Top 14 2011/2012 season

[Draggs]

Mike Phillips must certainly be considered as one of the best signings. Every time I have seen him play he looks in good form.

I hear Mason is indeed returning to league. Never saw it really working out for him.

 

[Amobokoboko]

1. Byron Kelleher – Stade Français
Went from the best scrum half in France at Toulouse to in just two seasons simply dreadful, looks like Bayonne saved themselves from another faded oldie last summer, the 35 year old has only started 2 matches and was terrible and is now third choice scrum half for Stade Français and could be on his way out early.

2. Joe Rokocoko – Bayonne
Looks like he's just there for the money and even admitted so in an "honest" interview, still only 28 and should have a lot to offer but is playing like a 36 year old winger at the minute, was so lazy this week against Castres and looked like he was jogging to attempt to stop Romain Martial scoring, players past their sell by date who just want to jog around the pitch belong in Japan not France.

7. Neemia Tialata – Bayonne
Had the potential to achieve so much, but is so lazy, his twitter buddy Sione Lauaki is lucky not to join him on this list, the trio of Rokocoko-Tialata-Lauaki must go down as three of the worst value signings ever

Kelleher didn't impress me at all this season. Tialata has been lazy since (well to be diplomatic), since last super 15 campaign. I do hope Rokocoko will start doing a little effort otherwise he can forget about Japan.

How is Lauaki doing?

 

[psychic duck]

Kelleher didn't impress me at all this season. Tialata has been lazy since (well to be diplomatic), since last super 15 campaign. I do hope Rokocoko will start doing a little effort otherwise he can forget about Japan.

How is Lauaki doing?

dreadful, he has been one of the worst signings for Bayonne

he seems happy enough to ball carry, but he is not bothering to do other parts of the game such as rucking, tackling etc

this try (1:50) sums up Lauaki and Rokocoko, lazy crap pass by Lauaki, followed by lazy running back by Rokocoko to allow Castres to score

http://www.lnr.fr/video-j13-bayonne-castres-16-16,1385.html

 

[Amobokoboko]

Shizzle, that horrifying. Overpaid, overweighted and overrated. They should sack them. Don't even want to know how Tialata is doing.

 

[Darwin]

dreadful, he has been one of the worst signings for Bayonne

he seems happy enough to ball carry, but he is not bothering to do other parts of the game such as rucking, tackling etc

You mean to say he's playing exactly the same way he has his entire career

Out of curiosity how has Sivivatu gone so far for Clermont? I'm quite interested to see how he goes. A change of scenery may revitalize him, but I think it is far more likely that he gains 20kg and quite quickly fades into obscurity. By all reports he is a very lazy trainer, and he really struggles to get his fitness levels to an acceptable standard these days.

 

[Amobokoboko]

The last top14 game I saw, I reckon the one against Castre. He was on the bench.

 

[Rugby09]

New to the forums here and just had a look at the preview section. Surprised to see that Racing Metro were tipped for the title.

They haven't done well in the H-Cup and I believe they are 6th in the T14. Can anyone advise what has gone wrong for them?

Is it injuries? I was surprised to discover how little Frans Steyn has played until I remembered his injury in the WC, no sign of Benjamin Fall either, is he injured too? Or are there internal problems within the club?

Sorry another question I have is about the number of French players in some match day squads. I was watching highlights on scrum.com and was shocked to see Stade Francais only playing 2-3 french players. Is there not a cap on how many foreign players you can have in a squad in France?

 

[psychic duck]

New to the forums here and just had a look at the preview section. Surprised to see that Racing Metro were tipped for the title.

They haven't done well in the H-Cup and I believe they are 6th in the T14. Can anyone advise what has gone wrong for them?

Is it injuries? I was surprised to discover how little Frans Steyn has played until I remembered his injury in the WC, no sign of Benjamin Fall either, is he injured too? Or are there internal problems within the club?

Sorry another question I have is about the number of French players in some match day squads. I was watching highlights on scrum.com and was shocked to see Stade Francais only playing 2-3 french players. Is there not a cap on how many foreign players you can have in a squad in France?

Racing-Métro are inconsistent, and have played really awful at times this season, the backs coach was sacked and that upset a few of the players, the pack has some real deadwood in ti with the likes of Chabal, the backs play as individuals, and leave each other to create opportunities and the forwards constantly greedily do rubbish pick and goes, I think that they won't make the top 6 and reach the playoffs as Montpellier who are currently 8th and one point behind are playing much better

Benjamin Fall is long term injured, seems a but injury prone to be honest

there is a cap on non EU players I think, as Felipe Contepomi was left out a few times by Toulon whilst he was there I think, not sure about foreign player cap

 

[Rugby09]

Thanks for the update.

Nallet must be their stand out player to get called up as the replacement for Millo-Chulski or are there just no other French locks who are worth calling up?

 

[Melhor Time]

Thanks for the update.

Nallet must be their stand out player to get called up as the replacement for Millo-Chulski or are there just no other French locks who are worth calling up?

Nallet, to be fair, still has it in him. But, without question, France has a poor supply of secondrowers.

 

[Rugby09]

Nallet, to be fair, still has it in him. But, without question, France has a poor supply of secondrowers.

Cheers, if any other locks get injured im strugglig to think of any more that could be called up? maybe Lamboley? Are there any younger players coming through?

