Top 14 wrap: All square in Paris

Editor

Matt Giteau landed a touchline conversion after the full-time hooter as Toulon snatched a 19-all draw with Stade Français in Paris.

Matt Giteau landed a touchline conversion after the full-time hooter as Toulon snatched a 19-all draw with Stade Français at the Stade de France on Saturday.

Bayonne clinched two invaluable points in their quest to avoid relegation from the Top 14 by also holding high-flying Clermont to a draw.

It was a good day for travelling teams as Montpellier won on the road to Bordeaux-Bègles, Racing revived their ailing fortunes in Lyon and Castres got out of jail in Brive.

Toulouse were easy winners at home to Agen meaning they extend their lead at the top of the standings to eight points over Clermont.

Results:
Bayonne 22-22 Clermont
Bordeaux-Bègles 26-30 Montpellier
Lyon 22-33 Racing Métro
Toulouse v Agen
Brive 13-15 Castres
Stade Français 19-19 Toulon


Aviron Bayonnais 22-22 ASM Clermont Auvergne
Stade Jean Dauger, Bayonne

This is a huge result for Bayonne as it allows them to move four points clear of Basque rivals Biarritz and the relegation zone. Clermont meanwhile extend their unbeaten run to seven games.

Clermont looked to have had the game wrapped up when Anthony Floch landed a late drop goal, but Bayonne replacement back Sam Gerber touched down in the 78th minute before Benjamin Boyet slotted the touch-line conversion to send the local fans wild.

Clermont's immovable defensive wall and an early try from David Skrela had given the visitors a 16-9 lead at half time and they will harbour a number of regrets after controlling the game but seeing Morgan Parra suffer a rare off-day with the boot.

The scorers:

For Bayonne:
Try: Gerber
Con: Boyet
Pens: Garcia 3, Heymans
Drop: Potgieter

For Clermont:
Try: Skrela
Con: Parra
Pens: Skrela 3, James
Drop: Floch

Bayonne: 15 Cedric Heymans, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Thibault Lacroix, 12 Lionel Mazars, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Cedric Garcia, 8 Marc Baget-Rabarou, 7 Dwayne Haare, 6 Guillaume Bernad, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Abdellatif Boutaty, 3 Renaud Boyoud, 2 David Roumieu, 1 Aretz Iguiniz.
Replacements: 16 Francois Da Ros, 17 Clément Baiocco, 18 Troy Flavell,19 Julien Puricelli, 20 Mike Phillips, 21 Benjamin Boyet, 22 Sam Gerber, 23 Victor Manukula.

Clermont: 15 Jean-Marcel Buttin, 14 Brent Russell, 13 Regan King, 12 Seru Nakaitaci, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Benjamin, Kayser, 1 Vincent Debaty.
Replacements: 16 Benoit Cabello, 17 Lionel Faure, 18 Loic Jacquet, 19 Jason White, 20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 Brock James, 22 Anthony Floch, 23 Clement Ric.


Union Bordeaux-Bègles 26-30 Montpellier HR
Stade André Moga, Bègles

Montpellier grabbed victory in the dying moments with push-over try in the 76th minute of an exciting match.

A losing bonus point is enough to see UBB climb a spot to eighth in the standings though they will be bitterly disappointed not to have claimed the scalp of last year's finalists after Blair Connor bagged a brace.

Montpellier recovered from a slow start to hold a slender 13-10 lead at the break in a ding-dong battle.

The result leaves Montpellier in fifth place in the standings and looking good for a play-off spot.

The scorers:

For Bordeaux-Bègles:
Tries: Connor 2
Cons: Lopez 2
Pens: Lopez 4

For Montpellier:
Tries: Amorosino, Nagusa, Tulou
Cons: Paillaugue 2, Bustos Moyano
Pens: Paillaugue 3

Yellow card: Bosch (Montpellier – 20th min – high tackle)

Bordeaux Begles: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Blair Connor, 13 Julien Rey, 12 Andrew Mailei, 11 Rafael Carballo, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Hugh Chalmers, 6 Justin Purll, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Cameron Treloar, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes.
Replacements: 16 Fabien Rofes, 17 Laurent DelBoulbes, 18 Francois Tisseau, 19 Leroy Houston, 20 Julien Seron, 21 Gerard Fraser, 22 Felix Le Bourhis, 23 Patrick-Albert Toetu.

Montpellier:15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Paul Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Yoan Audrin, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Remy Martin, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Thibault Privat, 4 Drikus Hancke, 3 Giorgi Jgenti, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Juan Figallo.
Replacements: 16 Erasmus Van Vuuren, 17 Na'ama Leleimalefaga, 18 Aliki Fakate, 19 Mamuka Gorgodze, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Thomas Combezou, 22 Martin Bustos Moyano, 23 Maximiliano Bustos


CA Brive Corrèze 13-15 Castres Olympique
Stade Amédée Domenech, Brive

Brive are becoming experts at being their own worst enemy while Castres continue their trend for squeezing results out of any situation.

Outscored two tries to none and on the receiving end of three yellow cards, les Castrais still managed to claim victory as they punished the hosts' numerous errors.

The result sees Brive gain an incredible eleventh bonus point this season. An illustration of their knack for losing close games is their points difference, which is just -5, but they sit in eleventh place!

Brive led at 8-3 at half-time but fell victim to the metronomic boots of the CO goal kickers, who had the visitors up 15-8 by the 65th minute.

A 79th minute try from replacement Olivier Caisso proved too little too late for Brive.

The scorers:

For Brive:
Tries: Luafutu, Caisso
Pen: Caminati

For Castres:
Pens: Teulet 2, Bernard
Drops: Bernard 2

Yellow card: Kockott; Capo Ortega, Diarra,

Brive:15 Scott Spedding, 14 Ronnie Cooke, 13 Julien Caminati, 12 Arnaud Mignardi, 11 Guillaume Namy, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Agustin Figuerola, 8 Julien Ledevedec, 7 Thibault Dubarry, 6 Poutasi Luafutu, 5 Arnaud Mela, 4 Retief Uys, 3 Vassil Kakovin, 2 Virgile Lacombe, 1 David Khinchagashvili.
Replacements: 16 Iuri Natriashvili, 17 Pablo Henn, 18 Olivier Caisso, 19 Antonie Claassen, 20 Vincent Forgues, 21 Mathieu Belie, 22 Jamie Noon, 23 Pablo Cardinali.

Castres : 15 Romain Teulet, 14 Romain Martial, 13 Paul Bonnefond, 12 Seremaia Baikeinuku, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Yannick Caballero, 6 Ibrahim Diarra, 5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 4 Matthias Rolland, 3 Karena Wihongi, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Yannick Forestier,
Replacements: 16 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 17 Michael Coetzee, 18 Scott Murray, 19 Jannie Bornman, 20 Thierry Lacrampe, 21 Pierre-Manuel Garcia, 22 Pierre-Gilles Lakafia, 23 Luc Ducalcon,


Lyon Olympique 22-33 Racing-Métro 92
Stade Matmut, Lyon

Racing-Métro claim their first win of 2012 but came very close to