JAMES HARRINGTON
FRENCH COLUMN
IN HIS fifth Top 14 match, Scotland‘s Jamie Ritchie captained basement side Perpignan for the first time yesterday afternoon as they entertained stuttering Champions Cup holders Bordeaux at Stade Aime Giral.
It’s something of a poisoned chalice, truth be told, for Ritchie, who moved to south-west France from URC side Edinburgh in the interseason.
Now seven games into the season, all of them defeats, and with zero points to their name despite some solid-looking recruitment and with two coaches given their marching orders, it’s safe to say the good ship Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais is not a happy one right now.
Fly-half Tristan Tedder, who missed three of the first four weeks of the season because of injury, said in a punchy press conference on Friday that he and his family had stopped going into town or to restaurants because, he said, “people always have something to say”.
These are very much first-world problems, for sure. Tedder is well paid for what he does, enjoys the benefits of a certain amount of fame, and is, no doubt, happy to bask in the good times when they roll around.
There are those who argue that high-level sports stars, who get to enjoy the numerous benefits of their fame, should accept with good grace the brickbats during the bad times. As he pointed out, sports stars are on the social media abuse frontline. “No matter what we do in life, we get criticised. We chose rugby because we’re passionate about it. But being harassed on social media, by multiple people, newspapers, the news… It’s easy to say things behind keyboards,” Tedder said. “We have a great job, but people forget that we’re human like them.”
Criticism, like praise, comes with the territory, when you play high-level rugby. But no one would pretend the abuse of Rory McIlroy’s wife at the Ryder Cup was acceptable. Or the abuse hurled at Welsh star Georgia Evans at this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup. Or that levelled at Cobus Reinach and his family after South Africa knocked Les Bleus out of the 2023 tournament in France. None of that is acceptable. Nor, frankly, is making a rugby player think twice about going for a meal with their family in case someone decides to offer a piece of their mind.
The lead up to the match at Aime Giral was a swirl of odd stats: Perpignan, bottom of the table with zero points in their first six, were enduring the worst-possible start to the campaign. For the first time in Top 14 history, two sides had failed to win any of their first six outings. But Montauban had a draw and a losing bonus to their name.
“Bayonne back row Esteban Capilla made it impossible for Fabien Galthie to ignore him”
Meanwhile, Bordeaux, who picked up 29 points on the road last season, headed to the Pyrénées-Orientales with zero points from their three away trips so far in this campaign, and had been on the receiving end of quite severe beatings away from the comforts of Chaban Delmas.
There was plenty riding on the result, then, for both sides. Unfortunately, for the hosts, Bordeaux were by far the quicker out of the blocks, racing into a 20-0 lead before the half-hour. A penalty try just before the break gave Perpignan some hope, but a try for Matthieu Jalibert just after the hour put the game out of reach. Tomasso Allan’s last-minute score was only ever a consolation, as the match ended 12-27, and left the Catalan side rooted to the foot of the table.
Bayonne back row Esteban Capilla surely made it almost impossible for Fabien Galthie to ignore him when the first extended squad for November’s internationals is revealed next week.
He scored two and made another, while winger Mateo Carreras added a quickfire second-half double of his own as the Basque side extended their Top 14 winning run at home to 18 matches with a 44-17 bonus-point win over an overwhelmed Clermont. Urgent questions must be asked over the visitors’ defence – only once in seven matches, the 27-10 win over Toulon at Marcel Michelin, have they conceded less than 31 points.
Rory Kockott returned to Stade Pierre Fabre, where he had enjoyed some of the brightest moments of his career in the blue-and-white of Castres Olympique. This time, however, he was in the pink of Stade Francais, in charge of the Parisian side’s defence.
As they did at Montauban last weekend, Castres got off to a flyer, and led 22-7 at the break. And, as they did at Montauban last weekend, Castres went to sleep in the second half, escaping with a 29-24 victory – their third in as many games.
Montpellier manager Joan Caudullo said on Friday that visitors’ Lyon “frightened” him. He needn’t have worried, as they won 35-13 at the Septeo Stadium. The frighteningly impressive 21-year-old back row Lenni Nouchi scored his fourth try of the season and, like Bayonne’s Capilla, put his name firmly front and centre of France coach Galthie’s mind.
After two defeats of varying quality on the road at Montpellier and Stade Francais, La Rochelle headed back to Stade Marcel Deflandre – and put on a show for their home fans against Montauban. Veteran Levani Botia scored two of their eight tries as they won 54-19. The promoted ProD2 champions, 13th in the table, are now 11 points adrift of 12th.
Denied the services of Dan Robson until next month, Pau headed into their top-of-the-table clash against champions Toulouse with just one fit senior scrum-half in veteran Thibault Daubagna. Full-back Aymeric Luc was seconded into a back-up nine role for the match.
A try on the hooter for replacement Jimi Maximin gave Pau a deserved 30-26 victory over Toulouse. It was the home side’s fifth win of the season and means they will spend the week top of the table.
The seventh Top 14 weekend – a quarter of the season has gone already – rounds off today as old friends and team-mates turned rival managers Pierre Mignoni and Patrice Collazo meet on the sidelines of Toulon-Racing 92 at Stade Mayol.
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