There’s a new top dog in the Top 14, and it’s a bit of an unexpected name.

That being said, current solo league leader Pau has completely earned the right to be French rugby’s leader entering Round 8. 

La Section, which hasn’t won a French top-flight title since 1964, picked up a massive win against the country’s most successful club, Toulouse, last weekend to find itself two points clear at the top and in prime position to make noise in what could be the club’s most successful season in several generations. 

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A pack of other contenders are charging hard behind them, however, putting the pressure on Pau to keep performing and avoid an underwhelming outing after one of the biggest victories in their history. All of that drama, plus an upcoming match with potentially huge ramifications for the relegation battle at the bottom of the table, makes for some great storylines heading into the two-month mark of the Top 14 season. 

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. 

La Rochelle at Lyon, 8:30 a.m. Saturday 

La Rochelle corrected a slight slide in form by rocketing past Montauban last weekend, and now Lyon will be aiming to do the same in the match to kick off Round 8. Ronan O’Gara’s men (seated in 12th place heading into Round 7) needed to course-correct last weekend following consecutive defeats, being highly favoured over the recently-promoted side, and did just that in impressive fashion, blasting out to a 28-0 halftime lead before putting up 54 points in all, paced by a brace from club veteran and Fijian boulder Levani Botia. La Rochelle supporters are hungry for a push for hardware two years removed from winning back-to-back EPCR Champions Cup titles, and starting a winning streak to move up the standings would be a great way to satisfy those cravings — unless Lyon has something to say about it this weekend. LOU was leading the standings a month ago after three straight wins to start the season, but has since lost three of four matches and dropped to ninth place after losing to Montpellier last weekend. Neither team in Round 8’s opener would be satisfied with a competitive loss at this stage, adding to the tension for what should be a match with already-high stakes at the Stade de Gerland. 

Pau at Racing 92, 10:35 a.m. Saturday 

If there were any doubts that Pau is for real prior to Round 7, consider those concerns now promptly erased. In a top-two tussle against three-time defending French champions Toulouse last weekend in the Pyrenees, Pau pulled off one of the most epic wins in its history by stunning the European giants by a 30-26 margin, emphatically taking sole possession of the top spot in the Top 14 standings for the first time this season. Behind by 10 points in the second half, Pau roared back as the minutes ticked down and kept fighting, being rewarded for its grit in added time when Jimi Maximin crossed over for the game-winner after the siren, putting Pau (23 points) ahead of the rest of the competition by two points going into Round 8. Now, in turning to Racing 92 on Saturday after such an emotional result last weekend, the goal for Pau should be not to suffer from a hangover in which it quickly loses the momentum it earned. As for its opponents, it’s been an up-and-down season for 10th-placed Racing to this point — being defeated handily last weekend by Toulon — but in a tight middle pack in the league standings, Racing can quickly rise up the pecking order with a big win against the league leaders at home in Round 8. 

Castres at Clermont, 10:35 a.m. Saturday 

Perhaps the Top 14’s most confusing team, Clermont has wins over both Pau and Toulon in its back pocket and scored 84 points in a single match just three weeks ago, yet sits in 12th place and only one spot above the relegation zone. How? Well, it’s becoming increasingly hard to tell which Clermont team will show up on any given weekend. The bad version of Les Jaunards showed up last weekend as they were behind 25-3 at the half against Bayonne and never recovered, losing by 27 points as an opportunity to gain ground and potentially get out of the bottom half of a tight Top 14 table was lost. Another one appears this weekend, however, as Castres comes to town, but the Occitanian club, well known for punching above its weight, has been doing exactly that over the past month and won’t be looking to leave Clermont unhappily. Castres holds the longest active winning streak in the Top 14 at three matches, taking care of business against Stade Francais in Round 7, as it has gotten itself up to the playoff places for the first time in sixth place. A fourth straight victory could get Castres up toward being near the league leaders, adding to the importance of this weekend’s showdown. 

