Top 14 – Final Preview

The long and arduous French rugby season concludes on Saturday. Competing in the 2018 Top 14 Final will be Castres and Montpellier. The sides are very much a reflection of the past and the present, the old and the new with the traditional Castres up against the big spending city club of Montpellier.

Castres are looking to win their 5th Top 14 title while Montpellier are out to win their 1st. Castres last won in 2013, doing so with Rodrigo Capó Ortega making history as Uruguay celebrated having a Top 14 Champion.

The following year Capó Ortega and Castres were back again for the final, this time losing against Toulon. Now, four years later Castres have another shot at glory.

Capó Ortega captains Castres in the final, doing so from the second-row. Both he and teammate Benjam,ín Urdapilleta were named in the Team of the Week for their performances in eliminating Racing 92 in the Semi Final.

Against Montpellier Capó Ortega leads the team from the second-row while Urdapilleta will have great responsibility from fly half. Urdapilleta scored 14 points in the Semi Final win. So impressive has he been that he is now the all-time leading Argentine points scorer in the Top 14.

For Urdapilleta the final is history. It is his first opportunity at playing in a Cup final. He joined Castres after previously playing for Oyonnax and Harlequins. For Castres he has played, arguably, his best rugby and is being named by many as a player Argentina needs to seriously look at taking to RWC 2019.

The tournament in Japan is to see Rodrigo Capó Ortega writing history. Having played in RWC 2003 he missed out on RWCs 2007 and 2011 as his country did not qualify. He then sat out RWC 2015 as his wife was expecting the birth of their daughter. An appearance in Japan 2019 would see a 16-year gap between RWC appearances – a world record.

Castres will need big performances from both South Americans in the final. Their opponents have vastly more test match caps and have big name players from not only France but also Australia, Fiji, Georgia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Montpellier enter as firm favorites in what is a battle of David vs Goliath. Castres, though, have been here before. Their 2013 win over Toulon was among the outstanding wins against the odds.