French rugby Updates : Le café du Rugby.

AbusesToilets

But the craic...

shrapnel222

he probably feels at home there. Rainiest and wettest part of France.

Fireball07

pickarooney wrote: »

Didn't realise they'd signed Sean Dougall. Seems a bit random!

I suppose Mannix knows what he's capable of.

irishbucsfan

CatFromHue wrote: »

The report said that 2 clubs (Toulon and Brive) finished in the black and that 3 clubs (Racing, Stade Francais, and Castres) made up half of that loss so that means there's a loss of 17m between 25 clubs which isn't that bad really

There is no incentive for a rugby club to finish in the black, so it's not really a very helpful metric. A lot of clubs can finish in the red despite being under budget

pickarooney

Fireball07 wrote: »

I suppose Mannix knows what he's capable of.

Ah, I'd forgotten about Mannix being there.

thomond2006

Now Pau are close to signing Francois Steyn.

Buer

That's a ridiculous trio of signings, if completed.

They're almost instantaneously jumping into the bracket of the likes of Racing and Toulon. Slade, Smith and Steyn....must be some serious money gone on them in total.

It will be interesting to see who else they approach as I'm sure they aren't stopping there.

nc6000

Buer wrote: »

That's a ridiculous trio of signings, if completed.

They're almost instantaneously jumping into the bracket of the likes of Racing and Toulon. Slade, Smith and Steyn....must be some serious money gone on them in total.

It will be interesting to see who else they approach as I'm sure they aren't stopping there.

Only players whose surname begins with S.

sydneybound

Buer wrote: »

....must be some serious money gone on them in total

Total the oil company are behind them, rugby is small change for them. The new stands for their 18,000 seater stadium are coming on well for next year too.

Buer

Buer wrote: »

That's a ridiculous trio of signings, if completed.

They're almost instantaneously jumping into the bracket of the likes of Racing and Toulon. Slade, Smith and Steyn....must be some serious money gone on them in total.

It will be interesting to see who else they approach as I'm sure they aren't stopping there.

:pac:

thomond2006

I hope they don't make the same mistake Lyon did for two seasons i.e. bringing in a whole new squad following promotion. Still they are an exciting prospect, James Coughlan must be delighted he made the decision to move. He's made 25 starts this season and there are 3 matches remaining (30 matches in total). Jean Bouilhou has started 23 and he's signed on for another year when he'll turn 37!

Steyn only turns 28 next month. You'd think he should be older given how long he's been around.

pickarooney

Quade Cooper was on a flight from Paris to Marseille yesterday. Looks like he's at least meeting with Toulon.

AbusesToilets

Still amazes me that Clermont have persisted with Brock James for so long. When Sexton was on the market, I thought that they would have gone all out to sign him. With the available out halves post world cup, it would be crazy for them to not to go all in.

total former

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Still amazes me that Clermont have persisted with Brock James for so long. When Sexton was on the market, I thought that they would have gone all out to sign him. With the available out halves post world cup, it would be crazy for them to not to go all in.

They have Lopez as first choice now though.

matthew8

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Still amazes me that Clermont have persisted with Brock James for so long. When Sexton was on the market, I thought that they would have gone all out to sign him. With the available out halves post world cup, it would be crazy for them to not to go all in.

Man of the match today in a semi final so I don't think he's a catastrophe. He gets a somewhat harsh bottler reputation, he has had bottles but he's also had good big game moments, I don't think he's any worse than the rest of the squad in that department. Still one of their weaker players mind you. Apparently they didn't believe Sexton was really going to leave Leinster and otherwise they might have signed him.

AbusesToilets

matthew8 wrote: »

Man of the match today in a semi final so I don't think he's a catastrophe. He gets a somewhat harsh bottler reputation, he has had bottles but he's also had good big game moments, I don't think he's any worse than the rest of the squad in that department. Still one of their weaker players mind you. Apparently they didn't believe Sexton was really going to leave Leinster and otherwise they might have signed him.

Never thought he was **** by any means; I figured after being on the wrong side of results against Leinster in particular, they would have gone after one of the biggest architects of their downfall previously.

vienne86

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Never thought he was **** by any means; I figured after being on the wrong side of results against Leinster in particular, they would have gone after one of the biggest architects of their downfall previously.

I think that match is what comes to mind when many of us think of him, but he has also had good performances - he certainly had a good day today.

irishbucsfan

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Never thought he was **** by any means; I figured after being on the wrong side of results against Leinster in particular, they would have gone after one of the biggest architects of their downfall previously.

There aren't many 10s that are better than him, and those that are generally come with a pretty serious price tag. If Clermont signed Sexton I would be very very keen for Leinster to go after James.

Bridge93

I would happily have Brock James playing in the Leinster team this year. As a backup to Lopez (is he?) he's a superb option.

.ak

AbusesToilets wrote: »

Still amazes me that Clermont have persisted with Brock James for so long. When Sexton was on the market, I thought that they would have gone all out to sign him. With the available out halves post world cup, it would be crazy for them to not to go all in.

I was thinking that when I watched the game yesterday... But in fairness he's not the worst. He's a tidy player and his distribution is pinpoint. His awareness is great too and I like to see hard working players rewarded by their clubs. I reckon he'll retire there.

aimee1

two barnes ..... sound off

aimee1

players offside in front of michalek surely when he kicked

Aidric

Just took a look at the D2 table. Eddie O Sullivan has Biarritz in the play off positions for now but it's very tight. Paloise look to have locked in the automatic promotion spot.

nc6000

Pau have already won Pro D2. 3 games left and they are 16 points ahead of Perpignan in 2nd.

pickarooney

Aidric wrote: »

Just took a look at the D2 table. Eddie O Sullivan has Biarritz in the play off positions for now but it's very tight. Paloise look to have locked in the automatic promotion spot.

Pau were promoted last week

vienne86

Big chance for Bayonne to lift themselves up the table - entertaining Grenoble tomorrow. Castres have Clermont at home, so will find it hard to pick up any points.

iroced

Toulouse beat Stade Français in Jean Bouin 21-12 and move to third position level with SF on pts but ahead on the H2H results. With Clermont & Toulon probably sending B team this week they could now hope for a top2 finish. That'd be crazy considering their season :eek:...

19543261

Nobody watching this Toulon La Rochelle game?! O: Edit: Hope you all had that recorded..

thomond2006

19543261 wrote: »

Nobody watching this Toulon La Rochelle game?! O: Edit: Hope you all had that recorded..

Sounded like a cracker!

nc6000

thomond2006 wrote: »

Sounded like a cracker!

What a finish! That should be La Rochelle safe now.