Top 14

The Rugby Football Union is confident European competition can be salvaged for next season with chief executive Ian Ritchie warning the alternative would be vastly inferior.

Welsh and British Lions star centre Jamie Roberts, who is currently applying his trade in France, looks set to make his first appearance in over three months when Racing Metro play Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop on Sunday afternoon.

England and France, neighbours, historical enemies and now united in the Rugby Champions Cup. The clubs on both sides of the channel are clear that they do not want to remain part of the Heineken Cup, at least in its current format.

Money and sport is an emotive issue. Footballers, we are told, are obscenely overpaid for kicking a bit of air-filled plastic around, with their manicured mates.

"Rugby may have many problems but the gravest is undoubtedly that of the persistence of summer..."

The launch of the 2012/13 French Top 14 season may still be over a month away, but there has been a raft of activity in the transfer merry-go-round...

The future of European rugby looks uncertain this off season as the Celtic unions prepare to block proposed changes by Premiership Rugby and the Ligue Nationale Rugby.

While the rise and rise of French club rugby due to the massive amounts of money being pumped into clubs across the country is nothing new, the recent influx of world class players to French shores has got the whole of the northern hemisphere talking...

At 25 years old and a rugby education very much deep rooted in the south west of England (having played for Bristol and Gloucester), I embarked on a journey to the land of Frogs legs and baguettes to play for the LOU

If you spend any time reading online rugby forums, there is a chance that at some point you will have seen a debate regarding whether the Northern Hemisphere season needs restructuring.

Leaders Toulouse saw their advantage at the top cut to a single point after a shock defeat at Bordeaux allowed Clermont to slash the gap between first and second.

After a week's break the Top 14 returns for the final run up to the end of the season.

An action packed weekend of Top 14 action saw leaders Toulouse narrowly escape a shock defeat to Castres in a seven-try thriller at the Stade Ernest-Wallon

The Top 14 relegation battle hots up with Biarritz hosting a not-yet-safe Brive side, while the two teams in the relegation zone - Lyon and Bayonne - face tough away trips.

Clermont Auvergne slashed Toulouse's lead at the top of the Top 14 to four points with a confident victory over the champions at the Stade Marcel Michelin.

Toulouse extended their lead at the top of the Top 14 table with victory over Agen as Clermont were held in Bayonne.

With the cold snap across France waning, the 18th round of the Top 14 sees a full complement of fixtures as the battle for the play-offs and relegation heats up.

The Top 14 returns this weekend after a week's break with a curtailed fixture list. Agen v Castres and Lyon v Brive have fallen foul of the weather, whilst the other five fixtures look set to go ahead.

Clermont Auvergne kept up the pressure on leaders Toulouse as both sides secured away victories in the sixteenth round of the French Top 14.

The French Top 14 returns this weekend after mixed results in European competitions for its sides.