Brits abroad

[francoisfou]

Round 22 of the Top14 starts tomorrow:

Bordeaux/Bègles - 4 Jonny Gray, 22 Joey Carbery
La Rochelle - 14 Jack Nowell

Vannes - 1 Mako Vunipola
Toulon - 6 Lewis Ludlam

Toulouse - 15 Blair Kinghorn, 6 Jack Willis
Castres - 3 Will Collier

Montpellier - 10 Stuart Hogg, 8 Billy Vunipola
Perpignan - 3 Kieran Brookes

Bayonne - 12 Manu Tuilagi, 5 Alex Moon
Pau - 9 Dan Robson

Racing v Stade Français kicks off Sunday afternoon and the teams are yet to be announced.

[Mellsblue]

Will Collier (33 years old) has just signed a one-season extension to his contract with Castres, having clearly made the number 3 shirt his own.
He's played sixteen matches this season in the Top14 and Champions' Cup, of which fourteen were in the starting XV, despite being absent injured for two months.
His club are currently 5th in the Top14 and will most probably make the end of season playoffs.
He'll undoubtedly be in the Castres starting XV for tomorrow afternoon's Top14 match against Toulouse at the 33,000 capacity Stadium that's already sold out

Here he is pictured with the former, and more than formidable Castres and France prop Gérard Cholley (31caps between 1975/79), of whom the older members of this forum will remember.

https://castres-olympique.com/wp-conten ... 24x683.jpg

He did an interview with The Times a couple of weeks ago ago. He is loving life down there and who can blame him.

[francoisfou]

I've read that Manu Tuilagi, Billy V, Stuart Hogg and the Britalian Stephen Varney were prominent in their clubs' wins this afternoon.
In particular, Varney's Vannes pulled off an unexpected bp win at home to Toulon, which leaves them just one point behind Stade Français and Perpignan in 12th and 13th in the table, with four matches to play ( 5 for SF)

Stade Français visit Racing tomorrow evening when Zach Henry will wear 10 and Joe Marchant 22.
For Racing, Sam James 15, Owen Farrell 10, Will Rowlands 5 and Jr Kpoku 7.