Rugby. Top 14: A Lyon Feast, Four Gourmets, Two Places at the Final Table

In Lyon, the capital of gastronomy, the semi-final feast wouldn't have had the same flavor without Stade Toulousain. The first time Groupama Stadium hosted the Top 14 semi-finals in 2018, the local crowd, despite coming in large numbers (*), was left wanting more.

Even if they were not in bad taste, the severe defeat (40-14) of LOU against Montpellier and the narrow success (19-14) of Castres against Racing did not, however, delight the taste buds of Lyon's gastronomes.

This time, the presence of Toulouse and Bordeaux, master chefs of modern rugby cuisine, and the return of Bayonne and Toulon, who this season have found the recipe to invite themselves to the festivities, promise two tasty banquets. The first semi-final between Stade Toulousain and Aviron Bayonnais, this Friday evening (9:05 p.m.), is sure to make your mouth water.

Romain Ntamack's teammates are approaching this match with as much appetite as ever. Just think, they'll be playing their fifteenth semi-final in nineteen Top 14 editions! For these connoisseurs of the game, victory is the main course, and triumph is the spice of life.

However, while Toulouse has beaten its record for points (891) and tries (118) this season during the regular season, the Toulouse team has lost some of its shine since Antoine Dupont's injury in the middle of winter and its elimination in the Champions Cup semi-finals at the beginning of May in Bordeaux. There is less cohesion between the forwards and backs, less fluidity in its play. "We haven't seen the best of Stade Toulousain," admits Ugo Mola. "Will we be able to give it on Friday evening? I hope so."

It will be necessary because Toulouse will face an uninhibited Bayonne side, whose season has already been successful. Having returned to the top flight in 2022, they will play a semi-final again 43 years after their 20-3 victory over Grenoble in Narbonne. They approach this meeting with the confidence of a challenger, sure of their game and their strengths.

"We may be the smallest of the four, but we're no small fry either. We have nothing to envy the others. We've earned our place in the semi-finals. And we're going to own it against Stade Toulousain. It's our fight of the year," insists captain Arthur Iturria, aware, however, that the injury-related absences of control tower Chouzenoux and last line of defense Tiberghien are weakening the Basque team.

The second semi-final will pit the new big guns of French rugby, Bordeaux-Bègles, winners of the Champions Cup a month ago , against Toulon on Saturday evening (9:05 p.m.), who are rising from the ashes. While the rise of the Bordeaux team has been linear, with a fifth consecutive appearance in the last four of the Top 14, the Toulon team finds itself at this stage of the competition after a period of instability that lasted eight years.

Seeking revenge after the humiliation suffered by Stade Toulousain in last year's final, Matthieu Jalibert and his teammates dream of achieving the double. This French championship title would fill a 34-year gap for Girondin rugby, since the last Shield was won by the "Béglaise turtle" led by Bernard Laporte in 1991. But UBB will have to do without Louis Bielle-Biarrey, its X-factor, capable of single-handedly breaking new ground in many situations, and with two key players, Lucu and Buros, convalescing.

On the other hand, the RCT approaches this semi-final with all its strength. In the wake of Pierre Mignoni who returns to Lyon, "his second home", the Toulonnais advance masked. But they rely on a team complete in all its lines, capable of beating anyone when it manages to play as a unit, as was the case in the last quarter of an hour of the play-off against Castres . So, place your bets.

(*) The semi-final between LOU and Montpellier played on May 25, 2018 holds the attendance record at Groupama Stadium (58,664 spectators) which OL has never beaten since.