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Pro D2 is back this Thursday night with 8th placed Brive hosting high-flying Colomiers at the Stade Amédée-Domenech.
The town of Brive-la-Gaillarde is nestled in the Corrèze department in le Sud-Ouest of France, and there are few places that exhibit such a deeply entrenched relationship between town and rugby club. The arrivals gates at Brive–Nespouls Airport are adorned in the club’s distinctive black and white regalia, and you will be hard-pressed to find an establishment in the pretty town centre where those colours aren’t prominent.
Its stadium, named after the legendary Brive prop turned politician, vies with anything in the Top 14 and it is of surprise to few that the second-ever European Cup champions maintain the largest operating budget in the division.
Naturally, alongside such history, local fervour and resources comes expectation - monumental expectation in this part of the world - and currently things haven’t quite gone to plan. After a steady start, Brive have succumbed to four losses in their last five fixtures, including at home to a callow-looking Soyaux Angoulême side and away to struggling Béziers.
That last defeat, ironically against a side who themselves have been sprung into coaching personnel changes this season, led to the removal of David Darricarrère from first-team coaching duties, with Pierre-Henri Broncan back after a short stint as Director of Rugby.
Broncan’s coaching CV is a fascinating one. Having led Castres to first place in the Top 14 he took up a consulting stint with the Wallabies during their ill-fated 2023 World Cup campaign, and previously headed up talent spotting and recruitment at Bath.
He was also Brive head coach only six months ago when they were out-thought and out-gunned by unfancied Montauban in a Pro D2 semi-final loss that the Ouest news outlet described as a ‘trauma’. It is no wonder then that many Brive fans have raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the suggestion he is suddenly the right man for the job again, so soon after that famous collapse. Many years back, he was also once head coach of Colomiers.
There are some further historic similarities between the two sides. A Colomiers team led by half-backs Fabien Galthié and Laurent Labit were runners-up in the now Champions Cup in 1999, the year after Brive failed to retain their European crown and fell just short against Bath. More recently, Colomiers experienced their own play-off trauma at the hands of that same Montauban side, dumped out at home by a Thomas Fortunel drop goal the week before Montauban’s famous raiding of the Amédée-Domenech.
The parallels end there. If Brive’s rugby club is the jewel in the town’s crown then spare a thought for Colomiers, who have the unenviable task of being the second club in French rugby’s most famous city. Located to the west of Blagnac Airport in the outer suburbs of Toulouse, Colomiers have an operating budget of €8.7m, less than half that of their opponents’ €21.7m, but have played some outstanding rugby this season and sit second in Pro D2, with eight wins including three away from home.
For this trip there is some rotation but still quality in abundance. Luka Plataret will provide plenty of abrasiveness, ball in hand and at the breakdown for a side that have conceded the fewest points in the league. As well as the most miserly defence, Colomiers have the second-most incisive attack in the division, and Ugo Seguela’s speed of service has been integral to an attacking game that has been irresistible at its best.
Colomiers will be without Seguela’s half-back partner Valentin Delpy, the outstanding young fly-half rested having returned briefly to the Top 14 to his parent club Toulouse last week. Delpy has arguably been the most influential player in the league this season and brings more than a shade of Thomas Ramos in attack and off the tee - a man who, like Delpy, also had one season on loan at Colomiers. Théo Giral is a more than capable stand-in, and was starting 10 in their away wins at both Angoulême and Béziers. A bench stacked with the explosive ball-carrying of Caleb Timu and Ray Nu’u will cause Brive problems for the full 80 minutes.
Brive, as they usually do, look formidable on paper. The backline hasn’t really clicked of late, but a spine of John Cooney, Jamie Shillcock and Curwin Bosch is as impressive as anything in most leagues, especially given Cooney’s imperious early-season form. Former Castres and Colomiers number 8 Yann Peysson looked an outstanding new signing and has lived up to that billing, starting in a back row with the ever-excellent Retief Marais. Courtney Lawes, of course, needs no introduction. Brive’s traditional strength up front is underlined in the front row where Lucas Da Silva brings buckets of Top 14 experience, and Marcel van der Merwe Springbok grunt in an area the home side will hope to be in the ascendancy.
The scene is set then for a fixture befitting its primetime slot. A Brive side with enormous potential but under increasing pressure to perform in front of one of French rugby’s most vociferous home crowds, against a supremely organised Colomiers team in fabulous form and fearless on the road. It might just be the best Thursday night fixture to date.
Round 12 – Best Of The Rest
Valence Romans vs Nevers and Angoulême vs Aurillac look like intriguing games that will surely serve up plenty of points, but Dax vs Mont-de-Marsan lays closest claim to game of the round. One of the fiercest local rivalries in France, Les Landes derby is amped up even further given the two sides sit a place apart down in 14th and 15th, with this week’s hosts having leapfrogged their opponents courtesy of a brilliant away win at Biarritz last time out. In France’s land of bullfighting, the stakes in this one are even higher than usual.
Pro D2 continues this Thursday (27th November) with Brive v Colomiers, available to UK & Ireland viewers for free via FRUK Rugby on YouTube.