JAMES HARRINGTON
FRENCH COLUMN

It is a truth universally accepted in French domestic rugby that the side propping up the Top 14 at Christmas is relegated at the end of the season. It is, equally, a truth that Montpellier have been working hard to disprove.
History is in the literature-inspired aphorism’s favour. The number of sides that were 14th in the top division over the festive period that then managed to escape the gravitational pull of the ProD2 can be counted on one hand, with fingers to spare. That stark digital statistic holds, even if Stade Francais are handed a ‘get out of rel...