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Pro D2 may be fighting with International rugby for your attention in November but if Round 9 is anything to go by, then it is coming out swinging. Round 9 gave us an engrossing storyline in each of its eight fixtures. Here is what we learnt from it…
Pro D2 is mad, and Mont de Marsan are peak Pro D2
Ok, so learning that Pro D2 is mad is nothing new at all, but there really is nothing like it. Every week, you know something will shock you yet that can never prepare you for the upcoming surprise.
Take Mont-de-Marsan for example. If Pro D2 is mad, then Mont de Marsan are the maddest team in there. We predicted that MDM would beat Nevers at home, no one could have foreseen them racking up the highest points tally of the season so far (71 points). Mont-de-Marsan’s three wins this season have been at home to Vannes (the team down from the Top 14), Grenoble (last year’s league leaders), and now Nevers who sat in 4th coming into it. This also means they’ve beaten the teams with the 2nd, 4th and 5th biggest operating budgets. You can’t even pin this on the age-old French rugby stereotype of making their home ground a fortress: they lost comfortably in Round 5 to promoted side Carcassonne.
We’ve entered Rotation Season
One of the other mad scorelines was league-leaders Vannes’ 64-10 hammering of Valence Romans, who were 3rd place going into the round. The scoreline may have looked shocking, but realistically Valence Romans had thrown in the towel before they’d even got on the long bus ride to Brittany.
They weren’t the only side to rest front line players, but Valence Romans made a shameful 15 changes to their starting XV ahead of their trip to Vannes. We commended Vannes the previous week who were rewarded for sending a strong side to Colomiers, and suggested that it was healthy for the league that clubs just didn’t roll over and send weakened sides to tough away games. Rotation is necessary in some cases, but VRDR have the relatively undaunting prospect of Aurillac at home and Carcassonne away as their next two games.
The relegation battle shrinks…possibly
Dax were another of Round 9’s heavy rotators with 12 changes to their starting line up from the previous week’s emphatic win at home to Béziers. In receiving a nilling away to Agen, they surely confirmed themselves as favourites to finish bottom. The extent of Dax’s plight was perhaps exacerbated by the identity of their opposition: last season they finished 2 points (and 3 places) higher than Agen, who are now riding high in 3rd.
Soyaux Angoul?me’s back-to-back wins against a couple of the big boys and Biarritz’s draw away at Carcassonne suggest that those two sides should now be looking up rather than down. Aurillac look like they’ve put last year’s close shave - they won the Access Match against Nationale runners up Chambéry - behind them with another win. Their opponents Oyonnax have shown an uncanny ability this season to lose by a handful of points, securing a 4th losing bonus point from six losses. Despite their inability to get over the line, Oyonnax have shown enough so far to suggest they shouldn’t be in any real relegation danger going forward - unless they really struggle with their international absentees over the autumn.
Surely we can rule Mont-de-Marsan out of the relegation battle given the calibre of those they have vanquished this season? That would leave two other sides battling it out with Dax: promoted side Carcassonne (to be expected at the start of the season) and Béziers. Les Biterrois have now lost their last two home games having previously been rampant at the Stade Raoul Barrière, and parted company with Head Coach Rory Teague after Round 8’s hammering away at basement boys Dax. It might not get any better for the foreseeable either: Béziers’ next three fixtures are away to Grenoble, home to Brive and away to Oyonnax.
The next few weeks could prove critical, and it is easy to see why Dax rotated heavily away to Agen. They face Carcassonne, Biarritz and Mont-de-Marsan in the next three rounds…
Emergence of young fly halves
Dax’s rotation meant they handed a debut to 19 year-old fly half Mathys Pardies on Friday. Amazingly, in a league with a reputation for being a hard grind, half of the sides started with a fly half aged 23 or younger - and some of them did so with great success.
Paul Bergès, SAXV’s 20 year fly half, followed up his debut against Brive by scoring 24 points in their victory over Grenoble, notching up his first Pro D2 try and first Pro D2 drop goal in the process. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a guy they picked up from Toulouse, he looks a classy operator.
Colomiers may have rested their own outstanding Toulousain in the on-loan 22 year old Valentin Delpy, but his replacement Théo Giral (another 22 year old) bagged himself a first senior try in a 20 point tally against Béziers, who themselves seem to have handed the keys to 22 year old Portugal international Hugo Aubry. It looks like Béziers and Aubry may need to lean on the experience of compatriot and half back partner Samuel Marques: Aubry has won only one of his nine games for club and country over the last two seasons.
Vannes also rotated heavily (just not as much as their opposition), making 10 changes to their starting line up including resting the near ever-present Maxime Lafage. They handed a rare opportunity to the talented 23 year-old Thibault Debaës, who bagged one of Vannes’ ten tries. Round’s 9 other big scorers Mont-de-Marsan also started with a youngster at fly half, giving more game time to 21 year-old Iban Laclau. At Oyonnax, 23 year-old Justin Bouraux has played more minutes than any other fly half (young or old) this season, which is made more impressive by the fact he is keeping out Georgia’s starting fly half Luka Matkava and former Top 14 & Champions Cup winner Zack Holmes.
Brive are in a proper rut
Perhaps the above shows that you don’t need a big money signing at fly half to be successful in Pro D2. Brive have plenty of big money signings, both at fly half and across their squad, yet it really isn’t going to plan at the moment in the Corrèze.
Although it was their discipline that let them down in their embarrassing defeat in Provence (they picked up an orange card and two yellows), it can’t be pinned solely on that, as they have only scored two tries in their last three games. All this despite getting plenty of game time from their big signings: Courtney Lawes has played more minutes than any other Brive player this season, followed by former Top 14 winner Julien Tisseron, John Cooney and Ben Tapuai, while Jamie Shillcock and Stuart Olding are the only men to have started in the 10 jersey.
Unsurprisingly, given their spending and their history, fan expectations coming into the season were high and the recent form has not helped with the fan displeasure that followed their semi-final defeat to Montauban. They can appease the fans before the next break, with fixtures at home to Mont-de-Marsan and away to Béziers offering a good opportunity for back-to-back wins. But they can’t bank on it, this is Pro D2 after all…
Pro D2 continues this Thursday (6 November) with Grenoble v Béziers, available to UK & Ireland viewers for free via FRUK Rugby on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/live/ZfmM9F8zZn0?si=0mUo5CGeXCqORGsw