Top 14 Round 2 Preview: Lyon Tops The Ladder This Week
Top 14 Round 2 Preview: Lyon Tops The Ladder This Week
Here's the run down for matches in the Top 14 Round 2 starting on Sept. 13.
The opening round of the Top 14 season, as it often does, promised big-time action and excitement and delivered on just that.
The first seven matches of the 2025-26 campaign in the French domestic top flight were a roaring success, and one of the top club rugby leagues in the world got off to a flyer as another push for the Brennus Shield began.
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The intensity won’t be stopping anytime soon, and now that the jitters from opening weekend have been erased, the teams of the Top 14 will now be locked in on the road ahead toward silverware.
Here’s a look ahead at the weekend of rugby action on tap on the Top 14 calendar, streamed live and exclusively in the U.S. on FloRugby:
NOTE: All match kickoff times are in Eastern Time.
Lyon at Montauban, 8:30 a.m. Saturday
Lyon had one of the most impressive displays in the first weekend of the French domestic rugby season, dropping 25 points in the first half against Racing 92 while shutting it out in the second half to find itself pacing the Top 14 table after the opening round of action. Montpellier transfer Sam Simmonds scored on his debut for LOU, which held Racing scoreless for over 70 minutes after an early try from Nathan Hughes, as Lyon prevailed comfortably in a rematch of a EPCR Challenge Cup semifinal showdown from a season ago.
A trip to Montauban now awaits, with the Occitania-based side getting ready for what should be a raucous environment at the Stade Sapiac ahead of its first home Top 14 match in 15 years. Last season’s Pro D2 playoff winners, Montauban put up a spirited fight in the capital city against Stade Francais last weekend in its first top-flight game since 2010, but a second-half brace from centre Yvan Reilhac wasn’t enough to get past the Parisians. An electric bounceback victory against Lyon, however, could go a long way toward gauging the minnow’s survival hopes for the months ahead.
Clermont at La Rochelle, 10:35 a.m. Saturday
Clermont and La Rochelle were each the victims of separate Top 14 finalists from a year ago — losing to Toulouse and Bordeaux-Begles, respectively, in Round 1 — and will be aiming to even up their records this weekend at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre. In La Rochelle’s case, waiting until the 50th minute of the match to score its first try, like what happened on opening weekend, won’t get the two-time Champions Cup winners very far domestically.
Producing on the attack has been a recurring issue for the club dating back to last season, when La Rochelle finished 12th in the league in points scored and were even outpaced in scoring (661-617) by relegated Vannes. Clermont, on the other hand, looked promising in its 2025-26 debut against a once-again powerful Toulouse side but were unable to get the job done, despite how effective players like offseason transfer Harry Plummer — who moved from Super Rugby’s Blues in the summer and had four penalties and a conversion kick in his debut — looked against the best of the best in French rugby. A trip to La Rochelle is always daunting, however, meaning that Clermont will need to be bringing its best in front of one of the most imposing crowds in world rugby.
Perpignan at Toulouse, 10:35 a.m. Saturday
Clermont threatened to spoil Toulouse’s start toward a Top 14 four-peat by surging ahead 8-0 in the first 11 minutes of each teams’ seasons in Round 1, but the star-studded European giants weathered the storm and finally put Clermont away with a 10-point flurry in the final quarter to win 34-24. The bonus point fell just out of reach for France’s most successful club, but Toulouse’s return to the Stade Ernest-Wallon this weekend against a side it’ll be heavily favored against can help to get it right back on track toward firmly reestablishing itself as being the Top 14’s title favorites once again. Meanwhile, it wasn’t an ideal start to the season for Perpignan, which barely avoided the drop last season and sputtered to a 26-19 defeat at home against Bayonne on opening weekend.
But a looming potential debut for Australia international Jordan Pataia — who recently signed on with the club after a brief crack at American football this year with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers — could give Les Sang et Or some much-needed firepower should he play this weekend against the three-time defending French champions.
