were leading 7-6 thanks to a try to Argentine secondrower Patricio Albacete, his first of the season. After the break, Perpignan went on to win with Wales´ James Hook kicking 20 points. Argentina´s World Cup scrumhalf, Nicolás Vergallo came on for Toulouse to play the final 11 minutes. 

Agen 22-13 Toulon

JM Fernández Lobbe

The match, for Pumas fans, was the most important of the weekend as it featured the return of the worldclass Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe from injury. The Argentine backrower last played vs Scotland in the World Cup and had to leave the field in the first half of the do-or-die encounter. he came on for Toulon from the bench as a secondhalf replacement in the 53rd minute. Toulon´s surprizingly poor performance featured former Wallaby, Matt iteau playing in place of Jonny Wilkinson at flyhalf. The team fielded a star-studded lineup with notable players from Australia, England, France, Fiji, Georgia and South Africa all joining Giteau in the starting lineup.Agen fielded a team lacking big name players but got the result. Former Pumas centre, Miguel Avramovic played two minutes from the bench. 

Clermont Auvergne 25-9 Stade Français

Martín Rodríguez Gurrruchaga

The hot-and-cold form of Stade Français continued as did the home record of Clermont. In winning, Clermont has confirmed its place in the Top 14 Orange Semi Finals alongside Toulouse. The teams a re tied at the top of the table and neither team can finish below second. They will not, therefore, play in the barrage round of the Top 14 play-off´s in May. The loss means Stade Français´ chances of making the barrage play-offs are complicated as the team is now six points behind fellow Parisians, Racing Métro. The club remains on target for a place in the Heineken Cup, however as it appears to be well placed for a Heineken Cup victory, assuming Toulon give preference to the Top 14. Canada´s Jamie Cudmore missed the match for Clermont due to injury while Stade Français fielded its Argentine 10-12 combination of Felipe Contepomi and Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga. Pumas veteran loosehead prop, Rodrigo Roncero came on for the Parisians in the 47th minute. 

Agustín Creevy

Montpellier 43-12 Lyon OU

A massive home win sees Montpellier continue to look like a team that could win this seasons title. With five Argentine players in the starting lineup, Montpellier ran riot against the bottom of the table Lyon OU. Two of the six tries were scored by Argentine players with hooker Agustín Creevy scoring a tryin the 40th minute and centre Santi Fernández going over in the 55th minute. The star of the show, however, was Georgian backrower Mamuka Gorgodze who scored three tries. Creevy played 53 minutes while Fernández played the full match for Montpellier. Creevy was joined in the frontrow by Argentine props Juan Figallo and Maximilano Bustos. Figallo played 50 minutes and Bustos 60 with both being replaced. Lucas González Amorosino continued his mortage on the 15 shirt while Martín Bustos Moyano was a late withdrawl having been named to start as such François Trinh-Duc was the teams goalkicker for the first time this season. Juan Manuel Leguizamón missed the match for Lyon due to a minor injury. While Lyon are going down to the Pro d2, neighbouring city, Grenoble are on the way back as after seven years in the second division the Alps city has won promotion back to France´s top flight. 

Racing Métro 40-19 Brive

Juan Martín Hernández

Racign Métro look close to being confirmed in the play-off´s after hjaving come right followign an extremely up and down season. Brive, in contrast, will not be breathing easily as the club may not be safwe afterall as Perpignan and Biarritz have both gone clear while Bayonne are only four points behind Brive on 38 points. Brive cannot take anything for granted and need to win some of its remaining matches. A tough task given the opposition of Toulouse, Bordeaux-Begles and Clermont Auvergne. Racing Métro´s win featured three Pumas in the starting lineup with Juan Orlandi playing 49 minutes at tighthead prop, Juan Imhoff playing 75 minutes on the left wing and el Mago, Juan Martín Hernández playing 65 minutes at flyhalf. Juan Martín Hernández is looking increasingly like being Argentina´s flyhalf again as he continues to put together some regular game time for Racing Métro and put hisn players in spaces.  His playmaking had the Parisians leading 33-12 when he was substituted. One of the Parisians four tries was scored by Imhoff who continues to cement the Pumas 11 shirt in a likerly partnership with Leicester´s Horacio Agulla at 14. Another player likely to feature extensively for Argentina is Agustín Figuerola who started at scrumhalf for Brive, playing 74 minutes.

