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Montpellier unveil signings for 2015/2016

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Hard luck Oyonnax who lost to a poor (again) Toulouse side!!

Commentators saying Noves to be announced tomorrow as next French manager.....good for Toulouse but not necessarily for the national side!

Wither Oyonnax now with the loss of Christophe Urios and some of their best players to Castres?

Hopefully they find an equal as manager but not sure that is possible on their budget.

Meanwhile Toulouse move on with their third choice tight head having lost Census to suspension and the unwanted Tialata to a serious looking arm/shoulder injury! Good luck with that after being out done by Oyonnax in the scrum today!!
 
Oyonnax did what Oyo does best but couldn't kill off the game they don't have that extra gear. They've had a fantastic season after their promotion.
Toulouse has been the best team of the return games, this is what journos say. The reality is we've been below par all season but still make the last four. But we've been able to raise our game v the big guys every time, ask Stade Francais and Toulon...

Noves is leaving and this won't help our case I feel. It'll take the wind (more like puff) out of our sails. Or, they'll give him a proper sending off and...

For me Christophe Urios has got to be the coach of the season. He's worked out nothing short of a miracle with his team. Why given his coaching ability is he going to Castres I'll never know...I think had the Board prepared for Noves exit he is the manager they should have gone for.
 
FrenchFan said:
Oyonnax did what Oyo does best but couldn't kill off the game they don't have that extra gear. They've had a fantastic season after their promotion.
Toulouse has been the best team of the return games, this is what journos say. The reality is we've been below par all season but still make the last four. But we've been able to raise our game v the big guys every time, ask Stade Francais and Toulon...

Noves is leaving and this won't help our case I feel. It'll take the wind (more like puff) out of our sails. Or, they'll give him a proper sending off and...

For me Christophe Urios has got to be the coach of the season. He's worked out nothing short of a miracle with his team. Why given his coaching ability is he going to Castres I'll never know...I think had the Board prepared for Noves exit he is the manager they should have gone for.
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Absolutely!!!
 
Toulouse finished stronger and just about deserved their win, Oyonnax had everything going for them but a stronger bench and able to play the full 80 mins saw Toulouse through to the semis, brilliant season by Oyo but without Urios and several key players, next season could be a very different story.
 
Haha! Doubt anyone will notice, Heineken, apart from you only three of us use the French thread regularly with some very welcome occasionals!!
 
Should be interesting how Jake White does next season but I think his signings are a joke. Montpellier will end up with no French players in the team.

I had a look the other day. 20+ more foreigners coming into the Top14 next season than foreigners leaving. Thats a squad of players and there'll be more signed over the summer.
 
TRF_nickdnz said:
How is Robert Ebersohn doing? I really rated him for the Cheetahs.
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Had a good season bar a couple of concussions which kept him out for over a month excellent centre, Olivier would still be with Montpellier bar the fact that him and Jake do not read off the same song sheet, some bad history way before both he and Jake ever came to Montpellier.
 
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profitius said:
Should be interesting how Jake White does next season but I think his signings are a joke. Montpellier will end up with no French players in the team.

I had a look the other day. 20+ more foreigners coming into the Top14 next season than foreigners leaving. Thats a squad of players and there'll be more signed over the summer.
Click to expand...

Firstly could you explain why its such a joke and secondly there is a thing in France called Jiff which means without going into massive detail that there must be on average 12.1 players from the team sheet this season (Montpellier averaged 13.5this season) who are French or have come throught the Academies befoe they are 21 yo., and to say that Montpellier will have no French players is an absolutely ridiculous statement to make. The very fact that we have large numbers of foreigners coming into the Top 14 is the very high standard of rugby played in France and the results show it, more European Champions cup winners and more French finalists and more all French finals than any other country in Europe. Plus the fact we all now know they only come for the money, just some don't come up to standard like Sexton for example.
 