Montpellier at Bayonne, 10:35 a.m. Saturday
With every year that it stays in and makes itself comfortable within the Top 14, Bayonne appears increasingly impressive and more like a force to be reckoned with. L’Aviron’s trip to visit Perpignan in Round 1 was successful as they came back from a halftime deficit to emerge as 26-19 victors, with Bayonne’s Argentine contingent coming up clutch in the second half as back-rower Rodrigo Bruni scored at the hour mark to help engineer a season-opening win on the road. Now, after going unbeaten for the entire domestic season at the Stade Jean-Dauger a year ago, Bayonne will be looking to fortify its fortress further against a visiting Montpellier coming off a Round 1 loss to Toulon.
Montpellier narrowly missed out on Champions Cup qualification last season with a ninth-place finish, and Australian fullback Tom Banks (who transferred to the club from Japan in the offseason) was among those who got on the scoresheet with a try. Montpellier will need his production and more to win this weekend in one of the toughest places to play in the Top 14 and avoid an 0-2 start to the 2025-26 campaign.
Stade Francais at Pau, 10:35 a.m. Saturday
Stade Francais showed a killer instinct last week that was lacking for much of the 2024-25 season as the Parisians put up a league-best amount of points in Round 1 and was one of only two teams (with Lyon) to earn the full five points on opening weekend.
Crossing over seven times in a 47-24 triumph against freshly-promoted Montauban, it was an encouraging step forward for Stade Francais after a disastrous campaign a season ago in which it finished 12th — but the question remains unanswered, for now, if it’ll be able to replicate it against an established Top 14 side like Pau. Speaking of which, Pau is also coming off of Round 1 with a win after impressively knocking off Castres away from home, and the Stade du Hameau should be rocking for La Section’s return. Watch for Joe Simmonds, the Top 14’s reigning and defending leading points scorer, to try to make his presence felt early and often against Stade Francais; his four penalty kicks against Castres gave Pau enough wiggle room before it could find the breakthrough, which came via a late try from Australian fullback Jack Maddocks.
Castres at Toulon, 3 p.m. Saturday
The electric Stade Mayol gets its first action of the 2025-26 campaign as Toulon hosts Castres, with the home side coming off a Round 1 fixture on the road against Montpellier in which a first-half surge made the difference. Back-rower Zach Mercer, a summer transfer from the Premiership’s Gloucester, had a debut try to mark a 24-point first half for Toulon that paced it to a 27-17 victory in a solid return to action after Toulon’s third-place finish in the Top 14 table last season.
Toulon hasn’t won a top-flight title since 2014 — a trophy which ironically came against its opponent it’s going to face this weekend — and fans of the blue-blood club from the French Riviera will be hoping that its opening-round win will be a sign of things to come for the domestic slate. Castres was narrowly knocked off by Pau in Round 1, but a side that remains full of quality talent that helped propel it to the playoffs in 2024-25 should be able to give Toulon a tough match, even with the imposing environment it’s going to walk into under the lights on Saturday.
Bordeaux-Begles at Racing 92, 3:05 p.m. Sunday
Bordeaux-Begles’ magical run of recent form saw it secure a historic EPCR Champions Cup title just a few months ago, but so far, a French top-flight title has evaded its grasp. Could that finally change this year? If so, a 23-18 victory to open up the Top 14 slate against fellow European power La Rochelle was a great way for Les Girondins to stake their claim. A slow-paced, defensive-focused first half was opened up when star man Louis Bielle-Biarrey opened up his try-scoring account for 2025-26 a few minutes after the break, with Italian scrum-half Martin Page-Relo also crossing over as the Champions Cup holders staved off a late La Rochelle push to open up the season with a W.
Meanwhile, things couldn’t have gone much worse for Racing 92 last weekend, being held to a league-low seven points by Lyon as it is anchored to the bottom of the table going into Round 2. Racing gets a chance to rebound under the lights at the Paris La Defense Arena to cap off the weekend, but signs of encouragement need to come soon — especially after a disappointing 10th-place finish last season.
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