Olympic Hero Rebbadj Hits Hat-Trick as Toulon Thump Stade Francais 43-23 for Fifth Straight Win

Some players save their best for the biggest stages. Rayan Rebbadj, already an Olympic champion, reminded everyone on Saturday why he is one of the most dangerous finishers in French rugby, scoring a hat-trick as Toulon hammered Stade Francais 43-23 in the Top 14 at Stade Mayol. The 27-year-old winger, a Paris 2024 Olympic gold medallist with France's sevens side, crossed three times as Toulon claimed a fifth straight win in all competitions and climbed to fifth in the table, six points behind leaders Toulouse. It was the kind of performance that turns a good afternoon into a statement: Toulon are gathering momentum, and they are doing it with style. There was a second story inside the scoreline, too. Fellow winger Gael Drean also crossed the whitewash on his first appearance since May, having undergone heart surgery during the summer. For a player to return from that kind of ordeal and score on his comeback is the sort of thing that lifts an entire squad, and the Mayol crowd knew it. Stade Francais, three places below Toulon in the standings, were never really in it, and their afternoon got worse when flanker Mathieu Hirigoyen was sent off with a quarter of an hour to play, leaving the Parisians down a man for the closing stages. Against a Toulon side in this kind of mood, that was no contest at all. The win keeps Toulon firmly in the mix at the top of the table. Leaders Toulouse beat Clermont 28-18 despite missing a host of players to international call-ups, while Pau trounced Perpignan 63-26 to stay second and Montpellier edged Lyon. Toulon sit six points off the summit, and on this evidence they will believe they can close that gap. Rebbadj's rise has been one of the more enjoyable stories in French rugby. A sevens specialist who lit up the Paris Olympics, he has carried that finishing instinct into the fifteen-a-side game, and a hat-trick in a Top 14 win is the latest entry in a growing collection. Defences know what he can do in open space; stopping him is another matter entirely. Elsewhere on Saturday, Stade Francais's neighbours Racing 92 claimed a first win since October 10, fly-half Hugo Seunes kicking an 82nd-minute penalty to snatch a 30-28 victory at Castres. The visitors had Zimbabwean No 8 Shingi Manyarara sent off with nine minutes to play after headbutting Castres full-back Geoffrey Palis, but Seunes held his nerve when it mattered most. For Toulon, though, the day belonged to Rebbadj. Five wins in a row, a hat-trick hero, and a returning winger scoring on his comeback — it was the kind of Saturday that reminds you why the Top 14, even in the middle of the international window, remains one of the great competitions in the sport.