From having a look at the weekends results it seems most teams either have 2 foreign locks or quite old players. The amount of foreign players at teams such as Toulon & Stade Francais cant be doing the national team any good either

 

[Melhor Time]

Cheers, if any other locks get injured im strugglig to think of any more that could be called up? maybe Lamboley? Are there any younger players coming through?

From having a look at the weekends results it seems most teams either have 2 foreign locks or quite old players. The amount of foreign players at teams such as Toulon & Stade Francais cant be doing the national team any good either

Honestly, I just think that its an area in which France has no depth right now. It has nothing to do with imported players taking the positions of French players either. There are loads of French secondrowers they are just not good enough. Today, without Tomas Domingo France has a good supply of props yet four years ago this was not the case at all. Some people blamed imports for taking the place of French props. It was utter garbage as there were loads of French players around they just weren´t good enough. Some people argued that Roncero should not be allowed in the Stade team but nobody said Albacete shouldn´t play for Toulouse as at that time France had depth - Pelous, Thion, Papé and Nallet. It was impossible for Julien Pierre to make the French squad as these guys were too good. Now Pierre is a starter yet is approaching his mid thirties.

Lamboley can´t make the Toulouse starting XV so won´t be much use to France. In any event he is really a backrower.

Consider who the top sides are in France right now and they all have French secondrowers but the callibre does not match Pelous and co.

Toulouse - Romain Millo-Chluski, Yoann Maestri
Clermont - Julien Pierre, Loic Jacquet
Toulon - Jocelino Suta
Castres - Matthias Rolland
Stade Français - Pascal Papé
Racing Métro - Lionel Nallet

I think the top six clubs have enough secondrowers to fill France´s needs. But the quality has fallen. I´ve put the best four in bold to show how. Also, from clubs further down the ladder there is not a supply of good secondrowers. The best of the rest would be:

Montpellier - Thibaut Privat
Perpignan - Olivier Olibeau
Brive - Arnaud Méla
Biarritz - Jerome Thion
Lyon - Arnaud Marchois

I think the USA´s secondrow of van der Giessen and Smith with LaValla covering is as good as anything from this lot.

Just to emphasize what I am saying. Four years ago, believe it or not, Lievremont picked a prop from Dax for the Six Nations!

 

[LittleGuy]

A little off topic but has anyone heard from M Two One lately? I was enjoying his work on the Top 14 but I see he hasn't logged in to TRF in about two months.

 

[Amobokoboko]

I 've heard he's quiet busy. he's also going to France for one week at the end of Feb.

 

[LittleGuy]

I 've heard he's quiet busy. he's also going to France for one week at the end of Feb.

Thank you for the info Amobokoboko.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

So, as Toulouse have lost 8 players to the french 6N squad, they present the following "2nd string" side:
1. Human (South Africa, 4caps)
2. Tolofua (France, no caps, just turned 18: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=77IR1xa1evs)
3. Johnston (Samoa, 37 caps)
4. Lamboley (France, 14 caps)
5. Albacete (Argentina, 46 caps)
6. Bouilhou (France, 2 caps, imo the most underrated player in Europe, or at least in France)
7. Nyanga (France, 25 caps)
8. Galan (Galan, no caps)
9. Burgess (Australia, 37 caps)
10. Doussain (France, 1 cap, U20 captain last year)
11. Donguy (France, no caps)
12. McAlister (New Zealand, 30 caps)
13. David (France, 4 caps)
14. Matanavou (Fiji, no caps, highest tryscorer in the top 14)
15. Poitrenaud (France, 44 caps)

That's 244 caps. I thought that was bloody impressive for a second string side and deserved to be shared. On the bench, they have players like Grüthro Steenkamp, Yannick Jauzion, Florian Fritz and Nicolas Vergallo.

 

[Melhor Time]

So, as Toulouse have lost 8 players to the french 6N squad, they present the following "2nd string" side:
1. Human (South Africa, 4caps)
2. Tolofua (France, no caps, just turned 18: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=77IR1xa1evs)
3. Johnston (Samoa, 37 caps)
4. Lamboley (France, 14 caps)
5. Albacete (Argentina, 46 caps)
6. Bouilhou (France, 2 caps, imo the most underrated player in Europe, or at least in France)
7. Nyanga (France, 25 caps)
8. Galan (Galan, no caps)
9. Burgess (Australia, 37 caps)
10. Doussain (France, 1 cap, U20 captain last year)
11. Donguy (France, no caps)
12. McAlister (New Zealand, 30 caps)
13. David (France, 4 caps)
14. Matanavou (Fiji, no caps, highest tryscorer in the top 14)
15. Poitrenaud (France, 44 caps)

That's 244 caps. I thought that was bloody impressive for a second string side and deserved to be shared. On the bench, they have players like Grüthro Steenkamp, Yannick Jauzion, Florian Fritz and Nicolas Vergallo.

Vergallo is the hard luck case ofthe season. He had a good World Cup but with Doussain and Burgess at the club he´s hardly played. Could well join Agen as has been speculated.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

Vergallo is the hard luck case ofthe season. He had a good World Cup but with Doussain and Burgess at the club he´s hardly played. Could well join Agen as has been speculated.

Yes, it seems the best for him and Argentina would be to leave. Bézy too.

 

[Rugby09]

How good is Bezy? would he be good enough for one of the other top teams, Stade Francias for example as Fillol & Kelleher are getting on a bit, or would he be a more mid-table team?

 

[psychic duck]

tip for you all, back Clermont on the handicap to beat Toulouse whilst the bookies have not yet realised that Toulouse have fielded a weakened side