Bayonne 24-19 Biarritz

Manuel Carizza

Another upset took place on the Spanish border as Bayonne scored a vital win as it tries to stay in the Top 14. Biarritz were missing a number of players to injury including Taku Ngwenya and Marcelo Bosch. This worked out to the advantage of Bayonne who are doing nothing other than fighting for survival in the Top 14. The teams victory was a tryless performance and came with a bit of luck as Biarritz were very close to scoring a try from a lineup with time up on the clock. The lineout was won by Manuel Carizza who had come on for Biarritz in the 64th minute. He may be heading for a return to Heineken Cup rugby as he is being lined up by Racing Métro who have lost Sebastien Chabal and will soon lose Lionel Nallet who is aged 35. Francisco Gomez Kodela also recieved game time for Biarritz, coming on in the 54th minute to play tighthead prop.

Castres 44-20 Bordeaux-Begles

Rafael Carballo

A massive win, and a rare bonus point one, for Castres sees the club continue to be impressive at home while failing to match this on the road. The home team had a one man advantage for twenty minutes as Bordeaux received two yellow cards for indiscipline. An outcome which ultimately ruined the teams chances in htis contest. The four tries to two victory features Uruguay´s Rodrigo Capó Ortega in the secondrow. The 2003 World Cup player started and was replaced in the 73rd minute. Bordeaux-Begles had one of its two Argentine players in the match with Rafael Carballo playing 90 minutes on the wing. 

Top 14 Orange Standings
1 Toulouse 78
2 Clermont 78
3 Toulon 63
4 Montpellier 62
5 Castres 59
6 Racing Métro 59
7 Stade Français 53
8 Agen 48
9 Perpignan 44
10 Biarritz 44
11 Brive 42
12 Bordeaux-Begles 41
13 Bayonne 38
14 Lyon 30

* Play-offs zone
* Relegation

Perpignan vs Toulouse


Agen vs Toulon

Résumé Agen-Toulon por rctoulon

Clermont Auvergne vs Stade Français

ASM-Stade Français : Le résumé por asm

Montpellier vs Lyon OU

Montpellier/LOU (43-12) : le résumé vidéo por LOURugby1896

Racing Métro vs Brive


Bayonne vs Biarritz Olympique


Castres Olympique vs Bordeaux-Begles

The Rugby Championship Players to Watch - Patricio Albacete

It is no exaggeration to say that Patricio Albacete is the best Argentine secondrower of his generation. Nor is it to say that he has been the best secondrower in France for a period of more than five years. The 31 year old stands at 2 metres tall and weighs 123KG. He was Argentina´s main lineout jumper in Rugby World Cup 2007 and was constantly seen around the park acting as a ball-carrier with great regularity. But what makes him such a key player for club and country is not his lineout work or ball carrying abilities but his agility as he is able to get around the park very well for someone in his position. His physical build is ideal for the position from a stereotypical perspective but his workrate goes is what makes him such a good player as he gets through much more work than what would be expected of him. He looms as being one of Argentina´s most important players this year with the South Americans set to debut in The Rugby Championship. Despite having accomplished so much he remains largely unknown in Australian, New Zealand and South African rugby circles due to the simple fact that Argentina has played so few tests against the three founding members of the Tri Nations. Incredibly, outside of World Cup´s Albacete has played only one test against the All Blacks and Springboks and has never faced the Wallabies.  

