With the conclusion of the European pool stages last week and the Six Nations not quite arrived, attention turned back to the domestic leagues last weekend. But who stood out and claimed a spot in our European Rugby Team of the Week?
Bar a handful of one-sided affairs, it was another weekend of closely-fought battles across the URC, Prem Rugby and TOP 14.
Five of the seven games in France were decided by margins of just five points or fewer, the first time that’s happened more than three times in a TOP 14 round this term.
Five points was the margin at Sandy Park, too, where Exeter Chiefs and Bristol Bears played out the lowest-scoring Prem game this decade (3-8).
Five was also the magic number in Parma, as Glasgow edged past Zebre 26-21 to retain their position atop the URC. The gap remains tight though, with Stormers just three points behind the Glaswegians and with a game in hand to make up the difference.
The biggest win of the weekend came at StoneX Stadium, where Saracens dished out a 73-14 beatdown to Newcastle Red Bulls. The superiority that was evident on the field is also clear in our Team of the Week, with Saracens (three players) the most represented team in our XV.
Opta’s Star Player of the Week
Noah Caluori is making a habit of being named as our Player of the Week. His four tries this weekend were just the third time a player has scored as many in a Prem game this season, alongside Tommy Freeman against Saracens in October and Caluori himself a week earlier (vs Sale Sharks). It brings his total to 12 tries across just seven appearances in the competition.
It’s his efficiency that truly sets Caluori apart though, with those four tries coming from just 10 carries; that means he scored almost half of the times he ran at the Red Bulls defence. Caluori faced 11 tackles in total, beating seven of those for a tackle evasion rate of 64%. Of the 99 players to face 10+ tackles across Europe over the weekend, only established Test stars Duhan van der Merwe (70%) and Matthieu Jalibert (83%) fared better.
Many had tipped Caluori as a bolter to England’s Six Nations contingent after his five tries in October and while he was named in their training squad shortly after, he’s still yet to play in a full Test. He may have missed out on a call from Steve Borthwick last week, but after that display on Saturday he probably shouldn’t put his phone on silent just yet either.
The Best of the Rest
Another man habitually featuring in our XV of late is Matthieu Jalibert, who may just be the most in-form player in Europe heading into the Six Nations. He was one of three players to reach double digits for defenders beaten at the weekend (10), alongside Freddie Steward (10) and Tom Willis (11), who also make our team.
It makes Jalibert the first player to beat 10+ defenders in multiple TOP 14 games this season, and the first to do so in back-to-back league rounds this decade.
10 – @UBBrugby's Matthieu Jalibert beat 10 defenders v Stade Francais, the first player to beat 10+ in multiple @top14rugby games this season (also v Racing 92, MD14), and the first to do so in consecutive rounds of the league since Semi Radradra in February-March 2019. Magical. pic.twitter.com/cESAQadNni
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) January 26, 2026Two Ospreys feature in our pack after a hard-fought draw against the Lions. For Harri Deaves, it was his insatiable workrate which earned him a nod. The flanker had 71 combined carries (15), tackles (19) and ruck hits (37), the joint-most of any player at the weekend, alongside fellow Welshman Dafydd Jenkins.
Taniela Tupou also makes our squad despite playing just 29 minutes. He scored twice in that time though, just the second time this decade that a prop has scored a brace after being substituted on in a TOP 14 game, after Tupou himself did so against US Montauban in Round 13 this season.
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