One problem with the Jiff is that you have French clubs signing players from e.g. Georgia so early that they qualify as Jiff.
 
profitius said:
I had a look the other day. 20+ more foreigners coming into the Top14 next season than foreigners leaving. Thats a squad of players and there'll be more signed over the summer.
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And more are going home after one season..Ask Lydiate Sexton Roberts Phillips etc..and that's one club.
 
Car said:
One problem with the Jiff is that you have French clubs signing players from e.g. Georgia so early that they qualify as Jiff.
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early has nothing to do with Jiff, if they are in the Academies for 3 years before they are 21 then yes but you must go through the stages to qualify, Misha Narishvili did that but Mamuka Gorgodze who was at the club for just as long did not therefore never qualified as Jiff. There are strict rules and regs to qualify not just an early signing will do.!!!
 
gaston le gaff said:
Had a good season bar a couple of concussions which kept him out for over a month excellent centre, Olivier would still be with Montpellier bar the fact that him and Jake do not read off the same song sheet, some bad history way before both he and Jake ever came to Montpellier.
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Could you give some more details?

Was it the same problems that Wynand had at the Bulls??
 
Sorry but do not know what that problem was at the Bulls, and as i know both player and coach i can't disclose any more as info like this has to be kept behind closed doors i'm sure you understand..... its a shame because Wynand is a great player and really good guy typical Sud Aff, you see what you get, but a super polite gentleman to boot. Mind you of all the Sud Affs that have passed through Montpellier i have always got on great with them all, and many have been to our house for social events, Beer and Braas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
gaston le gaff said:
Sorry but do not know what that problem was at the Bulls, and as i know both player and coach i can't disclose any more as info like this has to be kept behind closed doors i'm sure you understand..... its a shame because Wynand is a great player and really good guy typical Sud Aff, you see what you get, but a super polite gentleman to boot. Mind you of all the Sud Affs that have passed through Montpellier i have always got on great with them all, and many have been to our house for social events, Beer and Braas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Wynand had a history of taking other player's girlfriends/wifes for a test drive...
 
very interesting mind you all the girls in Montpellier always said he was the good looker + buckets of charm, so there must be an awful lot of very sad girlies in Montpellier at the moment, maybe i should take his place???? but i think age and a few other things are against me having the same amount of success !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
gaston le gaff said:
very interesting mind you all the girls in Montpellier always said he was the good looker + buckets of charm, so there must be an awful lot of very sad girlies in Montpellier at the moment, maybe i should take his place???? but i think age and a few other things are against me having the same amount of success !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Haha, The one story I heard that was the funniest, was that Wynand and his roommate invited a bunch of girls from the university to their house. They had some drinks, and then Wynand had a competition with the girls to see who had the biggest chest...
 
gaston le gaff said:
Sorry but do not know what that problem was at the Bulls, and as i know both player and coach i can't disclose any more as info like this has to be kept behind closed doors i'm sure you understand..... its a shame because Wynand is a great player and really good guy typical Sud Aff, you see what you get, but a super polite gentleman to boot. Mind you of all the Sud Affs that have passed through Montpellier i have always got on great with them all, and many have been to our house for social events, Beer and Braas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Of all the foreign players I've seen and spoken to here at the club and other clubs, the South-Africans are the ones who seem to adapt best to our rugby. They generally speak the language (don't know if their Huguenot ancestry helps ;)). They buy into the French rugby culture and like the family type of atmosphere at the club.
In their vast majority they are forwards who do well in our rugby because our league has always been forwards orientated rugby with a big emphasis on set pieces and they are very much cut out for the job.
 
gaston le gaff said:
Firstly could you explain why its such a joke and secondly there is a thing in France called Jiff which means without going into massive detail that there must be on average 12.1 players from the team sheet this season (Montpellier averaged 13.5this season) who are French or have come throught the Academies befoe they are 21 yo., and to say that Montpellier will have no French players is an absolutely ridiculous statement to make. The very fact that we have large numbers of foreigners coming into the Top 14 is the very high standard of rugby played in France and the results show it, more European Champions cup winners and more French finalists and more all French finals than any other country in Europe. Plus the fact we all now know they only come for the money, just some don't come up to standard like Sexton for example.
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I have a feeling Montpellier won't be averaging 13.5 French players next season but if you don't mind that happening thats fine by me.

