Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Best tries of the Top 14 after the first three rounds

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Best tries of the Top 14 after the first three rounds

There's been four rounds of the French Top 14 already and all signs are clear that this season will be yet another that demands the attention of fans the world over.

We have a vid for you today which includes a few tries we may have already shown, but is basically a compilation of some of the best tries from the first three rounds of the tournament.

There's a few notable stand outs in there, but in general they're all superb.

South African fans will be interested in seeing Jacques Schutte scoring for Montpellier. Schutte was pretty much an average winger in South Africa who played for the Falcons, but now finds himself turning out with the big boys in the Top 14.

He had an easy run in to finish off a nice try against Stade Francais, who themselves scored a classic in that match, thanks to another foreigner, Australian Mark Gasnier.

A former rugby league star, Gasnier is progressing nicely with the side from Paris, scoring twice against Montpellier, with the try that's shown here showing off his brilliant stepping and power.

Aurelien Rougerie, Iain Balshaw, Cedric Heymans and Marc Andreu all score classic tries themselves, some team efforts, and some individual.

We'll have plenty more Top 14 action for you coming up shortly, including full highlights from Round 3.

On a sidenote: If you watch a game live and see a tackle, try, or funny that you think would be good to show on Rugbydump, please make sure you post a request here.

Time: 04:46
RD Forum: Chat about all things related to the Top 14 here
Fixtures: Our Top 14 Fixtures page is now updated.

First!!!!!......and now to watch the video.

By Inside Shoulder, at September 03, 2009 5:18 pm
loser above

no 8 seemed like crossing

By YBR, at September 03, 2009 5:20 pm
absolutely brilliant! i just love the french commentary

By rugbyNL, at September 03, 2009 5:51 pm
It's interesting to see this alongside the ESPN footage. While I like this version more (the french commentary is awesome), it's nice to get the fuller footage on the highlights version....anyways, thanks for posting!

By BobinBoulder, at September 03, 2009 5:55 pm
i like marc andreau's other try better with the huge step

By Anonymous, at September 03, 2009 5:58 pm
Great video. Running rugby, great skills. French rugby has always had a lot of flair, but it seems the Top 14 is benefitting from having a lot of overseas players? No? It's at least contributing to the quality of rugby, isn't it?

I love how Gasnier stepped 4 guys. Brilliant.

By realrugby, at September 03, 2009 6:51 pm
Definately, Realrugby. I think the Top14 is the league to watch this season. The guiness premiership sides are looking a bit weak after the french exodus. Hieneken cup should be interesting.

By Rich W, at September 03, 2009 7:11 pm
The new Toulouse fullback is rather handy......

By Anonymous, at September 03, 2009 7:16 pm
Rich W - Yes, the Top 14 will be the league to watch this season. Can we safely say that it's already better than the Super 14 was this year? Definitely more exciting, better play, skills, etc.

By realrugby, at September 03, 2009 8:51 pm
Top 14 is always great
32,000 fans for a recent stade francais game!?
LOVE IT!!!

By Anonymous, at September 03, 2009 8:54 pm
mark gasnier's was the best, he steped about 4 guys,

By no9, at September 03, 2009 9:23 pm
Love the sunny weather and French commentators...

By Crosser, at September 03, 2009 9:43 pm
Hey crosser, just curious: How did you choose that nickname? i spent a few months in Crosshaven, Co. Cork , Ireland and all ruggers were called crossers.anyhow related to your choice?

By rugbyNL, at September 03, 2009 11:21 pm
Crosser comes from "cyclocross" another sport of mine....

By Crosser, at September 04, 2009 2:05 am
No, it's not safely better than the S14. It's S14 players that are bringing up the standard.

By Jon, at September 04, 2009 3:18 am
Jon - Right, but if the S14 players are now Top 14 players and they're the ones that are bringing up the standard, then the standard is higher in the Top 14, no?

Pointless to debate, yet I'm the one who brought it up, I know. Regardless, the Top 14 should be great to watch this year.

By realrugby, at September 04, 2009 3:36 am
The S14 continues to produce many, mnay great players every year. Take Brussow as an example, he was unheralded a couple seasons ago, now he's the form flanker in the world.
The S14 loses players every year to Europe but there are always lots of young kiwi, Saffer and Aussie players ready to come thru.
The T14 is an excellent competition, but why even say it's better than the S14.
Until the two leagues played each other competitively it's a pointless debate.
Enough to say that the T14 is one of the best leagues in the world, very entertaining, lots of excellent players, a good style of attacking rugby, great fans and loads of money.

By Jon, at September 04, 2009 4:42 am
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By Anonymous, at September 04, 2009 8:15 am
The Top 14 is, actually, the best DOMESTIC competition.

Super 14 is an international tournament.

That makes the difference.

By 4LC4TR4Z, at September 04, 2009 11:20 am
Sure, I guess. Doesn't mean much, but it's probly true.

By Jon, at September 04, 2009 4:28 pm
Jon > If Super 14 is so great, why are attendances plummetting (despite the ticket prices already being incredibly cheap). And Top14's increases?

By Anonymous, at September 04, 2009 9:09 pm
cos there's a recession idiot

By jej, at September 05, 2009 3:01 am
Go learn about market forces, then we'll talk about attendences.
Besides, they aren't plummeting, they're slightly down in Aus and NZ and up in SA.
They're also generally alot better than the average European attendance.
We don't play in little 10,000 seat stadiums, almost every S14 stadium is over 20,000 capacity, many are 40,000 or 50,000 seaters.
So a 25,000 attendance looks pretty empty.
But the thing is, none of that has anything to do with the quality of rugby. Which is what I was talking about.

By Jon, at September 05, 2009 6:33 am
Why to bring back this useless debate once again ?
Top 14 is great, Super 14 too, that's it. Are you guys really forced to pretend having a much bigger d*ck than your neighboors ?
We don't care which one is better.

Anyway :

" Anonymous said...

The new Toulouse fullback is rather handy......"

Aren't you talking about Yann David, the outside centre ?
He's the guy who made the 2 awesome rushes, and Toulouse doesn't have any new n°15, Medard and Poitrenaud will be enough when they will be back from injuries :)

And about the video, well, Stade Toulousain is first, that's normal ^^
All the other tries are classy through

By ToulouseFan, at September 06, 2009 6:34 pm
"YBR said... no 8 seemed like crossing"
I would agree if the defenders had made any move toward the ball carrier. Since they were all drifting, can you really call obstruction?

I was very surprised the ref didn't penalise the number 1 for coming in from the side at the ruck. Maybe the the halfback's hands were on the ball and therefore the ball was out, but if you hit a ruck and you hit the front man AND the scrum half both on the side, the smart money says you didn't come in through the gate.

By granite, at September 07, 2009 8:44 am