Albacete vs Australia, RWC 03

The man known in Argentine rugby circles as Pato has been a first choice player for his country ever since making his debut vs Paraguay in April 2003. Spotted at an early age by former Los Pumas boss, Marcelo Loffreda, Albacete was quickly turned into a first choice player following his arrival in Argentina´s 144-0 win over vs the Paraguayans. There was only a matter of months before the World Cup was to start but Loffreda was convinced that he was a special player and selected him for the tournament, joining Ignacio Fernández Lobbe in the secondrow and forcing Perpignan´s Rimas Alvarez Kairelis to the bench. The same three players would be used the same way four years latter and following the retirement of both, Albacete´s role has changed, making him one of the leaders in the pack. 

Albacete vs Ireland, RWC 07

In 2007 Albacete was surrounded by big name forwards with Pumas legends such as Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, Omar Hasan, Mario Ledesma and Gonzalo Longo joining him in the engine room. All have since gone to retirement as have many backs, with Argentina´s 2011 World Cup captain, Felipe Contepomi likely to make the 2012 season his last in Pumas colors. The void will be filled by a forward with the next captain to be either Juan Fernández Lobbe of Toulon of Patricio Albacete. Pato has the credentials to be a superb captain and will be aged 34 come Rugby World Cup 2015, the same age as Contepomi at New Zealand 2011. He is hihgly likely to still be Argentina´s leading secondrower in 2015 and would therefore join the elite club of players to have played at four Rugby World Cup´s. 

Albacete has a decorated career which started well in Buenos Aires with the awarding in 2002 of revelation of the year. He had gone through the ranks of Argentine rugby, starting with Club Manuel Belgrano which saw him play for the under 15 and under 20 teams. He quickly made the Buenos Aires selection at age grade and senior level, winning the Argentine Championship in 1998 and captaining the team in 1999 and 2000, still aged below 20. He also captained Argentina at under 19 level in 1999 and 2000 and then at under 21 level in 2001 and 2002. He was Buenos Aires´ captain in the under 20 and under 21 teams and captain in 2001 and 2002 as well as a finalist at senior level in 2001 and then a champion in 2002 and 2003.  This impressive list underlines his talent which was spotted from a very young age and could very well see him go on to captain Argentina, starting this year. 

Albacete for Toulouse

Albacete became a professional player after Australia 2003, joining the then French Top 14 club, Colomiers on a one year contract. He then moved to play for Pau for two seasons in the Top 14 and won player of the year for the club. In 2006 Albacete joined Toulouse on a four year contract and has since signed another. With Toulouse, Albacete has had tremendous success from a an individual standpoint and for the team. The bible of French rugby, Midi Olympique named Albacete as the best secondrower every year from 2006-2011 and in the ideal XV in each of these years. In 2007, Albacete won the award for being Toulouse´s best player. The same year saw Albacete win the award voted on by players and journalists as the best Pumas player at the World Cup. His form has not faded since with Albacete winning the award fo being Argentina´s best rugby player in 2010 and again in 2011. 

Heineken Cup Glory

With Toulouse, Albacete has done it all. Having been a beaten finalist in the 2005 European Challenge Cup with Pau, Albacete went beyond this by winning the Heineken Cup with Toulouse in 2010. He is also a two time French champion having won the Top 14 final in 2008 and 2011. On all occasions Pato has done so in the number five shirt. Toulouse´s desire to have him see out his professional career at the club remains highly likely with Toulouse having him on its books until Rugby World Cup 2015. Albacete has, however, said that he has a desire to play one season in Japan before hanging up his boots.

Week One: Juan Manuel Leguizamón

Week Two: Lucas González Amorosino

Week Three: Marcelo Bosch

Week Four: Agustín Creevy

Week Five: Juan Martín Hernández 
Week Six: Martín Bustos Moyano
Week Seven: Leonardo Senatore

Week Eight: Rodrigo Roncero
Week Nine: Gonzalo Camacho
Week Ten: Patricio Albacete
Week Eleven: Horacio Agulla