After 6-0-10 Start To European Championship, Is Top 14 Rugby In Trouble?
After 6-0-10 Start To European Championship, Is Top 14 Rugby In Trouble?
Is the Top 14 overrated in 2025-2026 after rocky start to the Investec Champions Cup? Lol, no.
The Investec Champions Cup looks different after Round 2 than it has at any time — perhaps — in the past decade.
And that’s because the Top 14 is decidedly not dominating the field.
Winners of the last five Champions Cup crowns, the French league will enter Round 3 without a single club leading a pool, including the six-time European champion Toulouse and reigning champion Bordeaux.
- More Information On How To Stream The Top 14 This Season
- Checkout The FloRugby Schedule
- Investec Champions Cup Standings After Round 2: Here's How Your Teams Stand
Bordeaux is 2-0-0 and looks every bit an ICC contender, but it was a disappointing first two rounds for the league as a whole, which may reflect the grind of the Top 14 season from September to December. The No. 2 team in the league, Pau, is 0-0-2 without a single point in the competition.
Three of the four teams without a Champions Cup point hail from the Top 14 after two rounds, putting those clubs in serious jeopardy of missing the Round of 16 of both the ICC and EPCR Challenge Cup.
Is The Top 14 European Championship Streak Going To End?
The ICC winning streak by the Top 14 looks in peril.
But Toulouse probably doesn’t have to play in Glasgow, Scotland, again this season. UBB won in South Africa and hosts Northampton in January in a match that will test its repeat credentials.
While Pau and Bayonne have been massive disappointments in Champions Cup play, and Clermont has been shockingly poor, La Rochelle is 1-0-1 but has been outscored by just two points. Castres bounced back from a Round 1 shocker at Gloucester — a 34-14 loss — with a 33-0 win over Edinburgh.
Also, Toulon beat Gallagher PREM Rugby club Bath in Round 2 in a bounce-back from their loss to Edinburgh in Round 1. Confused?
You have every right to be. The Top 14 is the world’s toughest league because of the length and grind required to survive it, and that grind has helped these clubs in Champions Cup play for half a decade.
Top 14 teams are 6-0-10 through two rounds.
So The Question Is: After Two ICC rounds, Is The Top 14 Overrated?
Is the Top 14 down this season?
Emphatically: No.
Don’t read too much into Toulouse’s loss to Glasgow. Literally everyone loses in Glasgow. Come back to that thought if Toulouse loses at Saracens in January.
Bordeaux is second in the table to Northampton, but they have the same number of points. The only team that has looked more impressive than UBB — which has had an up-and-down Top 14 season — is Northampton.
Also, Toulon may have lost to Edinburgh, but if Toulon goes 2-0-0 at home against Bath and Munster, that won’t matter.
The 0-0-0 hole Pau finds itself in has the club just one or two points away from being an overqualified fourth-place team in Pool 4.
As of now, if the Round of 16 started today, five of the eight Top 14 teams would advance to the Champions Cup knockout stage.
Pau is the team poised to make the biggest turnaround. A trip to Wales to play the Scarlets, and a home match against the Vodacom Bulls, very much could have Pau back in the position it was in at the start of the tournament.
Before you think the Top 14 is ready to cede the European Championship for the first time this decade, remember this: Toulouse may have a loss, but the team still is the overwhelming favorite to win the whole thing.
European Union Rugby Lives On FloSports And FloRugby
Rugby fans can stream every match from the Top 14, Gallagher Premiership and United Rugby Championship on FloRugby, along with the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, making the platform the U.S. home for the world’s biggest club competitions and the game’s top players.
How To Watch Rugby Matches In The United States On FloRugby
Professional club rugby in Europe all streams on FloRugby and the FloSports app in the United States. FloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S. home to:
- United Rugby Championship
- PREM Rugby
- Top 14
- Investec Champions Cup
- EPCR Challenge Cup
- Currie Cup
- Super Rugby
- And more
FloRugby also is home to match archives and match replays.