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2013-14 Season Kick off

Tony Manx

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Biarritz
Just over one week to go and the greatest rugby union league competition in the world kicks off for a new season!!

This week sees the final pre season games and then on 16th​ August, the season kicks off for real with Montpellier at home to Toulon…..two of the most interesting teams in what should be a most exciting season and one that will, in my opinion, again show the ever increasing division between the top teams and the rest!

The top teams will be ASM, Toulouse, Toulon, Racing, Montpellier and Stade.

Of the rest, the obvious relegation candidates are….Oyonnax, Brive, Biarritz and Perpignan (the latter having have lost more class than they have signed!!).

The ones I am having difficulty placing are Castres, Bayonne, Grenoble and Bordeaux

I do not need to say much about the likely top teams as they have all completed good/decent signings and have proved their worth over the last few seasons plus they have the money and some really competent to excellent coaching teams.

The likely relegation battlers all suffer from lack of money and/or proven/decent management and cannot see any of them pushing for any honours in the near future.

Castres as reigning champions should be top six contenders but they have lost their management, although it will be interesting to see how Milhas does after his short, unfortunately, stay with Biarritz. Castres in addtion to the loss of their main pharmaceutical billionaire sponsor (and this must have an impact on them at some stage but will it be shown this season?) have lost Andreu and big Joe Takori whilst seemingly to seek to corner the 9's in siging Tomas and Garcia to support Krockett!

Bayonne have, again, turned over their squad and certainly money is not the main problem with them. With the money that has been expended, they really should be contenders and I do think with some consistency in the training staff they will mprove their postion this season but just cannot see them in the top six come May 2014.

Grenoble and Bordeaux come into the same class as each other where money is tight but they do seem to have good management and I just cannot see them competing against the likes of Oyonnax and Brive for the relegation spots.

So in my predictions, I will go for the usual culprits for the top 6 as above with Oyonnax and Brive to go down!

A word on Biarritz…..well, why not!

The two friendlies played (Grenoble and Oynonax) so far have been won, if not emphatically, but these can never be a demonstration of form - last season Buruto was fabulous in them but proved to be not quite up to it in the actual competitive games!

I know that Waenga is thought of very highly by many people around here (and not just BO guys) and he seems to have fitted in very well so he may just resolve the 10 position once and for all but we shall see.

It was good to see Traille substituted (Perylongue to 10 and Waenga to centre) and can only hope that this is an indication that no ones place is sacrosanct!! Certainly selection on form and benefit to the team and not on hierarchial basis will be wonderful..........

Jo Pieterson's arrival is eagerly awaited but some very good young players have been blooded/played in the two friendlies to date….these include Haget (centre), Thomas (winger), Couet Lannes (full back), Lourdley (2nd​ row), and Luix Roussarie (tight head).

I would say that BO are looking at a middle table scrap with Castres, Bayonne, USAP, Grenoble, and UBB in that order and will fit in somewhere between 9th and 12th......!!
 
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Perpignan (the latter having have lost more class than they have signed!!).

Disagree...

I think Perpignan have a real chance to qualifies for play-off

The group is young, and I think signings are more promising than leaving

Young new players like Camille Lopez (23) or Tommaso Benvenuti (22) are already full capped, like Sébastien Vahaamahina (21) and Romain Taofifenua (23) who already played for the team last season. They are framed by world class players (James Hook, Luke Charteris, Alasdair Strokosch...) and experienced players (Lifeimi Mafi, Guilhem Guirado, Dewaldt Duvenage etc) and Marc Delpoux gameplan is total and very pleasant

Also, Perpignan half backs are really improved :

2011-2012
Florian Cazenave - James Hook
David Mélé - Gavin Hume

2012-2013
Dewaldt Duvenage - James Hook
Nicolas Durand - Camille Lopez
 
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Disagree...