If you think Sexton, Roberts, Lydiate were not value for money for Racing then I fully agree. They obviously put their international careers ahead of playing for Racing. ;)
 
profitius said:
If you think Sexton, Roberts, Lydiate were not value for money for Racing then I fully agree. They obviously put their international careers ahead of playing for Racing. ;)
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True. And this has sparked an interesting change of attitude at Racing with their president waking up to the fact that their best players of the season are mostly French while their overpaid foreign stars didn't deliver (Sexton Lydiate Philipps Roberts Laulala Mujati). The most used players at Racing are all French: Henry Chavancy Luc Ducalcon Max Machenaud Wenceslas Lauret.
Lorenzetti now wants players who are NOT internationals because he doesn't want deal with the hassle of having to release players for international duty. This is an aspect he feels has been overlooked and has impacted negatively on the club. I think he has a point. They're going to focus on French league players and beefing up their academy.

All good decisions IMO. They'll get a much better return without having to deal with foreign divas many of whom clearly can't hack it in the league.

http://www.rugbyrama.fr/rugby/transferts/2014/jacky-lorenzetti-racing-sur-le-recrutement-boudjellal-a- ete-genial-a-l-insu-de-son-plein-gre_sto4756195/story.shtml
 
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FrenchFan said:
True. And this has sparked an interesting change of attitude at Racing with their president waking up to the fact that their best players of the season are mostly French while their overpaid foreign stars didn't deliver (Sexton Lydiate Philipps Roberts Laulala Mujati). The most used players at Racing are all French: Henry Chavancy Luc Ducalcon Max Machenaud Wenceslas Lauret.
Lorenzetti now wants players who are NOT internationals because he doesn't want deal with the hassle of having to release players for international duty. This is an aspect he feels has been overlooked and has impacted negatively on the club. I think he has a point. They're going to focus on French league players and beefing up their academy.

All good decisions IMO. They'll get a much better return without having to deal with foreign divas many of whom clearly can't hack it in the league.

http://www.rugbyrama.fr/rugby/transferts/2014/jacky-lorenzetti-racing-sur-le-recrutement-boudjellal-a- ete-genial-a-l-insu-de-son-plein-gre_sto4756195/story.shtml
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I like the sound of this.

For me the attraction of watching Toulouse 5 or more years ago, was that it was regarded as pure French talent and had the reputation of beautiful rugby to go with it.
It will be interesting to see if Racing persevere with this change of approach and become the all French club that Toulouse were known as.
 
Mumbles119 said:
I like the sound of this.

For me the attraction of watching Toulouse 5 or more years ago, was that it was regarded as pure French talent and had the reputation of beautiful rugby to go with it.
It will be interesting to see if Racing persevere with this change of approach and become the all French club that Toulouse were known as.
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Racing have a long way to go then. I can't see a side apart from Toulon being that dominant.
 
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FrenchFan said:
Hem I don't think Racing have any intent to play like Toulouse did 5 years ago. What a strange ambition that would be and given how much the game has changed.
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Sorry. I don't mean it too literally. I just mean by reputation. The rugby romantic in me would love to see the reputation of watching 'French flair' grow.
 
FrenchFan said:
True. And this has sparked an interesting change of attitude at Racing with their president waking up to the fact that their best players of the season are mostly French while their overpaid foreign stars didn't deliver (Sexton Lydiate Philipps Roberts Laulala Mujati). The most used players at Racing are all French: Henry Chavancy Luc Ducalcon Max Machenaud Wenceslas Lauret.
Lorenzetti now wants players who are NOT internationals because he doesn't want deal with the hassle of having to release players for international duty. This is an aspect he feels has been overlooked and has impacted negatively on the club. I think he has a point. They're going to focus on French league players and beefing up their academy.

