LAST SEASON was a funny old one for Marcel Garvey. Seventeen outings for Castres in the Top 14 and just one try, and that in the final game of the…
Top 14
Top 14: Hook ready to lead Perpignan to new heights
TIMES, THEY are a-changin’ at Perpignan. Who would have thought just a few years ago that arguably the most parochial of French clubs would have a Welshman for a captain?…
Top 14: Toulouse coach going the way of the Gunners
By Gavin Mortimer IF THERE’S one man who knows how Arsene Wenger is feeling this week it’s Toulouse coach Guy Noves. Like the Arsenal manager, Noves ended Saturday afternoon with…
Beware the return of Juan Smith
By Alan Dymock AS RUGBY becomes more competitive, more sponsor-driven, more about the trophies than the humans involved, there is a chance that some folk could get chewed up and…
Wealthy owners like Jacky Lorenzetti and their late forays into the transfer market
QUEUEING EARLY at rugby’s buffet does not appear to be a requirement for the millionaire owners of some teams, with the wealthy able to place late orders for personnel they…
Mike Phillips doesn’t make the Top 14 cut… for now
IN THE August edition of Rugby World, British and Irish Lions scrum-half Mike Phillips spoke of his role for Bayonne in the French Top 14. After a tough year where…
French Top 14: New faces for the new season
OSTENTATIOUS OR talent-filled, either way, it is hard to deny that the Top 14 will have an impressive array of international stars next season. Indeed there is something for everyone…
Top 14: Claassen and co. are ready to topple Toulon
THERE ARE still moments when Antonie Claassen has to pinch himself. Can it really be true? A French international and in the final of the Top 14? “It is hard…
Top 14: High Noon
IT'S A funny old game, rugby, as Jamie Noon will testify. Son of Yorkshire, servant of Newcastle and now stalwart of Brive, the former England centre brings down the curtain…
Top 14: How have Toulouse got it so wrong this season?
IT IS, as they say, the business end of the season, with play-offs in both the Aviva Premiership and the Top 14 this weekend. The difference being that in France…