I think Perpignan have a real chance to qualifies for play-off

The group is young, and I think signings are more promising than leaving

Young new players like Camille Lopez (23) or Tommaso Benvenuti (22) are already full capped, like Sébastien Vahaamahina (21) and Romain Taofifenua (23) who already played for the team last season. They are framed by world class players (James Hook, Luke Charteris, Alasdair Strokosch...) and experienced players (Lifeimi Mafi, Guilhem Guirado, Dewaldt Duvenage etc) and Marc Delpoux gameplan is total and very pleasant

Also, Perpignan half backs are really improved :

2011-2012
Florian Cazenave - James Hook
David Mélé - Gavin Hume

2012-2013
Dewaldt Duvenage - James Hook
Nicolas Durand - Camille Lopez

I shall watch with very real interest and hope you are right as they are a fine club with a great history although I dohope we finish ahead of them!!

I must admit that I overlooked the coaching pedigree of Delpoux (Narbonne, Calvisano and UBB) but still do not see them making the play offs.......there are just too many class and "monied" sides ahead of them and "promising" players just do not do it.....you need proven players to get to the top 6!
 
Good win for Bayonne v Toulouse yesterday although it was a full strength back line for ST, the forwards were not and they were not assisted by a red card for David.....but a win is a win!

Good game tonight at Aguillera that had everything.....good tries, kicks off two posts, strange refereee decisions, interesting glimpses of the possible, signs of old problems and the biggest brawl I have seen live followed by two red cards (although the BO website only indicates the UBB player received one)!!

Bordeaux, as expected, presented a serious challenge with some stand out attack from their backs with one superbly worked try and another by the speedster that is Blair Connor....he is one to watch!.

Their forwards, as you would expect when Rafa Ibanez is the coach, are a big lot and very disciplined at the attacking maul and also defending although one would have to worry about the number of times they "fell" on the wrong side. I reckon they will score a lot of tries, even if the BO defense was poor overall, and pose a serious threat to many teams.

Biarritz, well three penalties and three free kicks in the first 10 minutes showed that the old failings were still present but they did improve their discipline. The scrum was solid at set, although too many early and non bindings for comfort, and quite good at the line out and defending the rolling maul although their eagerness did not translate into a fully cohesive supporting unit.

There were significant frailities in the defence amongst the backs with Thomas flapping and Baby missing four tackles in the first 11 minutes before injuring himself in one of the abortive attempts. Good news is that Waenga showed serious promise at 10 and, apart from one loose pass and one terrible kick (his only one from hand), he had an assured game before yielding to Perylongue......I will say no more about his contribution!

Traille was rejuvenated and even passed the ball before being subbed although I would like to see more of the supporting centres starting with Traille as a replacement and Harinorduoquoy did not play and was not missed........maybe the times are changing?

Entertaining and encouraging match which Bordeaux edged in the attack yet somehow Biarritz hung out for a 21.15 win but what can one really say about a friendly............next week will show us!

I was told at the game......rumour alert!!!!.....that Blanco has turned down approaches from a Quatari consortium with an offer of some 15 million a year and also a Russian one......yet still had to beg some 300k ex the Biarritz municipality to meet financial stability?

Strange old world if the rumours are true............
 
Talking of who qualifies maybe a little premature guys as we have not started yet, but it all kicks off on Friday when we Montpellier entertain H Cup winners Toulon a match we have to win at all costs for many reasons, if i were to give you all whose reasons i would be in breach of security!!! There are as many as 9 of the teams who are possible top 6 qualifiers with the recruitment that has taken place over the close season
but the first Day 1 winners will be Bayonne, Clermont( sorry Tony), Bordeaux Begles, Grenoble; Perpignan, Racing Metro 92 and of course MONTPELLIER !!!!! but what ever happens we are in for one hell of a TOP 14 this year, probably the best ever to date. Cant wait.
If any one is interested i do match reports on every Montpellier game: go to
www.montpellier-rugby.com click on supporters and scroll down to Steve's Chronicles, articles and interviews every week.
 

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