Montpellier beat Castres to maintain play-off hopes

Colin Newboult
Add as a preferred source on Google

Deception des joueurs de Montpellier RUGBY : Montpellier vs Castres - Finale Top14 - 02/06/2018 JBAutissier/Panoramic.

Montpellier kept themselves in the play-off picture after beating top-six rivals and defending champions Castres 12-9 at the Stade Pierre-Fabre on Saturday.

The match was typically tight between two Top 14 contenders, but it was the visitors that went into the interval in front via Gabriel Ngandebe’s converted try.

Penalties from Rory Kockott and Benjamin Urdapilleta meant that the hosts were just one point in arrears at half-time before the latter took them ahead early in the second period.

It was not enough to secure them the win, however, and Yvan Reilhac went over to snatch an important result for Vern Cotter and his charges.

Last season’s runners up have endured a disappointing season, both in Europe and domestically, but they came into the final three rounds with a chance of claiming a play-off berth and they managed to boost their prospects on Saturday.

There was no score in the first quarter as the sides went toe-to-toe in a bruising encounter, but the deadlock was eventually broken by Ngandebe, who latched onto Aaron Cruden’s kick and touched down.

That was converted by the former All Blacks fly-half for a seven-point buffer, but Castres began to eat away at that advantage through the boot of Kockott and Urdapilleta.

They scored a penalty apiece to leave them just 7-6 down at the break and, in a tense game, the turnaround appeared to be complete via Urdapilleta’s second three-pointer.

Montpellier have slightly more quality behind the scrum, however, and Benoit Paillaugue and Reilhac combined for the latter to cross the whitewash and snatch the win.

In the battle between two of the bottom three, Agen sealed their Top 14 status after a battling 29-11 victory over 13th placed Grenoble, who will go into the relegation play-off.

The teams traded tries in the first half through Bastien Guillemin and Romain Briatte, but Philippe Sella’s men were the more disciplined side and Leo Berdeu punished the hosts’ indiscretions with five penalties before Clement Laporte secured the win late on.

There is slight relief for the Stade des Alpes-based outfit, though, as they will have a match against the runner up of Pro D2 to decide whether they play in France’s top-tier next season.

They cannot be overtaken by already-relegated Perpignan, who have won just twice this season and succumbed to their 22nd defeat on Saturday. To the Catalans’ credit, they were competitive against the excellent Clermont Auvergne, but the visitors were eventually defeated 35-13 following Peceli Yato’s hat-trick and Alivereti Raka’s double.

Meanwhile, in the day’s early game, Pau suffered yet another humiliating loss away from home. Following their 71-21 trouncing at the hands of La Rochelle, they went down 83-6 to leaders Toulouse.

Les Rouge et Noir touched down a remarkable 13 times through Maxime Medard, Cheslin Kolbe (twice) Sofiane Guitoune, Yoann Huget, Selevasio Tolofua, Pita Ahki, Thomas Ramos (twice), Antoine Dupont, Guillaume Marchand, Sebastien Bezy and Gillian Galan.

The late game on Saturday saw La Rochelle overcome Toulon 30-21 as they climb to third position on the Top 14 standings.

Tries from Kini Murimurivalu, Tawera Kerr-Barlow and a late crossing from Eliott Roudil saw them to victory, with Ihaia West converting those scores. The New Zealander also added three penalties while Raphael Lakafia, Charles Ollivon and Facundo Isa picked up tries for Toulon who stay 10th in the table.

Top 14