Amlin Challenge Cup - Semi Finals Wrap

Toulon 32-29 Stade Français

Toulon struggled to a tight win against Stade Français to reach the final, thanks to the boot of Jonny Wilkinson securing a late drop goal for the win.

At home, against a very much weakened Stade Français team, Toulon were expected to win much more comfortably, but with a massive wind helping Stade Français in the first half they helped themselves to an early lead as young fly half Jules Plisson looked comfortable and assured with the boot.

When Toulon had the wind on their backs, several penalties from Jonny Wilkinson soon put them back into the lead, but Stade didn't give up and were in the match right up until the end when Wilkinson struck the winning drop goal.

There was no representation from the Americas in this match, with Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe on the sidelines.

American Takudzwa Ngwenya
evades the tackle of Argentine
Agustín Figuerola

Biarritz 19-0 Brive

Biarritz made it two home wins out of two in the semi finals as pretty much everybody expected as soon as the semi final draw was made.

Like Stade Français, Brive played a weakened side, but only slightly weakened compared to Stade's ransacked side.

The game was a very dull one, played in soaking conditions with two teams not playing much rugby, the excitement of the match lessened further when it became clear early on that Biarritz were not going to lose as well.

For Biarritz American Takudzwa "Zee" Ngwenya played the entire match on the wing, as did Argentine centre Marcelo Bosch who started at fly half, lock Manuel Carizza who is leaving the Basque side at the end of the season also started, whilst tighthead prop Franciso Gómez Kodela came off the bench.

For Brive Argentine scrum half Agustín Figuerola played the entire match whilst loosehead prop Pablo Henn came off the bench.

The Amlin Challenge Cup final will be played at the Twickenham Stoop on Wednesday the 18th of May between Toulon and Biarritz.


If Toulon win, the team that finishes seventh in the Top 14 will qualify for the 2012/13 Heineken Cup, if Biarritz win then they will qualify instead.

Agustín Pichot´s try in 2007 Top 14 Final

Three months before the kick-off of Rugby World Cup 2007, Stade Français took on Clermont Auvergne in the Top 14 Final at the same venue as the sports showcase tournament´s opening fixture - the Stade de France. The match marked history with a foreign player, Agustín Pichot, captaining a team to glory in French rugby. Pichot´s try in the 68th minute was the first of the match and proved to be the turning point in the final as Clermont had been leading 15-9 with Australian Brock James responsible for all his teams points thanks to his goalkicking. The try  was a great way of showing kids the art of the scrumhalf position as Pichot bossed around his forwards to advance with the players doing what they were told. At the same time he remained in constant contact with his flyhalf and with Stade Français four metres from the try line and looking dangerous Pichot sold a dummy pass to his flyhalf which Clermont bought 

Pichot was joined by three fellow Pumas in the Stade Français team that evening. Rodrigo Roncero and Pedro Ledesma were the teams starting props and Juan Martín Hernández was the flyhalf. There was a forth Argentine in the team with the Argentine-Italian, Sergio Parisse coming off the bench in the secondhalf. Clermont also had three Argentine players with Mario Ledesma starting at hooker and Martín Scelzo at tighthead prop and backrower Gonzalo Longo entered the match as a secondhalf replacement. 

Hernández was the player of the match and was in the best form of his career he landed the conversion to put Stade Français in the lead. Clermont reclaimed the lead with James landing his sixth penalty but it was to be Stade Français´day as Hernández threw a long cut out pass to Australian international Radiki Samo who dived over in the corner. With Hernández´s conversion, the Parisians claimed the title with a 23-18 victory.

For complete highlights of the match see here.

Stade Français pay tribute to Rodrigo Roncero

The loss of Rodrigo Roncero to global rugby is comparable to reent retirement of Welsh Wizard Shane Williams or South Africa´s Victor Matfield. Such is the talents of Roncero who had the drafts of loosehead prop play understood perfectly and was extremely well regarded and respected by the global rugby public. However, the true measure of a player is often not what is seen on tv but what occurs behind the scenes. The off-field things which usually never get revealed. It is the respect that ones teammates have for a player which are at the heart of the true values of rugby and Roncero was respected by his peers in the highest regard. 

The following video was posted on the official site of Stade Français. Merci Rorro!

Merci Rodrigo Roncero - Stade TV
 Les joueurs ont tenu à remercier Rodrigo Roncero pour l'ensemble de sa carrière au Stade Français Paris.

Mots-clés : stade français paris rugby hommages messages rodrigo roncero

Video de adminstade

Merci Rodrigo Roncero - Stade TV

Rodrigo Roncero scores in final appearance in Paris

Roncero leaves with captain Parisse for the last time in Paris. rugbyrama.fr

The professional future of Rodrigo Roncero is coming to a close. This season will be his last as a professional and appropriately he scored the first try of the match for Stade Français vs Perpignan in Paris on Saturday. The try was scored from an overthrown Perpignan lineout which Roncero caught and dived over to the delight of his teammates. Fellow Argentine internationals, Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga and Felipe Contepomi were quick to congratulate him as was the Argentine-Italian, Sergio Parisse but it was a try celebrated by all Stade Français players and supporters. Coach Michael Cheika was ful of compliments before and after the match and was wearing a Merci Rorro t-shirt during the match to pay tribute to the 35 year old Puma.

Having played for the Parisian club since 2004, Roncero is now to return to Buenos Aires to raise his three daughters and to take up a career as a doctor. In Rocnero´s postmatch interview he was very emotional as held his two year old daughter and had his two elder daughters either side of him. Roncdro´s eight year stay in France has seen him win the French Championship with the dominant Stade Français team in 2006-2007. He was considered the best prop of Rugby World Cup 2007 and many also considered him to still be the best around in 2011. While his club future will end in May, unless Stade Français qualify for the Top 14 Orange Final, his international future remains unknown. In an interview with espnscrum Roncero said he will be talking with coach Santiago Phelan over the coming days to confirm whether or not he will play in The Rugby Championship. The same site also posted an interview with Roncero who talked (in Spanish) about his career in Paris.

Amlin Challenge Cup Quarter Finals Wrap

Stade Français 22-17 Exeter
Exeter, who look likely to be playing in the Heineken Cup next season, really gave a sleepy Stade Français a large fright at the Stade Charlety. They dominated most of the match, but failed to ever take a big lead on the scoreboard, and late on failed to take their chances with kicks, got some bad luck with some Stade ruck infringements going unseen and the lack of a camera at the right angle for a probable try whcih saw it disallowed meant Stade could score late on with a try from Paul Williams set up by some Julien Dupuy brilliance to take the match.

Ignacio Mieres making a break against Stade Français

This game also saw an interesting match up between two Pumas contenders for the number 10 shirt Felipe Contepomi and Ignacio Mieres. But both had mixed matches. Contepomi was less prominent in the match but stupidly sin binned after reacting to a borderline foul tackle and what looked like taunting by the Exeter hooker Chris Whitehead, but ultimately it was his chip kick to set up Djibril Camara's well finished try  that was crucial to the result.

Mieres on the otherhand, was better than Contepomi throughout the match, but failed to make a difference where it counts on the scoreboard. It was his sensational 40 metre break which set up Exeter disallowed try which was probably a try in the first half, and in the second half he quite simply bottled two opportunities to secure the match with a medium difficulty conversion and very easy drop goal miss, although it could be argued Stade were offside for the charge down. He will be gutted to have missed the chance to knock out the team which massively underused him and preferred to pick Lionel Beauxis on his one man mission to whack the leather of all rugby balls.

It will be interesting to see who is chosen for the Pumas 10 shirt as there are good arguments for all of Hernández, Contepomi and Mieres to start there for the Pumas later this year.

As a sidenote Stade Français continue to get some very poor crowds at the Stade Charlety, whilst they seem to always sell out the Stade de France for matches and played in front of a packed crowd in Mans two weeks ago their attendances at just average home matches has been dismal, only 4,693 turned up to this match.

Toulon 37-8 Harlequins
Whilst the first match had a scoreline which didn't reflect the match, the second certainly did as Toulon thumped the English leaders Harlequins which extends their unbeaten run at the Stade Mayol to 13 matches. Toulon were dominant in all areas of the pitch and just scored from any penalty conceded by Quins and added tries towards the end to sweeten the scoreline for them. Notably Steffon Armitage was outstanding in this match and must be working towards an England recall as a specialist number 7, a place he has never really been given a fair run before.

Harlequins had two Argentines playing, starting was Tomás Vallejos and Benjamín Urdapilleta off the bench, neither were particularly prominent in this match.

Wasps 23-26 Biarritz
This was a match that was Biarritz's to lose and they almost did, they had a dominating pack and created two excellent try opportunities in the first half only for Iain Balshaw to wreck them, nevertheless they were led 23-9 in the second half with a try from Blashaw and South African prop Eugene van Staden. But Wasps scored tow tries in three minutes to level the scores. After another ruined easy try opportunity by Florian Faure this time, the Basque side eventually went through thanks to the trusty calmness of Dimitri Yachvili's boot.

Two Argentines were in the Biarritz team, Eusébio Guiñazu started at hooker and had a mixed day with one or two poor lineout throws, whilst Francisco Gómez Kodela came off the bench in the second half.

Brive 15-11 Scarlets
This was Brive's second string side, but it managed to defeat the Scarlets first choice side at home thanks mainly to a couple of factors. Brive dominated the Scarlets scrum and it is thanks to that Brive got most of the territory and their points from.

Whilst the Scarlets malfunctioned badly at the scrum, they also malfunctioned at the lineout with Matthew Rees who has been having a very poor season losing the first four or five lineouts. The Scarlets much talked about backs didn't get into the match. If the Scarlets want to compete at Heineken Cup level they will simply have to buy a better front five as their numbers one to five simply aren't good enough for Heineken Cup level rugby. And Brive proved that a worse team on paper, can beat a better team when the set pieces are so dominant.

Out of interest, France may want to keep an eye on the 19 year old loosehead prop Jefferson Poirot who on his first start for Brive destroyed the Scarlets tighthead, who was destroyed even more when Davit Khinchagishvili came on.

One Argentine, scrum half Agustín Figuerola played in this match coming off the bench late on for Brive.

Semi Final draw:
Toulon v Stade Français
Biarritz v Brive

The semi finals are an all French affair, and look very easy to predict, with the home teams having a massive advantage in each match, it would be a huge surprise not to see a Toulon against Biarritz final at the Stoop.

Final to be played at the Twickenham Stoop

Ignacio Corleto Stade Français highlights

Ignacio Corleto played in France for eight years starting in 2000. His career began at Narbonne who had signed him after being impreswed with his performances at Rugby World Cup 1999. After two years he moved on to France and spent eight years at Stade Français and was a Top 14 Champion. The following video is a quick look at some of his time playing for the Parisian club in the middle of the 2000-2010 decade. He also had competition for Stade Français´ 15 shirt from Juan Martín Hernández who joined Stade Français not long after Corleto.

Despite missing plenty of rugby due to injury, Corleto still played in three World Cup´s. In total he played 27 tests for Los Pumas. Corleto has gone down in history for his try vs France to open Rugby World Cup 2007. He also can say he is one of only two players to have scored in the opening match of two World Cup´s. He scored vs Australia top open Rugby World Cup 2003 while New Zealand´s Michael Jones scored vs Italy to open Rugby World Cup 1987 and four years latter vs England to open the 1991 tournament.   

French Top 14 - Round 22 Wrap

Imhoff certain to be the Pumas 11

Racing Métro 27-16 Castres

Racing Métro put in a strong performance in Paris in Friday´s only match to move back into the play-off´s zone and see Castres fall from 4th to 5th in the standings. With no Heineken Cup matches remaining this season, Racing Métro´s chances of a place in the play-off´s are all that much better as the club will be able to have fresh legs for its remaining Top 14 season matches. Moreover, all four remaining matches are against teams lower in the standings. The win over Castres featured four Pumas players as Juan Martin Hernández pulled the strings from flyhalf in playing an open brand of rugby. He succeeded in putting players into space, something that will be key for Argentine rugby this year in The Rugby Championship. The impressive Juan Imhoff again had a solid match on the left wing, scoring a secondhalf try and regularly getting past his man. Both players played the full 80 minutes while Juan Orlandi started at at tighthead prop, playing the first hour. As he left Alvaro Galindo entered as he played in the backrow for the final quarter of the match. His return to Los Pumas will be key this season with Argentina have a packed schedule which includes a record twelve test matches. 

Figuerola looking like a Puma again

Brive 14-9 Toulon
A major upset sees Brive´s chances of relegation have all but vanish entirely while Toulon´s impressive secondhalf performance from last weekend vs Racing Métro was nowhere to be seen. Brive are now eight points clear of 13th place and should the club win its home match vs Bordeaux-Begles on May 04th the club will all but certainly remain in France´s Top Flight. Scrumhalf, Agustín Figuerola started and played 75 minutes as he continues his push for Argentina´s 9 shirt despite not being selected for Rugby World Cup 2011. Former Pumas prop, Pablo Henn came on for Brive as a replacement in the 58th minute. Leonardo Senatore played the fullmatch in the backrow for the visitors. 

Perpignan 47-9 Bayonne

Two teams fighting it out for survival saw Welsh international, James Hook find good form as he scored 25 points to destory Bayonne who are now walking a tight rope with relegation increasingly looking certain. The visitors were totally outclassed and lacked ideas as the teams high profile players including All Blacks Joe Rokocoko, Neemia Tialata and Troy Flavell, Wales´ Mike Phillips and France´ Cedric Heymans are yet to gel and the chance of it happening is highly remote. 

Leguizamón maturing by the year

Lyon 24-13 Bordeaux
A vital in keeps Lyon´s dream of surviving in the Top 14 Orange alive. It is a tough challenge as, despite winning, Lyon are ten points behind Perpignan, eleven behind Biarritz and Bordeaux and twelve behind Agen and Brive. Lyon need to get ahead of one of these teams and hope Bayoone continue to lose matches.  It is, however, certainly a possibility as Lyon has games against Montpellier, Bayonne, Perpignan and Toulon remaining. It needs to target three wins and should be strong for both home matches - Bayonne and Toulon. The match vs Toulon could well see a weak Toulon side as it is in the final round of the Top 14 and, Toulon will have already secured its place in the play-offs. In Lyon OU´s win over Bordeaux-Begles, Santiago del Estero´s most famous product, Juan Manuel Leguizamón played the full 80 minutes in the backrow while Rafael Carballo continued his push for a recall to Los Pumas as he played the full match on the wing for Bordeaux-Begles. Flyhalf Nicolás Sánchez remains on the sidelines injured. 

Montpellier 44-18 Agen

L.G.A now Argentina´s leading fullback

The fantastic form of Lucas González Amorosino just continues as the man used so poorly by the Leicester Tigers scored another good try for Montpellier. Playing the full match at fullback, González Amorosino continued his outstanding combination with Martín Bustos Moyano in the back-three. Bustos Moyano had another good day himself to show his crentials as possibly Argentina´s best goalkicker. He converted all five of Montpellier´s tries and landed three penalties and scored a try of his own in scoring 24 points. The man charged wtih replacing Mario Ledesma, Agustín Creevy started and played 74 minutes at hooker. Maxiliano Bustos played the final seven minutes at prop while inside centre, Santiago Fernández came on in the 46th minute. Agen´s Belisario Agulla played on the right wing. 

Biarritz 15-14 Clermont

Guiñazú could yet be a Puma in 2012

No longer in danger of being relegated, Biarritz completed a major coup d´ tat in defeating the second placed Clermont Auvergne by a single point. The win puts Biarritz seven points clear of the relegation zone and with Biarritz playing Bayonne next round, on April 14th, a win would all but confirm Biarritz´s survival regardless of how it goes in the other remaining Top 14 Orange matches. Surprizingly, Eusebio Guiñazú was Biarritz´s starting hooker and got plenty of game time. He was joined in the frontrow by uncapped tighthead prop, Francisco Gomez Kodela who played 24 minutes. Centre Marcelo Bosch was also on the bench and came on in the 65th minute. Secondrower Manuel Carizza did not feature. Clermont´s Canadian enforcer, Jamie Cudmore featured for the visitors from the bench.

Stade Français 18-22 Toulouse

Vergallo´s 9 position is under threat

Toulouse go clear of Clermont to hold a four point lead in the competition with their away win at the Stade de France. The result also means Stade Français fall outside of the barrage zone, but just a sinlge point behind Paris rivals, Racing Métro and a further point behind Castres. On form both Paris teams should make the play-off´s with Castres missing out. Stade Français´ 10-12 Pumas combination of Felipe Contepomi and Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga remains intact with the players former the playing combination for the full 80 minutes and Contepomi landing 12 points. Veteran Pumas loosehead prop Rodrigo Roncero started in the number 1 shirt and played 75 minutes. A potential Pumas prop of the future, Francisco Nahuel Tetaz, entered the match with 12 minutes remaining while Sergio Parrise played the full match in the backrow and scored a disallowed try. The USA´s Scott LaValla was unsued from the bench. Pumas scrumhalf, Nicolás Vergallo played 15 minutes as a replacement for Toulouse and looked solid despite lacking game time. Secondrower, Patricio Albacete was rested by Toulouse while Gonzalo Tiesi is expected to return shortly for the Parisians.

Racing Métro vs Castres

RM 92 v CO - Le résumé en vidéo por racingmetro92

Brive vs Toulon


Perpignan vs Bayonne

Résumé du match USAP Bayonne Avril 2012 por USAP_Communication


Montpellier vs Agen

Interviews d'après match : MHR-Agen por MontpellierRugby

Biarritz vs Clermont

BO-ASM : Le Résumé por asm

Top 14 Orange Standings
1 Toulouse 78
2 Clermont 74
3 Toulon 63
4 Montpellier 57
5 Castres 55
6 Racing Métro 54
7 Stade Français 53
8 Agen 42
9 Brive 42
10 Biarritz 41
11 Bordeaux 41
12 Perpignan 40
13 Bayonne 34
14 Lyon 30

* Play-offs and Heineken Cup Qualification
* Facing relegation

Argentines leave Agen Thunderstruck in Le Mans

Stade Français home win this past weekend at the Stade MM Arena in Paris was another example of the force of Argentina in French rugby as the 34 year old Pumas captain, Felipe Contepomi scored 26 points, including two tries and was joined by Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga and the Argentine-Italian, Sergio Parisse on the scores sheet for Stade Français. On the other side of the coin, Belisario Agulla scored Agen´s first try of the match. Contepomi had a solid match as a playmaker as did Rodríguez Gurruchaga with both players creating opportunities for their colleagues and breaking the defensive line themselves. Though it would mean changes, the Parisian 10-12 combination does stand a chance of being used by Santiago Phelan this year.

The match was played in front of a big crowd at the Stade MM Arena in Le Mans located near the city of Nantes which hosted three matches at Rugby World Cup 2007. The region has no teams in the Top 14 with Paris and La Rochelle being the closest teams. La Rochelle is fighting to return to the Top 14 from the Pro d2 after finishing 13th last season in Fracne´s Top flight.

The official website of Stade Français posted a highlights video of the match featuring the song Thunderstruck by ACDC. The muric captures the performance of the Parisians who look certain to feature in the Top14 play-off´s after being absent for the past two years. The man at the helm of the teams turnaround has been Contepomi who is going against age and showing Toulon how poorly he was used by his former club. 

Les temps forts de Stade Français Paris - Agen - Stade TV
Retrouvez les temps forts du match Stade Français Paris - Agen au MMArena à l'occasion de la 21ème journée du TOP 14 Orange. 

Mots-clés : temps forts résumé le mans stade français paris agen mmarena top 14 orange essais

Video de adminstade

The Rugby Championship Players to Watch - Rodrigo Roncero

It is hard to find a more respected loosehead prop than Rodrigo Roncero. With a professional career spanning more than a decade, the 35 year old veteran is the last remaining member of the acclaimed frontrow that took Argentina to the Bronze Medal at Rugby World Cup 2007. His combination with Mario Ledesma and Omar Hasan was not only the leading frontrow of the tournament but the best of a generation. It was re-enforced significantly with Martín Scelzo and Marcos Ayerza both avaliable as replacements. The scrum that set the platform for Agustín Pichot and Juan Martín Hernández to run their magic at France 2007 had Roncero as a key component. He was not, however a long time starter for the team despite having had made his test debut in 1998. The depth of Argentine rugby in the frontrow was so strong that Roncero had only become a regular in 2004, six years after his test debut vs Japan. 

Roncero playing for Gloucester

His inernational debut was a good one with Argentina defeating Japan 44-29 in Tokyo. It was a one off appearance for Roncero, however, as his next appearance in international colors was four years latter as he was recalled to face Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. He scored his first test try vs Chile. One year earlier, Roncero had become a professional player as he was signed from Buenos Aires´ Deportiva Francesca to play in England for Gloucester. His two year deal saw him make a name for himself and earn his place in Argentina´s squad for Rugby World Cup 2003. Before the tournament, he played one warm up match, in which Argentina defeated Fiji and had a memorable performance as he dominated his opponents and scored two tries in the 49-30 win at Córdoba. He played vs Namibia and Romania in Australia 2003 but was not selected for the key matches vs Australia and Ireland. 

Roncero for Stade Français

The following year saw momentous changes in Roncero´s career as he moved to France to play for Stade Français and became Argentina´s leading loosehead prop. He started tests vs France, Ireland, New Zealand and Wales with the key being Los Pumas´s victory in Marseilles which marked France´s first ever loss in the city. He has since held the position down as his own only rarely being replaced by Leicester and England´s leading loosehead prop, Marcos Ayerza. The strong competition from Ayerza only served for Roncero to ensure he continued to perform well. Ayerza put in a strong performance in Argentina´s history making 25-18 triumph at Twickenham in 2006 with Roncero unavaliable due to a broken jaw. He recovered to come back in better form and after helping Stade Français to the 2007 French Championship title, Roncero left his mark at the World Cup as he started the pool matches vs France, Namibia and Ireland and the knock-out matches vs Scotland, South Africa and France.  

Bronze Final Triumph

Roncero´s performances at Rugby World Cup 2007 earned him plenty of praise with many comentators calling him the best frontrower of the tournament. With Omar Hasan retiring, Roncero´s new partner was Martín Scelzo and the pair together continued the high standards of Pumas scrumaging. Both Roncero and Hasan had been nominated by the IRB as the best props in the history of the Rugby World Cup. Known as the Dream XV, Hasan was voted in by fans worldwide on the social networks of twitter and facebook as the best ever tighthead prop while Roncero was a finalist for loosehead. This reputation was a reminder of his talents and of all the props representing all twenty participants at Rugby World Cup 2011, only Roncero was amongst the nominated players. He went on to start against England, Romania, Scotland and New Zealand, forming a solid frontrow with the young Juan Figallo having been refered to Martín Scelzo.

Now, in his twlight at 35 years of age it is not likely that he will be around for much longer but he is, nonetheless, a player far from needing to be put on the shelf. He is yet to announce his international retirement and is highly likely to play this year for his country in the June Internationals as well as The Rugby Championship. The temptation of playing for Los Pumas in the teams debut season in The Rugby Championship is likely to be too strong for Roncero as the possibility of retirement continues to be a hot topic in Argentine rugby circles. His post-rugby future is known, however, as Roncero is a qualified doctor. 

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

Argentina to field Stade Français´ 10-12 combination?

Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga

There will be no Top 14 Orange action this weekend due to the final round of the Six Nations being played. As such all teams will be fresh and ready to return to action next weekend with the crunch time of the season now well and truly here. Only six rounds remain of the regular season with teams fighting it out for a place in the play-off´s or simply to stay in the Top 14. In the case of Stade Français, the team is in seventh place, two points behind fellow Parisians, Racing Métro and two and three points behind Castres and Montpellier. Castres will host Montpellier next round with the visitors a strong chance for a win. Stade Français will play host to Agen and should alo win, which would put the team back in the top six and get the teams up and down season back on track. 

Felipe Contepomi

Stade Français has been one of the best teams this season in particular matches but in others has been less successful. The teams has notched up some impressive wins but also some big losses against teams ranging from Montpellier to Bordeaux-Begles. The teams most recent match, in round 20, was a home match and was a landmark game as it was Paris vs Lyon, France´s two largest cities. Lyon are facing relegatrion and Stade Français are desperate for a return to the play-off´s and a placde in next seasons Heineken Cup. The key to whether or not this eventuates for Stade Français or not seems to sit on the shoulders of one man - Felipe Contepomi. He has been, at times in outstanding form this season and has formed a solid 10-12 combination with fellow Argentine international, Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga. The pair were important players in Stade Français´win over Lyon last Saturday. Rodríguez Gurruchaga scored a try while Felipe Contepomi was involved in creating a number of the Parisians´ tries. He also had a solid afternnon with the oot, scorign 20 points. 

The combination is one that could well be replicated at international level this season with the form of Lucas González Amorosino likely to see the Montpellier back used instead of Ródriguez Gurruchaga at fullback. It is a position which he has played at before for Los Pumas. With Felipe Contepomi and Marcelo Bosch both injured in 2009 he made his debut for Argentina at inside centre vs England. More recently he played in the same position vs Romania at last years World Cup. Since returning to club duty, he has been used as Stade Français´ first choice inside centre. Could it be that Contepomi and Rodríguez are Argentina´s 10-12 combination this year?

Les temps forts de Stade Français Paris - Lyon - Stade TV