This weekend will see two massive Top 14 catch up fixtures with top spot chasing Montpellier taking on a Toulon side who are looking to pull away from the relegation zone and play-off hunting Clermont taking on first-placed Bordeaux.
There are just six rounds and a number of catch up fixtures remaining in the Top 14 regular season, and to coin Alex Fergusson; we are well and truly into “squeaky bum” time.
Saturday 12 March
Montpellier 1/6 | Draw 28/1 | Toulon 46/10
Montpellier will be looking to leapfrog the Bordeaux Begles into top spot – if only for a couple of hours – by getting a win over a Toulon side that has been extremely poor on the road.
The host’s magnificent run of form came to an end this past weekend as they went down 25-9 to Castres. This was their first domestic defeat since they went down 20-22 to Clermont last October.
Toulon had a far more positive time of it in the last round as they hammered last-placed Biarritz 17-45. it was far from a convincing victory, however, as a flurry of late tries added a load of gloss to the scoreline.
They were not great last week but I reckon Montpellier be able to bounce back against a Toulon side that is extremely hit-and-miss.
Clermont 1/3 | Draw 20/1 | Bordeaux 28/1
Our final catch-up game for the weekend is a vital one with Bordeaux possibly needing a win to hold onto first place on the standings and Clermont needing a victory to close the gap on the teams ahead of them in the race for the play-off berths.
The two sides experienced contrasting fortunes in the previous round with Clermont registering a 25-16 win over Lyon while Bordeaux went down 16-23 at home to Brive in one of the shocks of the round.
When these sides last met back in October 2021 it was Bordeaux who emerged the victor running out 25-9 winners at the Stade Chaban Delmas.
I was mightily impressed with Clermont this weekend and think they may well take the spoils here against a Bordeaux side that has dropped off the boil somewhat.
