The Top 14 is the most competitive club rugby union competition in France. The top 14 rugby clubs in France compete in the annual domestic league competition. And you can support your favorite Top 14 rugby team with official gear from the World Rugby Shop.
Bakkies Botha, it seems, will be back in action on the rugby field this weekend, this time in the red and black of Toulon when they go across to the Atlantic to play Biarritz. The big lock has been included in his new club's squad.
The second half of France's Top 14 starts this weekend when Bayonne visit redoubtable Toulouse. The Basques won at home in Round 1 but one cannot see them repeating the feat as they have collapsed somewhat and internal problems.
Toulouse prop Daan Human will be sidelined for the second time this season after being diagnosed with a fractured bone near his left eye socket, the South African said on Tuesday.
All the matches in this round were played on Friday night, giving the clubs and their spectators time to concentrate on Christmas. There were no real surprises in the round.
Toulouse's South Africa hooker Gary Botha broke his right leg in Friday's French Top 14 win over Montpellier and will be ruled out for up to four months.
Two weeks after calling time on his 91-cap England career, Jonny Wilkinson said on Friday that he will end his club career at French Top 14 side Toulon.
Frédéric Michalak will be leaving Durban on the Indian Ocean and heading for Toulon on the Mediterranean.
This week marks the end of the first round of Top 14 matches - the half-way mark in the league portion of the tough competition. Things are getting increasingly serious. From Montpellier up there is the powerful desire to get, at least, in the top six for the play-offs. For the six below Montpellier there is the fear of relegation and the long drop to Pro D2.
Joe van Niekerk, the Springbok loose forward who now captains Toulon, is back in the squad to play Lyon on Friday.
British and Irish Lions prop Adam Jones could be the next high profile Welsh player to take up a lucrative contract in France, with a number of Top 14 sides courting the Ospreys star.
Jonny Wilkinson has signed a one year extension to his contract at Toulon, the new deal tying the former England flyhalf to the French Top 14 club until 2013.
Italian international captain Sergio Parisse has signed a new contract at Stade Francais which will keep him at the French Top 14 side until 2016.
The father of France forward Imanol Harinordoquy was banned from Biarritz's Aguilera Stadium for the rest of the season on Thursday after invading the pitch to defend his son in a punch-up.
On 29 November 2011 Lucien Harinordoquy came onto the field during a fight involving his son Imanol, the French international, and attacked a Bayonne player. The matter was the subject of an inquiry by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby which has not taken any action against Harinordoquy pere but has suspended the ground for one championship match.
French wing Yoann Huget, of Bayonne, will attend a hearing at the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) on Thursday to decide whether he will face a further ban for missing three doping controls last season.
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