There we were thinking that the big news in French rugby over the weekend would be the return to the playing field of Antoine Dupont - we should have known better! With French rugby, it is often when you don’t expect the madness to happen that the truly mind boggling stuff takes place. Even on the face of it, with 14 home wins from the 15 fixtures in France's top two leagues, the weekend of Top 14 Round 11 and Pro D2 Round 12 looks run of the mill. And yet, so much bizarre stuff happened that even the return of their national hero was relegated into the background.
There we were thinking that the big news in French rugby over the weekend would be the return to the playing field of Antoine Dupont - we should have known better! With French rugby, it is often when you don’t expect the madness to happen that the truly mind boggling stuff takes place. Even on the face of it, with 14 home wins from the 15 fixtures in France's top two leagues, the weekend of Top 14 Round 11 and Pro D2 Round 12 looks run of the mill. And yet, so much bizarre stuff happened that even the return of their national hero was relegated into the background.
Toulouse party after Tarrit’s moment of madness
We start, then, at the scene of Dupont’s long-awaited return, the Stade Ernest Wallon. Coming into Toulouse’s game with Racing 92, the eyes of the French rugby public were on Dupont and the eyes of the Stade Toulousain faithful were on departing club legend Pita Ahki, but by the end of Saturday night, surely all anyone was talking about was Jannick Tarrit.
The Racing 92 hooker’s moment of madness on the stroke of half time - almost synchronised perfectly with Tual Trainini’s whistle - defies belief. With the ball being gently ushered out of play by his half backs, Tarrit launched his head into the solar plexus of Efrain Elias. Only when Elias was lying prone on the floor struggling to breathe did Trainini realise he needed to call the players back from their half-time oranges.
While there are obvious parallels with Zinedine Zidane’s infamous headbutt on Marco Materazzi, in this case, Tarrit’s attack seems unprovoked. No preamble, no calling of names. Just a cheap shot. There may well be some explanation for Tarrit’s actions, but without it, there will presumably be a very long ban.
Elias and his team certainly had the last word. Not only was the Argentinian on the end of the driving maul from the ensuing penalty (and actual final play of that first half), but Toulouse ran riot, as is customary in their home games. The only blemish was Ahki missing the final conversion before he heads to New Zealand.
Pau continue to impress thanks to rub of the green
Many say that the Top 14 is the standard-setter in world rugby these days, and it did its best to pioneer the return of the out-and-out red card this weekend. In an autumn of borderline red, orange and yellow cards, with endless details and clips poured over on social media, it really was a blessing to have not one, but two incidents that were so clearly worthy of a proper sending off.
Antoine Hastoy was the other culprit this weekend, who had this misfortune of breaking the record for the quickest red card in Top 14 history. He lasted 34 seconds before he was sent to the stands to join his old team mates. Perhaps the misfortune actually belonged to Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, whose face was on the receiving end of the boot of Hastoy’s outstretched leg. Hastoy’s ‘kung-fu kick’ doesn’t appear to be quite as egregious as Tarrit’s headbutt the previous evening. However, the replays aren’t favourable and it’s hard to tell, once he’d caught the ball, what was going through his head as his leg fully extended out in the direction of Pau’s Olympic gold medallist.
To the surprise of few, La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara (being the paragon of touchline decorum that he is…) did not react calmly to his playmaker’s sending off. He did well to escape a red card for his immediate reaction, but he spent the rest of the game being an absolute nuisance, shouting and swearing at almost every peep of Jeremy Rozière’s whistle. He did eventually get shown a red card around the hour mark and, in truth, he did well to last that long.
The game itself wasn’t exactly mundane, with 13 tries and three other cards. La Rochelle kept coming back at Pau, but the home side eventually secured an attacking bonus with their eighth try in the final minute, one of a number of impressive driving maul tries. La Rochelle may have been depleted in number and they are facing a horror injury list, but it shows that Pau’s game has developed to the point that they can mix it up front with the big boys.
Artistry of Jalibert not enough for UBB against Nouchi’s Montpellier
The madness wasn’t limited to poor discipline this weekend, with Mathieu Jalibert attempting, and executing, a piece of play so audacious that it is difficult to know what to call it. Retreating to collect a ball, Jalibert picks it up just in front of his own try line and seeing the onrushing opposition decides the safest bet is to kick the ball crossfield - and backwards over his own try line - to a team mate inside their own dead ball area, waiting to collect and kick the ball clear. Madness, yes. Genius, certainly. Attempting the ‘whatever-you-call-it-crossfield-clearance’ and the fact he executed it perfectly tells you all you need to know about where his game is right now. He was fizzing in this game - and that is a genuine thrill to witness.
He threatened to steal the show as orchestrator of a remarkable comeback. However, the final act went fittingly to the home team’s captain. Lenni Nouchi was the standout player of the game, and the intelligence, power and timing he showed for his second try - his sixth in nine games - belied his tender 22 years once again. He must surely get a run out in a different blue shirt this season.
A fiercely competitive league - for the most part
Montpellier’s four-point win was one of three close-run games on Saturday afternoon, highlighting the competitive nature of the league. Even teams that were poor on the road last season, like Lyon and Stade Français, pushed the home teams hard at the fortresses in Bayonne and Clermont-Ferrand.
There were two games, however, that were not as competitive, and this may well be the story of the season to come. Following defeats to Toulon and Castres respectively, Montauban and Perpignan are now 16 and 22 points short of the other 12 teams. Neither have shown anything in the last couple of weeks to suggest they are capable of re-connecting the Top 14.
Losing at home is shameful
The sight of a shouting head coach wasn’t confined to the Top 14. Soyaux Angoulême were the only side in the top two leagues to lose at home this weekend, and head coach Alexandre Ruiz didn’t pull any punches in telling his players how he felt about it.
In the last minute of their previous 11 games, SAXV have let the opposition pick up additional points in five of them, including losing one of them (at home to Biarritz). It seems the last minute collapse against Aurillac was enough to push Ruiz over the edge. On Friday, Ruiz might have thought his men had the game wrapped up, with a 15-13 lead and Aurillac putting into a scrum on their own 5-metre line. The men from the Cantal had other ideas, running it out from under their own sticks to score a dramatic match-winning try. Cue Ruiz’s rage.
Captured by Canal+ cameras (and microphones) in the on-field huddle after the game, Ruiz launched into his players. Like other things this weekend, the video has to be seen to be believed. It may be that this happens every weekend in French rugby, but this is the first time it has been captured so publicly.
For those who, like us, require the help of Google Translate to understand what he’s saying, here are a few selected quotes:
“This is unacceptable, bordering on shameful.”
“We are ambitious - my ass!”
“An unworthy copy of a Pro D2 team.”
“It’s catastrophic.”
“It’s absolutely crap”
“You were bad! You were bad! Be ashamed!”
Catastrophic result for Mont-de-Marsan
While Ruiz’s choice of words to describe SAXV’s performance might be dubious, it really was a catastrophic night down in the Landes, where Stade Montois made the short trip down to Dax for the Derby Les Landes. It is one of the most heated derbies in all of French rugby, only made spicier by Dax leapfrogging their rivals the previous week to escape the dreaded relegation zone. Mont de Marsan were bullied, and it is fair to label their defeat as catastrophic. With plenty of your best players available, losing 66-14 to your closest rival - both in the country and in the league - is a real cause for concern.