Frisch in mood to impress Galthie
JAMES HARRINGTON
FRENCH COLUMN
ONE-TIME Bristol Bear Antoine Frisch is set to make his Top 14 debut for Toulon this evening at Stade Francais, belatedly closing the circle on a convoluted selectorial tugof-war between France and Ireland.
The centre, who scored two tries in 14 outings for the English Premiership club in the 2021/22 campaign before leaving to join URC side Munster, was born in Fontainebleau, not far from Paris, and learned his rugby in France, but qualified for Ireland via a Dublin-born grandmother.
Shortly after his arrival in Limerick on a three-season deal, Frisch was selected for an Emerging Ireland squad that played Currie Cup teams Free State Cheetahs, Griquas and Pumas in South Africa in October 2022 – and then for the French Barbarians side to face Fiji in the Autumn Nations Series a month later.
He had to pull out of that Barbarians match with an injury, but the message from Fabien Galthie was clear: he wasn’t ready to let the then26-year-old get away, and wonder later about what might-have-been.
With good reason. Frisch was putting in eye-catching performance after eye-catching performance.
But Ireland looked to have the inside track, with Frisch in Munster. He had even, according to reports, told the Ireland staff his international ambitions lay in the Aviva.
Head coach Andy Farrell, however, passed up on the opportunity to select him for the 2023 Six Nations, World Cup, or the 2024 Six Nations. It’s, perhaps, not entirely surprising. He does have plenty of options in midfield, after all, and a union system geared towards international rugby.
So, France swept in to grab a player they had been coveting. Toulon bought him out of the final year of his contract at Munster, and Galthie called him up for France’s July tour of Argentina and Uruguay. Frisch scored on his senior international debut, and impressed on a tour overshadowed by off-field events. And, this evening, in Paris, he will make his Top 14 debut, at the age of 28, against Stade Francais in the first-leg of this season’s Christophe Dominici Trophy challenge, at stake between the two sides.
So, France now have options at 12 and 13, too. Emilien Gailleton and Nicolas Depoortere are pushing old hands Gael Fickou and Jonathan Danty. Yoram Moefana is hugely underrated by many rugby watchers outside Bordeaux – and Toulouse, who are said to be keen to sign him as a long-term replacement for Pita Akhi. Pierre-Louis Barassi and Arthur Vincent are both hugely talented. Watch out, too, for Castres’ Adrien Seguret, an under-the-radar player if ever there was one. Frisch makes a minimum of nine midfield options for France, without even considering positional switches.
“Toulon bought player out of his contract at Munster and France swept in to grab him”
The trick now is finding a partnership that works as well as Danty-Fickou has in the past. Whether that includes Frisch remains to be seen – but the player and various coaches have made their choice.
On Saturday, there was a distinctly English flavour to Racing 92’s squad for their highly anticipated match against Bordeaux at Stade Chaban Delmas. Owen Farrell, Dan Lancaster, Henry Arundell and Sam James all started for Stuart Lancaster‘s ciel-et-bleu, who also boasted Wales‘s Will Rowlands on the bench. Jonny Gray – who made his first start in last week’s edge-of-the-seat defeat at Lyon – was in the starting pack for the hosts. His recent injury woes appear to be behind him.
The Top 14 weekend had kicked off in Montpellier, where Joan Caudullo’s side played host to defending champions Toulouse. The visitors’ manager Ugo Mola had rung the changes. Anthony Jelonch returned from a second ACL injury for a strong half-hour off the bench, with returning hooker Peato Mauvaka and prop Joel Merkler both alongside him.
Meanwhile, Julien Marchand, Romain Ntamack, and Akhi were rested – with first-time halfback partnership Naoto Saito and Thomas Ramos starting, as the visitors looked to continue their winning run at the GGL – their last defeat there was October 2019.
And they did, condemning Montpellier to their second home loss of the season. After going in at the break 11-10 down, Toulouse eased through the gears as their bench made the crucial difference. It ended 11-20. Ramos admitted afterwards: “It wasn’t the best game of rugby, but we did the essentials. Sometimes you have to know how to win like that.
Top 14 results and fixtures
Montpellier 11 – 20 Toulouse ASM Clermont Auvergne 26 – 10 Bayonne Castres 27 – 12 Perpignan La Rochelle 49 – 25 Pau RC Vannes 30 – 20 Lyon Late kick-off: Bordeaux Bègles v Racing 92 P W L D F A Diff Pts Toulouse 3 3 0 0 98 56 42 13 Clermont 3 2 0 1 85 50 35 10 Castres 3 2 0 1 86 70 16 10 La Rochelle 3 2 0 1 95 75 20 9 Lyon 3 2 0 1 74 78 -4 8 Bordeaux-Bègles 2 1 0 1 72 54 18 5 Racing 92 2 1 0 1 61 51 10 5 Montpellier 3 1 0 2 59 53 6 5 Toulon 2 1 0 1 45 47 -2 5 RC Vannes 3 1 0 2 79 97 -18 5 Pau 3 1 0 2 83 117 -34 5 Stade Français 2 1 0 1 60 77 -17 4 Bayonne 3 1 0 2 60 96 -36 4 Perpignan 3 0 0 3 38 74 -36 1
Sunday Sep 22: Stade Francais v Toulon Saturday Sep 28: Perpignan v ASM Clermont Auvergne, Bayonne v Montpellier, Lyon v Castres, Racing 92 v La Rochelle, Toulon v RC Vannes, Pau v Stade Francais Sunday Sep 29: Toulouse v Bordeaux Bègles
We are satisfied.”
That’s three wins in three for Toulouse – including two on the road. It’s very early days, but the 23-time champions have an ominous look about them, even without Antoine Dupont.
Purely as an aside, and apropos of absolutely nothing at this stage: Toulouse finished top of the 2018-19 table with a record 98 league points, having gone 14 matches between October 2018 to March 2019 undefeated – a run that featured 13 victories.
La Rochelle had veteran prop Uini Atonio and experienced fullback Brice Dulin in the line-up for the first time this season, as they beat Pau 49-25 at Stade Marcel Deflandre. Jack Nowell opened the scoring for the home side, and Kane Douglas got his first for his new club. Dilyn Leyds scored either side of halftime – and touched down for his hat-trick late on as Ronan O’Gara’s side ran in nine tries for a bonus point as the heavens opened on the Atlantic coast, a prelude to a wet week here in France.
Baptiste Couilloud’s remarkable Top 14 try-scoring run came to an end 11 matches after it began, as Lyon lost 30-20 at promoted Vannes – who picked up their first-ever topflight victory a week after picking up their first-ever Top 14 point.
Clermont bounced back from last weekend’s loss at Racing 92 to pick up a try-scoring bonus, as they beat Bayonne 26-10 at Stade Marcel Michelin.
A solid and insistent wind blowing from one end of Stade Pierre Fabre to the other contributed to a difficult, hard-fought encounter between Castres and Perpignan.
The Catalans won the corresponding fixture last year, scoring at the death on New Year’s Eve, as Castres’ decent start to the season evaporated.
Perpignan could not repeat the trick this season, however, slipping to their third defeat in a row to prop up the table with just one point from an available 15, as Castres came from 12-3 down after 35 minutes to win 27-12, picking up a try-scoring bonus after the hooter.
