Holmes kicks La Rochelle to victory

Editor

Zack Holmes kicked 20 points as La Rochelle overcame Toulouse 25-19 at Stade Marcel-Deflandre in the Top 14 on Saturday.

A deserved victory at home saw La Rochelle move up to second on the table behind Clermont, thanks to a masterful kicking display from outside centre Holmes who kicked two penalties in the final seven minutes to clinch the victory.

The hosts were the better side in the first half but would have been left frustrated that they didn't have more to show than a 9-3 lead at half time, thanks to three penalties from Holmes. Toulouse could only reply with a penalty from Samuel Marques.

The second half came to life when Gabriel Lacroix went over for the first five-pointer of the match, which Holmes promptly converted. The visitors stayed in the game thanks to another Marques penalty and a try from Semi Kunatani to trail by six.

Successive penalties from Marques four minutes apart levelled the scored with 10 minutes to play before Holmes slotted two penalties of his own to edge his team ahead and to victory.

The scorers:

For La Rochelle:
Try:
Lacroix
Con: Holmes 
Pens: Holmes 6

For Toulouse:
Try:
Kunatani
Con: Marques 
Pens: Marques 4

La Rochelle: 15 Charles Bouldoire, 14 Gabriel Lacroix, 13 Zack Holmes, 12 Levani Botia, 11 Vincent Rattez, 10 Anthony Fuertes, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Romain Sazy, 6 Jason Eaton, 5 Jone Qovu Nailiko, 4 Leandro Cedaro, 3 Mohamed Boughanmi, 2 Jeremie Maurouard, 1 Dany Priso
Replacements: 16 Samuel Lagrange, 17 Luc Mousset, 18 Romana Graham, 19 Afaesetiti Amosa, 20 Alexis Bales, 21 Pierre Aguillon, 22 Steeve Barry, 23 David Fe'ao

Toulouse: 15 Alexis Palisson, 14 Semi Kunatani, 13 Yann David, 12 Toby Flood, 11 Arthur Bonneval, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Samuel Marques, 8 Carl Axtens, 7 Selevasio Tolofua, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Gregory Lamboley, 3 Maks van Dyk, 2 Christopher Tolofua, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Edwin Maka, 19 Talalelei Gray, 20 François Cros, 21 Sebastien Bezy, 22 Maxime Medard, 23 Dorian Aldegheri