Clermont see off plucky Perpignan

Clermont consolidated their position at the top of the Top 14 table when they claimed a 37-16 win over Perpignan at Stade Aimé Giral on Saturday.

Despite occupying the bottom place on the table and being without a win from all 13 league matches played so far, Perpignan were not disgraced and delivered a competitive showing.

Les Jaunards had too much firepower for their beleaugered hosts, however, and they scored four tries to Perpignan’s one. Peter Betham, Wesley Fofana, Arthur Iturria and Peceli Yato crossed the whitewash for Clermont and Greig Laidlaw impressed off the kicking tee by converting all four tries. and he also added three penalties to finish with a 17-point haul.

For Perpignan, Enzo Forletta scored a try which was converted by Jonathan Bousquet, who also kicked three penalties.

Clermont’s superiority was evident from the outset and they controlled proceedings during the game’s early stages thanks to Betham and Fofana’s tries but Perpigan fought back when Forletta crossed the whitewash from close quarters.

The visitors responded with Iturria’s try but the rest of the half was closely fought as Perpignan clawed their way back and they were still in with a chance of causing an upset as Clermont led 21-13 at half-time.

The second half saw Perpignan narrowing the gap to five points after Bousquet landed his third penalty in the 44th minute but although they continued to fight as the game progressed, Clermont’s class shone through as they finished stronger and they sealed their win when Yato crossed for their fourth try during the game’s latter stages.

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The result is an important one for Clermont as La Rochelle, who are their nearest rivals in the standings, made a statement of intent as they beat Castres 53-27 at Stade Marcel-Deflandre earlier on.

Elsewere, Lyon also notched a half century of points after beating Agen 52-20 at the Stade Matmut while Stade Francais scraped to a narrow 23-20 victory over Grenoble at Stade Jean-Bouin.