Castres brush off Bordeaux-Bègles
Castres recorded an impressive 29-17 victory over Bordeaux-Bègles on Sunday in a result that takes them up to third in the league.
UBB remain in ninth position as their poor run of form continues with this defeat at Stade des Alpes, with their fans unhappy with the slide.
Castres led 16-14 at the end of an entertaining first-half which saw three tries scored, two of those going the way of the visiting outfit.
There was an early yellow card for UBB as prop Vadim Cobilas was binned for leading with the elbow, allowing Julien Dumora to make it 3-0.
On six minutes though the hosts hit back with a try from second-row Luke Jones, who raced over from 15 metres out to make it a 7-3 lead.
Castres responded with a score of their own when wing Horacio Agulla finished off on the right side following nice handing. They now led 8-7.
Dumora, after missing the tough conversion, did land a penalty on 14 minutes as the 2013 Top 14 champions took a four-point advantage.
However there was to be a try apiece before the break as first scrum-half Yann Lesgourgues broke from the back of a maul to score a superb individual try before Castres flank Anthony Jelonch crossed on the left wing, meaning the visitors would go into the interval leading by two.
Dumora extended that buffer to five points with a long-range penalty on 45 minutes and then struck a drop-goal soon after to make it 22-14.
UBB needed a score and fortunately for them got one when Hickey kicked a penalty after Castres came offside under pressure in their 22.
With Castres down to 14 players after replacement Mathieu Babillot was yellow carded for a high tackle it looked like Bordeaux-Bègles would have further chances to recover. However, a breakout try that saw hooker Marc-Antoine Rallier go over suddenly gave Castres a 29-17 lead.
UBB looked a beaten side and Castres could have won by more in the end had full-back Geoffrey Palis been successful with two late penalty attempts as the visitors came away with four vital points on the road.
The scorers:
For UBB:
Tries: Jones, Lesgourgues
Cons: Hickey 2
Pen: Hickey
Yellow Card: Cobilas
For Castres:
Tries: Agulla, Jelonch, Rallier
Con: Dumora
Pens: Dumora 3
Drop Goal: Dumora
Yellow Card: Babillot
Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Nans Ducuing, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Jean-Baptiste Dubie, 12 Julien Rey, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Yann Lesgourgues, 8 Marco Tauleigne, 7 Hugh Chalmers, 6 Luke Braid, 5 Cyril Cazeaux, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Sebastien Taofifenua
Replacements: 16 Clement Maynadier, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Louis-Benoit Madaule, 20 Gauthier Doubrere, 21 Ian Madigan, 22 Jayden Spence, 23 Marc Clerc
Castres: 15 Geoffrey Palis, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Afusipa Taumoepeau, 12 Florian Vialelle, 11 David Smith, 10 Julien Dumora, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Steve Mafi, 7 Anthony Jelonch, 6 Alexandre Bias, 5 Victor Moreaux, 4 Loic Jacquet, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 1 Antoine Tichit
Replacements: 16 Yohann Montes, 17 Tudor Stroe, 18 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 19 Maama Vaipulu, 20 Antoine Dupont, 21 Mathieu Babillot, 22 Thomas Combezou, 23 Damien Tussac
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant Referees: Laurent Cardona, Thomas Déjean
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure