Top 14 - Round 25 Wrap

Lucas González Amorosino for Montpellier

The penultimate round of the French Championship, the Top 14 was played on Friday and Saturday and looks to have all but confirmed the fate of Bayonne and Brive, the two teams who went into the round tied for 12th position. Whoever finishes 13th will be relegated and that team looks set to be Brive after the South-Western French team lost at home to their big city rivals, Bordeaux-Begles. With Bayonne knocking over Agen, Brive are now five points behind Bayonne and need a miracle to avoid being relegated to the Pro d2 next season. Should Brive fall it would continue the pattern of small town teams from France´s South-West dropping to the Pro d2, joining the likes of Albi, Auch, Dax, Mont de Marsan, Pau. Bigger city teams, in contrast are tending to benefit from the growth of the rugby market in France.   

At the other end of the table, Stade Français´ play-off´s chances look to have ended following  following a narrow loss at the Stade de France vs Racing Métro. As such the top six are all but confirmed with Toulouse and Clermont to have the barrage round off. Both sides lost on Saturday with Toulouse´s late season form continuing to be poor whle Clermont were seriously depleted by injuries. Castres were fortunate to host the Clermont side that it did and the win guarantees a place in the Barrage while Montpellier and Toulon are also safe. 

Montpellier 21-16 Biarritz

Eight Argentine players with Lucas González Amorosino playing fullback and scoring a try in the first minute. Martín Bustos Moyano kicked eleven points, playing on the wing and Santiago Fernández played the full match at inside centre. Agustín Creevy and Juan Figallo started in the frontrow, both being replaced in the secondhalf while prop Maximilano Bustos came on from the bench. Marcelo Bosch played the full 80 minutes at fullback for the visitors who also had Francisco Gomez Kodela starting, playing tighthead prop. USA winger, Taku Ngwenya scored Biarritz´s try.

Toulon 25-22 Toulouse

Pumas backrower, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe completed a solid return to play the full 80 minutes for Toulon in the 8 shirt. His Pumas teammate, Patricio Albacete played the full match for the visitors. Scrumhalf Nicolás Vergallo missed out.

Perpignan 34-22 Lyon

Pumas Backrower Juan Manuel Leguizamón played until the 72nd minute for the visitors but only played 62 minutes as he was yellowcarded in the first half.

Brive 9-23 Bordeaux

Two former Pumas props featured for Brive with Pablo Henn playing loosehead and Pablo Cardinali playing the final 10 minutes as a replacement. Scrumhalf Agustín Figuerola did not feature. Former Pumas winger, Rafael Carballo played the full match for Bordeaux. Flyhalf Nicolás Sánchez did not play.

Bayonne 31-10 Agen

None of Agen´s three Pumas featured.

Castres 30-19 Clermont

No players from the Americas featured.

Racing Métro 19-13 Stade Français

Six Pumas players featured in the Paris derby with Juan Martín Hernández playing the full match at flyhalf and Juan Imhoff doing so on the left wing. Juan Orlandi was a second half replacement. Felipe Contepomi and Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga formed the 10-12 combination for Stade Français and Rodrigo Roncero played loosehead prop.

Top 14 Standings
1 Toulouse 83
2 Clermont 82
3 Toulon 69 
4 Montpellier 66
5 Castres 65
6 Racing Métro 63
7 Stade Français 58
8 Bordeaux 49
9 Perpignan 49
10 Biarritz 48
11 Agen 48
12 Bayonne 47
13 Brive 42
14 Lyon 31

* Play-Offs
* Facing Relegation
* Relegated

Montpellier vs Biarritz (Try González Amorosino)


Toulon vs Toulouse (Palisson try)


Perpignan vs Lyon

USAP/LOU (34-22) : le résumé vidéo por LOURugby1896

Brive vs Bordeaux

BRIVE UNION ESSAIS por ubbrugby

Castres vs Clermont

Castres-ASM : Le Résumé por asm

Racing Métro vs Stade Français

RM92 v SF - Le résumé en vidéo por racingmetro92

Samoa vs USA - Rugby World Cup 2007

St. Etienne was the setting for the Pool A match at Rugby World Cup 2007 between the United States of America and Samoa. The North Americans were playing for the third time in the tournament and were going in after playing very well vs England to prevent the reigning World Champions from scoring a bonus point. The same same not true if the USA Eagles´second match as the team was left to contemplate on what might have been as the team lost to Tonga four days later. Samoa, in contrast, had failed to live up to its reputation as being a giant-killer. The South Pacific Island nation had been badly defeated by South Africa first up and then lost to both Tonga and England. The loss to Tonga was a massive upset while Samoa were unable to challenge England despite the team having been humiliated 36-0 by South Africa on the previous weekend.

The teams were therefore viewing this match as a must win and a last-chance saloon. The USA still had to face the Pool leaders, South Africa but that match was not considered one which the Eagles could win. At Rugby World Cup 2003 the USA had lost to Fiji by a single point in Brisbane and were unlucky as flyhalf Mike Hercus missed a conversion on full time to let Fiji off the hook as the Pacific Island nation won 19-18. Four years on and it was a similar scenario despite the USA fielding a very different team. Such was the extent of the changes to the USA Eagels lineup in the years between Australia 2003 and France 2007 that Mike Hercus was one of only four surviors from the one point loss vs Fiji. The USA had lost some of the biggest names in the history of American rugby to retirement including backrowers Dave Hodges and Dan Lyle. The team was also missing its most decorated back of the time, Paul Emerick to suspension. It was therefore talked about as a certain Samoan victory and the USA were not predicted to do so well.

Scripts were not so correct at France 2007 as Argentina made clear in the first match of the tournament and the USA, indeed, came close to completing would would have been a major comeback victory vs Samoa. The favorites had been the better side in the frist half with the USA, as against Tonga, playing below par in the first 40 minutes and then having to mount a secondhalf fight back. Samoa held a 22-3 halftime lead with the USA really not playing well at all but the tide turned after the interval and the USA scored two superb secondhalf tries with the now established USA stars, Taku Ngwenya and Lou Stanfill dotting down. Unfortunately for the North Americans the comeback came too late and Samoa were able to hold on to claim a four point victory.

While Ngwenya´s try vs South Africa four days latter was officially the try of the World Cup, his try vs Samoa also showed his pace and stepping abilities and was his first international try. Remarkably, Ngwenya made the USA World Cup squad and played all four matches despite being uncapped before the tournament. Todd Clever was also an amateur player at the time but had an outstanding World Cup which attracted offers to play abroad and he signed a two year deal to play Super Rugby for the Lions in South Africa. 

French Top 14 - Round 24 Wrap

Rodrigo Roncero scores for Stade Français stade.fr

Round 24 of the 2012-2013 French Top 14 confirmed Lyon OU´s relegation back to the Pro d2 after the club lost its bottom of the table clash with Bayonne. The result means France´s second largest city´s stay in the elite of French rugby has been restricted to a single season. It is not yet clear as to which team will be joining Lyon OU in the second division next season but it would appear to be either Bayonne or Brive as the two clubs are tied on 42 points, with both Perpignan and Bordeaux-Begles three points ahead in the standings.  The two remaining rounds are going to be highly nervous times for these clubs with a key match taking place between Brive and Bordeaux-Begles. Bayonne have the tough prospect of facing Agen and then Castres in its final two matches. The highest likelihood would therefore be that Bayonne will be the team joining Lyon in the Pro d2. There is also the remote possibility that any team from the eighth ranked Agen to teams with fewer points being relegated as Bayonne and Brive could both win up to ten points from their remaining matches. 

Clermont 22-9 Montpellier

Yet another home win for the central French side sees Clermont go into its Heineken Cup Semi Final next weekend with confidence. Clermont will take on Irish province, Leinster in Bordeaux with the winner to face either Ulster or Edinburgh for Europe´s ultimate prize in Twickenham in May. Both Clermont and Montpellier were forced to field some second choice players. Clermont was without captain Aurelin Rougerie, Julien Malzieu and Canada´s Jamie Cudmore. Montpellier was missing François Trinh-Duc and  Georgia´s Mamuka Gorgodze. for the match Santiago Fernández played flyhalf rather than inside centre and left the field injured in the secondhalf. He had kicked two penalties after taking over the duties from Martín Bustos Moyano who after kicking an early penalty was also forced from the field with an injury. A third Argentine back started in the line with Lucas González Amorosino playing fullback. Montpellier´s three Pumas frontrowers also recieved game time with Agustín Creevy starting at hooker and Juan Figallo at loosehead prop. Maximilano Bustos came on at tighthead prop in the 62nd minute. USA centre, Seta Tuiveluka is set to return to the team shortly. He got married this weekend!

Bordeaux-Begles 29-15 Agen

A vital win in this derby match could well prove the difference for Bordeaux-Begles as the club has come to be threatened with relegation again following Bayonne´s surprizing two wins over the past two weeks. The club responded well by playing its best match in quite some time to score a bonus point win. Two former Pumas back featured in this match with Rafael Carballo playing the full 80 minutes on the right wing for Bordeaux-Begles and Miguel Avramovic coming off the bench in the 47th minute for Agen to play in the centres. Both are possibilities for Argentina in The Rugby Championship as injury covering players.

Lyon 19-20 Bayonne

Lyon never should have lost this match. Incredibly, Lyon held a 19-7 lead at halftime and failed to score a point after the interval. The teams lack of a quality flyhalf had a lot to do with the downfall of Lyon but the season has been a learning curve and the club should return to the Top 14 stronger after recruiting better players. The club has already confirmed the arrival of Sebastien Chabal. he is not the player he once was but he is certain to be highly influencial in the locker room. The match featured Argentine backrower, Juan Manuel Leguizamón who played the full 80 minutes for Lyon in the 8 shirt.

Stade Français 35-31 Perpignan

Stade Français gave a perfect home send-off to the long time serving loosehead prop, Rodrigo Roncero. The 35 year old turned down an offer to extend his contract with the club to instead return home to Argentina with his wife to raise his three daughters. It also appears that he will retire from all rugby, handing the Argentine number 1 shirt to Marcus Ayerza of Leicester. Roncero scored the first try of the match, going over in the 29th minute after he caught a Perpignan lineout which was overthrown. He was joined by his international captain, Felipe Contepomi who continued his 10-12 partnership with Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga. All three started with Roncero being replaced in the 78th minute. The USA also had a player involved for the Parisians with Scott LaValla playing the final five minutes. The Argentine-Italian, Sergio Parisse played in the backrow too. At the start of the match Roncero and Dimitri Szarzewski entered the fieled together, both playing for the final time in a ome Stade Français match.

Toulouse 30-21 Brive

Brive had been leading 18-15 at half time and looking the goods for a victory but Toulouseps goalkicking got the underperfoming French powerhouses home in the end and prevented Brive from collecting a bonus point. As such Brive are now facing the reality of being relegated The club now must defeat Bordeaux-Begles next round or hope for a miracle away victory over Clermont in the final round. A strong candidate for the Pumas captaincy, Patricio Albacete put in another solid showing as he played the full 80 minutes in the secondrow for Toulouse. Pumas scrumhalf, Nicolás Vergallo did not feature for Toulouse and the chance of him facing his Argentine rival, Agustín Figuerola did not eventuate as Brive also left him outside of the match day 23. Former Pumas loosehead prop, Pablo Henn returned to start in the frontrow for Brive. The result means Toulouse and Clermont are confirmed in the Semi Finals and will have a bye round during the barrage play-off´s 

Biarritz 22-13 Racing Métro

After Racing Métro scored a try in the 52nd minute it looked as though this was going to be a Parisian victory. The relegation threatened Biarritz side dug deep, however, as the Basque side responded with a dropgoal to Damien Traille and the returning Marcelo Bosch then sealed the match with a perfect long pass to the USA´s  Taku Ngwenya in the 71st minute. Bosch came on as a replacement for Biarritz and played the final quarter of the contest. Ngwenya started and was playing against Argentine winger, Juan Imhoff. The battle of the two speedsters was interesting with Ngwenya having to, on two occassions in the second half, use all his speed to stop Imhoff from what would have otherwise been tries. Francisco Gomez Kodela continues to look more and more like a Puma as he played the full match at tighthead prop for Biarritz and was impressive at scrum time. The Argentine pair of Manuel Carizza and Eusebio Guiñazú were both unused from the bench for Biarritz. Racing Métro had five Argentine players with Imhoff being joined in the backs by Juan Martín Hernández who played the full 80 minutes at flyhalf. El Mago was let down by his inside centre as Fabrice Estebanez had a poor showing. Juan Orlandi came on in the 66th minute to play tighthead prop for the Parisians while Alvaro Galindo was a 60th minute replacement in the backrow.  The Argentine-Italian Santiago Dellapé started in the secondrow. 

Toulon 25-25 Castres
A strange performance from the home team may allowed Castres to collect a draw from this match and as such complicate matters greatly for Stade Français. Toulon had been leading the match 25-6 and looked in firm control but the team´s star imports failed to deliver and despite scoring three tries to one Castres managed to fight back to collect a draw as the Scotland of French rugby did it again. Jonny Wilkinson had a lot to do with Toulon´s failure as he landed only 4 of his 7 attempts at goal, missing a simple penalty for his tandards late in the match which would have meant a Toulon victory. The draw puts Castres on 61 points, two ahead of Racing Métro in 6th place and four points ahead of Stade Français. With only the top six making the play-off´s it would appear that Castres are now safe but the club faces Clermont next round. Los Pumas´ backrower, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe continues his come back from knee surgery and came on in the 54th minute for Toulon. Uruguay´s Rodrigo Capó Ortega did not feature for Castres.

