Following the pulsating Top 14 final, which saw Toulouse claim the Bouclier de Brennus for the 22nd time by defeating La Rochelle 29-26, here are our five takeaways.
The top line
This season has thrown up some monumental finals across the Premiership, URC and, of course, the Champions Cup, but the 2023 Top 14 final might just be the best of the lot.
A thrilling and magnificent physical battle that seesawed each and every way saw Toulouse take the spoils in the dying moments courtesy of one moment of brilliance from French fly-half Romain Ntamack.
Some may argue it was against the run of play. La Rochelle were huge in set piece and gain line carry all evening, their scrummage obliterating the Toulouse eight, which included two current France starting players.
Stats tell us that Ronan O’Gara’s men spent 58% of the match in the Toulouse half, 24% of the game in their 22, but with Antoine Hastoy missing a couple of crucial kicks that a man of his quality should nail, and with Toulouse’s last gasp defence holding out miraculously, it wasn’t to be.
Going into the last five minutes only three points separated the teams until that moment of Ntamack magic that saw him beating UJ Seutenui as he rushed in defence, sidestepping both Dillyn Leyds and Brice Dulin before racing clear for a 60m run of some brilliance to seal the honours for the 22nd domestic title for Stade Toulousain.
ROMAIN NTAMACK!! 😱
The try that sealed the Top 14 title for Toulouse! 🏆#FinaleTop14 #STSR pic.twitter.com/oRIfOcPidl
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) June 17, 2023
The curates egg
Ntamack’s moment of genius may have won him the player of the match award and will rightly be heralded as one of the greatest tries seen in a final for a long time, but for 79 other minutes, the French pivot was woeful with ball in hand, despite putting in a committed shift in defence.
Passes went to no one in particular, one turnover leading to La Rochelle’s first points of the game. He offered little direction or support off the boot or with ball in hand, and then to cap it all, with eight minutes to go and Toulouse three points behind, he fluffed a kick to corner that looked in all probability to have been his team’s last chance.
Ntamack has gone MIA on a few occasions this year, notably in the EPCR semi-final against Leinster, and it seemed for all money that history was about to repeat itself until the mercurial Frenchman simply ignited his afterburners and ran the 60m for the winning score.
No player splits opinion in France quite like this talented ten. The big question that looms in Fabien Galthie’s mind must be the trade-off between poor match control and moments of individual brilliance and, with the brilliant Matthieu Jalibert and Antoine Hastoy both breathing down Ntamack’s neck, it will be interesting to see which direction France go in.
Nevertheless, if the first 75 minutes belonged to La Rochelle last night, the last five emphatically were owned by Ntamack and Toulouse. Big players win big moments, and yet again, Ntamack showed his running brilliance in moments of extreme and possibly self-induced pressure.
Bench impact
To pin the win fully on Ntamack is to overlook the brilliance of the Toulouse defence and the impact of their bench, notably Thibaud Flament.
When faced with overwhelming and obviously superior power at the gain line, intellect and precision were the order of the day as Emmanuel Meafou, Richie Arnold and Jack Willis put in incredible performances around the contact area.
English rugby has been decimated by players leaving the creaking Premiership in search of salary and security in France and is anxious to ring-fence its players.
However, take one look at the improvement in Jack Willis since his time in the Top 14 and the benefit these players are getting from the far superior standard on the continent is obvious for all to see. Willis was easily the best Toulouse forward on the pitch, making steals that he had no right to make and eclipsing the much-vaunted Levani Botia one-on-one.
But for all Willis’ industry for 70 minutes, Flament’s introduction really took Toulouse up a notch, stealing lineouts, folding carriers and injecting real pace into tired forwards. With Peato Mauvaka also adding impact, it was the bench that did the grunt for Ntamack to finish the game, but it was Willis’ efforts for 70 minutes that ensured Toulouse were still within a score of the powerful La Rochelle.
Symmetry
In some respects, there was a remarkable symmetry between the Top 14 and the Premiership finals. Both featured old hands against new challengers, the team that has traditionally dominated the competition versus the team that’s on the upslope. The lead went one way, went the other and then relied upon big plays in the last ten to seal the game off.
In situations like this, teams often have to lose a final in the competitions in order to win next time around and you get the feeling that Ronan O’Gara’s men might be back before too long.
For some of the La Rochellians, particularly the brilliant Romain Sazy – playing probably his last match in yellow and who has been there since the start of the club project – this was a cruel blow and one that will take time to get over.
But La Rochelle need to think about their efficiency too. To have the possession and territory they achieved, the complete and utter dominance of gain line, scrum and lineout, and not to have two-score superiority in the last 10 is something they’ll be disappointed with.
Their efficiency was poor, and given they spent over half of the game in Toulouse’s side of the pitch, to only have two scores to show for it would disappoint their coaches.
Nobody doubts they’ll be back, and nobody questions their class – the learnings will be deep from this game, but this group of players is far from finished at this level.
The bottom line
The Top 14 is pretty much the best league in the world at this moment in time. The support in Paris, the colours, the noise and the passion – those are things only seen in soccer in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, and it’s credit to the fans of these two mighty clubs that they played their part in the proceedings.
The game went without one TMO referral or replay – remarkable in this day and age – and as a result, the intensity of the match increased. Players were rewarded on intent over pedantry and technicality, thus producing a breathless and incredibly physical spectacle, one that truly resembled rugby at test level.
If this is a portent of things to come for Rugby World Cup 2023, then we cannot wait. To watch the quality of the product on display was special too; probably 25 or more of the players on view will be on show in the tournament, with at least 15 of those representing the hosts, France.
Whilst rugby collapses elsewhere, the nations with the best internal structure are thriving – producing high-quality Test players in very competitive systems, and it’s testimony to the depth of standard in the Top 14 that it remains one of the best feeder leagues to the international arena around.
Make no mistake, the French domestic final in 2023 was Test match intensity, and that bodes extremely well for the forthcoming autumn weeks in France later this year.
READ MORE: WATCH: Romain Ntamack breaks La Rochelle hearts with a 60 metre solo try
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