All good decisions IMO. They'll get a much better return without having to deal with foreign divas many of whom clearly can't hack it in the league.

http://www.rugbyrama.fr/rugby/transferts/2014/jacky-lorenzetti-racing-sur-le-recrutement-boudjellal-a- ete-genial-a-l-insu-de-son-plein-gre_sto4756195/story.shtml
Click to expand...


I agree with Lorenzetti. You have to choose players very wisely. Most Pro12 watchers could have told him that Jamie Roberts was always injured for Cardiff but never seemed to miss a Wales game. When he did play for Cardiff he was anonymous like Warburton.
 
Mumbles119 said:
Sorry. I don't mean it too literally. I just mean by reputation. The rugby romantic in me would love to see the reputation of watching 'French flair' grow.
Click to expand...

I've seen some great attacking rugby this season. Because it doesn't come from the traditional clubs people expect, they think it's gone.

The game has changed hugely in the last 5 yrs. Defenses have taken over with a radically different approach to defending on the man and collectively with the help of video analysts and specialist defense coaches dissecting everything. It's right across the board not just in this league obviously. Sometimes you wonder what will it take to score a try, dig a tunnel?

The Bordeaux backs in the first half of the season scored some great tries and posted several huge scores (+45 pts) on sides like Stade Français and Clermont which was impressive given how tight defenses have become. Unfortunately they cannot sustain it because they do not have the depth of squad to last the full season playing that kind of high tempo game due to injuries, burn-out, weather conditions, squad turnover etc

Stade Francais have showed an excellent backline at times as well - more based on the collective, not so much their individuals, and are well managed by a very good coach (Jeff Dubois).

I also like the Clermont backline of the last 3 seasons with Lopez Fofana Nakaitaci Nalaga. They have scored some crackers again this season.
 
profitius said:
I have a feeling Montpellier won't be averaging 13.5 French players next season but if you don't mind that happening thats fine by me.

If you think Sexton, Roberts, Lydiate were not value for money for Racing then I fully agree. They obviously put their international careers ahead of playing for Racing. ;)
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Its not a question of feeling!!!! Montpellier have to average 12.1 players for the Jiff, they have no choice, if they do not they are penalties finanicial and relegation to lower divisions a possibility. The Jiff is not created for fun it exists to protect French players and those who have come through the academies as either French or other. I suggest you Google it to find out exactly how complex the Jiff really is!!!

- - - Updated - - -

The big problem today with French rugby is there is so much at stake in the TOP 14, everyone wants to win the Bouclier but only one team can so Presidents are prepared to go all out to get their name on the Bouclier, one of the reasons why defence has overtaken attack in the TOP 14, there are more people involved in defence than attack, everything is scrutinised to the very last detail, i know how much time is spent on video at Montpellier and it's buckets full. There is also the finanacial aspect of the game, yes there is loads of money which does bring in foreign players (another discussion) but also tele rights and massive sponsoring and partnerships which gives all teams the opportunity to employ experts in every field possible. Defence and video staff are relivity new to rugby
Racing are releasing many of their British players and reports saying they did not come out shining, this is always one of the problems, adaptation into the French way of life and it is not for everyone the proof often surfaces. From my experiences (10ys invovlement in the TOP 14) the South Africans seem to be the best adapted, many have passed through Montpellier and more to come, and lots have stayed after their ceasing to play at the top level, buying a business and still playing at a lower level Fed 1 or 2. I can only see this getting more and more complicated as the financial issues will always be there, (but that is good) and in France the Stadiums are mostly playing in front of very close to full houses, which just adds to the finances which certainly is not the case throughout Blighty.
 
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