Perpignan at Montauban, 10:35 a.m. Saturday 

If you’ve been following the relegation scrap, you know that this is — by far — the biggest game of Perpignan and Montauban’s seasons to date. The two bottom-ranked teams in the competition by a wide margin, neither Montauban nor Perpignan has a win through seven weeks, and both are adrift of 12th-placed Clermont (and, on that same note, automatic safety from relegation) by double-digit points. Perpignan, which barely escaped relegation last season as it needed to win a playoff to stay in the top flight, has been abysmal thus far in 2025-26 with no victories and no extra bonus points earned for the standings, leaving the Catalan club in last place in the table at the two-month mark. The club’s fortunes could change dramatically, however, if it were to go to Montauban and defeat the recently-promoted side, which has been an occasionally entertaining bunch (21 tries scored, average three per match) on the attack but historically atrocious defensively (335 points allowed, average 47.9 per match) in its first Top 14 season in 15 years. Montauban holds a 3-point cushion in the table over Perpignan thanks to a Round 4 draw against Montpellier and an extra bonus point, but that advantage will be erased if it can’t get the job done in a crucial home tie with a Perpignan squad that knows it’ll likely be fighting for its opportunity to stay in the Top 14 over the coming months.  

Montpellier at Stade Francais, 10:35 a.m. Saturday 

After a tumultuous few seasons of underwhelming placements, internal turmoil and coaching turnover, Montpellier supporters may (cautiously) be watching the season they’ve long been wanting since seeing their club storm to the French title in 2022. Having only lost one match from its past five, Montpellier looked great in a 35-13 win over Lyon last weekend, putting up five tries and only giving up two late in the second half after it had already built a 35-3 advantage, as it now only sits one point out of the playoff places. It’ll likely get into the top six with a strong performance in Paris against Stade Francais, which itself is having a strong run of form with three wins from four, but is coming off a defeat in Round 7 to Castres. It’ll be a tricky task for Montpellier to escape the capital with a victory as Stade is an unblemished 3-0 at the Stade Jean-Bouin this season, but Les Cistes do travel well, being one of just two teams in the Top 14 to date to have scored more tries away from home (eight) than they’ve given up (seven).  

Bayonne at Bordeaux Begles, 3 p.m. Saturday 

Bayonne needed an emphatic victory in Round 7 to keep pace after losing a crucial top-of-the-table clash against Pau in Round 6, and it got just that via a 44-17 romp over Clermont to take over second place in the standings — and stay within striking distance of first place — following Toulouse’s defeat to Pau this past weekend. Argentine wing Mateo Carreras picked up a second-half brace in just six minutes of playtime, whereas Joris Segonds kept hold of the title of being the Top 14’s top point-scorer by a significant margin with two penalties and four conversion kicks. An imposing trip to Bordeaux to face the defending EPCR Champions Cup winners now awaits, but while UBB did pick up a 27-12 victory against a hapless Perpignan side last weekend, it’s been an underwhelming season at large thus far for the Top 14’s back-to-back runner-up over the past two seasons. A win over Bayonne would give Bordeaux consecutive victories for the first time this season, likely propel them back into the top half of the standings and give it a signature win it’s been yearning for as it pushes for another bid for its first major domestic trophy in club history. 

Toulon at Toulouse, 4:05 p.m. Sunday 

Toulouse has been struck in the face, but coach Ugo Mola has made a living out of getting his squad to respond adequately and stronger than ever en route to gathering up as much silverware as possible. That’s all to say that Toulouse fans shouldn’t be in panic mode after an underwhelming result in Round 7. The four-peat chasing defending champions were the recipients of a major shock at the hands of Pau last weekend, dropping them to third in the table and three points back of the aforementioned club from the Pyrenees. Toulouse has won four games from seven thus far — a pace most supporters of the continent’s most successful club in history probably aren’t used to after its domestic dominance over the past three seasons — but the underlying numbers are there for a potential incoming surge, such as having the league’s best scoring differential (plus-70) and most tries (32) through seven rounds. That’s all to say, however, that Toulouse shouldn’t be sleeping on Toulon, either. Pierre Mignoni’s men have been very impressive as they sit in fifth on 19 points despite playing one less match than 12 other clubs in the competition, and with a massive win on the road at Toulouse, they would likely find themselves within the top three and pushing (if not overtaking) Pau for the top slot.

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