Scrum-half and Pro D2 player of the year in 2023/2024, Samuel Marques, is expected to leave AS Béziers Hérault (ASBH) at the end of the season to join an ambitious outfit in the championship, according to information from Midi-Olympique.
New Zealand centre of Tongan descent Pita Akhi, who arrived in Toulouse in 2018, will bring forward his departure from Top 14 by a few months to sign on 1 December 2025 with the Auckland Blues, the club where he came through and to which he will now return.
On Friday night, at the stade Jean Alric, the meeting between Stade Aurillacois and Dax (Pro D2) tipped into an uproar that went well beyond sport. Contested refereeing decisions, a crowd worked up to fever pitch, and in the middle of the pitch a referee - Ms Groizeleau - the target of jeering of rare violence. It was not only a match that was played out, but one more episode in the endless confrontation between passion and reason, between whistle and stand.
The double world champion Springboks unveiled their squad on Monday for the November tour of Europe. While the experienced leaders (Eben Etzebeth, Cheslin Kolbe and Siya Kolisi) are all present, a few young talents make an appearance.
The king of Pau impresses, Bordeaux go red with revenge and USAP carry on (and on, and on) their enforced points diet. New weekend, new dramas and new lessons. This was round 7 of the Top 14 and, if you had to sum up the mood, it was a bit like a home aperitif that turns sour for the guests but ends with a smile on the barmen's faces.
He was in dazzling form... Forced off early in Toulon's win over Racing 92 on Sunday evening, closing round 7 of Top 14, Baptiste Serin has injured his ribs and is a worry for both his club and the France staff ahead of the autumn tour.
France head coach Fabien Galthié made his mark this weekend not on the touchline but… on a cookery panel. In the Lot, at Salviac, he judged the contestants of the World Mique Championship, a local competition built around the traditional Quercy dish.
At 62, Olivier Miranda has always managed to combine tackles and passing shots. Born in Clermont, a scrum-half at RC Mauriac before becoming its coach… in tennis, he still lives in the Cantal town where he blends the rigour of the oval-ball game with the finesse of the yellow ball. Between power and touch, he has made sport a way of life and of passing things on. Portrait of a man who has never stopped playing for the team, even alone on a court.
In deep disagreement with the club's leadership, the chairman of the supervisory board and its four members have announced their collective resignation, plunging Biarritz Olympique into a fresh internal crisis.
The great nations of the South confirmed a major reform of the international calendar on Thursday 16 October: a tour will replace the Rugby Championship next year, while a new global tournament will be born from 2026.
Serge Blanco, the emblematic former France full-back, is reportedly considering standing for mayor of Biarritz at the municipal elections of March 2026, according to several local sources. He is expected to announce his official decision in early November.
The Pro D2 Shield won by Union sportive montalbanaise last June will almost certainly never be found. Stolen at an agricultural fair in September, the trophy will be remade identically, at the expense of the event's organisers, to the tune of 12,000 euros.
Stade Toulousain turned UBB into a doormat, Pau into the new king, and USAP are still on their forced points diet. A weekend that proves this league is a stage play written by a scriptwriter on caffeine. That was round 6 of the Top 14, and if we had to sum up the mood, it was a bit like a family dinner that turns sour for some, but ends with a grin on the faces of the enfants terribles.
In an interview given to The Rugby Paper and picked up by Rugbyrama, Montpellier full-back Stuart Hogg opens up about the dark spell that pushed him to announce – in 2023 – an early retirement, which he now says was the "biggest mistake" of his life. He also looks back on his mental state, his return to playing and his personal difficulties.
The sky is falling in on them. Heavily beaten at Pau (47-24) on Saturday on the 5th round of the Top 14, the Basques above all saw their treatment room fill up at a dizzying rate: six players went off injured during the match, leaving a decimated squad and a coaching staff in shock.
No need for a ball or a hooter: at The Oval, the passion simmers on. In this haunt of ASM's old boys, the club's official brasserie, they talk passes and plates, tries and memories. The place has the roundness of sharing and the loyalty of a dressing room: a geometry of belonging, drawn in yellow and blue. A report from the bar where every beer, every song, every roar tells a piece of Auvergne.
Kept off the pitch for three weeks because of an administrative block on his licence, the Montauban back-rower will make his return to the starting XV on Saturday. He could even wear the captain's armband, as he waits to appear before the LNR disciplinary committee over his comments about Fabien Galthié — a hearing now set for 15 October.
Only a few months ago, he was discovering Pro D2 in the colours of Aurillac. Today, Ugo Seunes is establishing himself at Racing 92 and setting the corridors of Marcoussis buzzing. In the space of a few months, the young fly-half from Agen has turned the pecking order at his position upside down, carried by rare maturity and a game of surgical precision. Portrait of a player whom nothing seemed destined to take up the steps of the very top level.
Stade Rochelais centre Jonathan Danty faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after rupturing the cruciate ligament in his right knee. He is not expected back for several months, and could miss the bulk of the 2025-2026 season.