Top 14 Orange Standings
1 Clermont 82
2 Toulouse 82
3 Toulon 65
4 Montpellier 62
6 Castres 61
6 Racing Métro 59
7 Stade Français 57
8 Agen 48
9 Biarritz 47
10 Bordeaux 45
11 Perpignan 45 
12 Brive 42
13 Bayonne 42
14 Lyon 31

* Play-off´s spots
* Threatened with relegation
* Relegation confirmed

Clermont vs Montpellier

ASM-Montpellier : Le Résumé por asm

Agen Tries (Bordeaux-Begles vs Agen)


Stade Français vs Perpignan

Résumé du match Stade Français USAP Avril 2012 por USAP_Communication

Toulouse vs Brive


Toulon vs Castres

Résumé Toulon-Castres por rctoulon

USA vs Tonga - Rugby World Cup 2007

Four days after facing England and giving the 2003 World Champions a good match, the United States of America was playing its second match of the tournament. The opponent was the Pacific Island nation of Tonga and it was the first match for the men in red. The USA had given England a good match in preventing a strong team from scoring four tries which meant the Tier One side missed out on earning a bonus point. England had no such issues vs its two other Tier Two opponents - Samoa and Tonga.

The clash in Montpellier between the USA and Tonga was to be a tournament defining match for both sides. Leading into the tournament the only team considered capable of giving either England or South Africa a good match was Samoa. What transpired proved that the predictions of many to be off the mark. Tonga were the biggest surprize in giving both Tier One nations hard matches. Tonga came very close to defeating South Africa and in the first half vs England were indeed looking strong. Samoa was thrashed by the Springboks in its first match, conceeding over 50 points and, despite improvement vs England, the men in blue were well beaten. Tonga, before facing England and South Africa, had already defeated Samoa and the USA.

The win over the USA was well documented by USA rugby officials as being a hard pill to swallow. The North Americans, to this day, believe it should have been a USA victory. The major reason why it was not is the start of the match with the USA letting in a try, something that proved fatal. Had the 2011 team been together and had the same experience the liklihood is that the Eagles would have been victorious over Tonga. The match was a strong learning curve and proved very useful for the USA in its preperation for Rugby World Cup 2011. The teams leaking of tries would not repeat itself in 2011 and the USA was a much better team as Ireland failed to score four tries and Italy´s bonus point came from a penalty try. The win over Russia was a defining moment in showing the maturity of the North Americans. It underlined the progress that had been made as a team and, especially in terms of preperation.

Four years earlier, the end of the match between England and the USA was ruined by a dangerous tackle by USA center, Paul Emerick. The tackle on Olly Barclay ended his World Cup as he was suspended. At the time Emerick was the USA´s most decorated player. He was a professional based in Europe and had been for several years. He was surrounded by USA based players, many have since gone to to pick up long term professional contracts for leading teams. The young fullback Chris Wyles, for instance, won the Aviva Premiership with Saracens in 2011 and Todd Clever is a Japanese Champion with Suntory Sungoliath. Other names to emerge include Lou Stanfill and Taku Ngwenya.

Despite the result not bing in the favor of the North Americans, the 2007 clash vs Tonga in Montpellier was nonetheless a great game of rugby. It came at a time when Tier One sides were pushing for a reduction in World Cup participants from 20 teams to 16. France 2007 showed that this argument was a weak one as Tier Two games not only gave Tier One teams good games but also had great games amongst themselves and did so with strong crowds. Curiously the only two matches which were not either sold outor close to it were Tonga´s matches vs the USA and Samoa in Montpellier. 

Taku Ngwenya Magic vs Lyon

Biarritz´s dreadful season looks to be over as the Basque club´s survival in the French Top 14 now looks to have been confirmed. The club was at the bottom of the standings for much of this season after it opted to not sign medial jokers during the World Cup which left the team with a severely weakened squad. Amongst the missing players were players involved in the World Cup for France and Argentina and  Takudzwa Ngwenya who had a quiet World Cup for the United States of America. Against form and predictions, Ngwenya failed to score a try at the World Cup as the USA, as despite pushing Italy and Ireland hard and defeating Russia the North Americans only scored four tries in the tournament.

Since his return from New Zealand, Ngwenya has performed to a high standard. Ngwenya scored his first try of the season in the first weekend after the end of the World Cup in a home Heineken Cup match vs English side and reigning Aviva Premiership Champions, Saracens. In late January he ran in three tries vs Welsh region, the Ospreys. he has also scored some great tries in the Top 14 Orange this season such as finishing off what has been one of the best tries this season vs Montpellier in December. This past weekend he scored for the second time in as many matches as he had a superb match vs the bottom placed Lyon OU. Ngwenya finished off a great break from former French international centre, Damien Traille to go over in the left corner. He was breaking the line at will in general play as the USA Eagles flyer could came close to creating multiple tries for his colleagues only for the support to be lacking when it mattered.