Top 14 wrap: Montpellier fight back

Editor

Montpellier produced a stirring fightback to get their season back on track while Toulon ran nine tries points past hapless La Rochelle.

Montpellier produced a stirring fightback to get their season back on track thanks to Jonathan Pélissié's last-gasp penalty.

Meanwhile Bordeaux-Bègles made it two wins from two against Racing-Métro, as did Toulon in convincing style against La Rochelle to move top of the table.

Elsewhere Bayonne picked up a morale-boosting win with a comprehensive success over Oyonnax.

Earlier in the day Clermont had powered their way to victory against Brive to make it two wins from two.

It the late game, Stade Français survived a late fightback from Lyon.

Results:
Toulouse 35-6 Castres
Brive 6-21 Clermont
Bayonne 38-12 Oyonnax
Bordeaux-Begles 30-21 Racing-Metro
Montpellier 20-17 Grenoble
Toulon 60-19 La Rochelle
Stade Français 23-20 Lyon


Bayonne 38-12 Oyonnax
Stade Jean Dauger

Bayonne bounced back from last week's home defeat to Toulon with an impressive display to see off Oyonnax.

The home side made the perfect start with a try from Joe Rokocoko, back on the wing having spent most of last season in the centres. The former All Black winger took advantage of some great work by Charles Ollivon to cross.

But Oyonnax responded, finding space after a turnover, with Benjamin Urdapilleta's offload out of the tackle sending Guillaume Boussès over. The Argentine's conversion hit the inside of the post but Oyonnax were back in the game.

They then lost their winger Dug Cudjo to a yellow card after he took out Marvin O'Connor in the air on the restart.

Blair Stewart added a penalty after 15 minutes to stretch the lead to five, and they added a second try of the afternoon soon after through Spedding.

The attack started with a little chip from Rokocoko which he tapped down to Spedding. The full-back then exchanged passes with his winger before diving over. Stewart converted to stretched the lead to 17-5.

Bayonne were in complete control and they moved further ahead with two more tries in quick succession, hooker Gregory Arganese and centre Santiago Fernandez crossing for the Basques.

Stewart was on fire from the kicking tee, slotting all four conversions as the home side stretched their lead, with Soane Tonga'uiha having been sin-binned in between the two scores.

Oyonnax did however pick themselves up just before the break, scoring their second try of the afternoon through Thibault Lassalle. The second row was on the shoulder after some great work from scrum-half Agustin Figuerola. The Argentinian spotted a gap in the Bayonne defence to make an initial break, before flicking the ball out of the back of the hand to Lassalle.

The hopes of a comeback were quickly put to bed though as Spedding scored his second try of the afternoon immediately after the break.

And that's how the score remained despite Bayonne picking up two second-half yellow cards.

The scorers:

For Bayonne:
Tries: Rokocoko, Spedding 2, Arganese, Fernandez
Cons: Stewart 4
Pens: Stewart
Yellow cards: Rouet, Jgenti

For Oyonnax:
Tries: Boussès, Lassalle
Cons: Urdapilleta
Yellow cards: Cudjo, Tonga'uiha

Bayonne: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Santiago Fernandez, 12 Matthieu Ugalde, 11 Marvin O'Connor, 10 Blair Stewart, 9 Guillaume Rouet, 8 Charles Ollivon, 7 Dwayne Haare, 6 Pierre Gayraud, 5 Mark Chisholm (c), 4 Lisiate Fa'aoso, 3 Gert Muller, 2 Gregory Arganese, 1 Aretz Iguiniz.
Replacements: 16 Simon Labouyrie, 17 Janse van Rensburg, 18 Opeti Fonua, 19 Pelu Taele, 20 Christophe Loustalot, 21 Jon Elissalde, 22 Bastien Fuster, 23 Giorgi Jgenti

Oyonnax: 15 Florian Denos (c), 14 Dug Codjo, 13 Guillaume Bousses, 12 Roimata Hansell-Pune, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Agustin Figuerola, 8 Viliami Ma'afu, 7 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 6 Guillaume Bernad, 5 Damian Browne, 4 Thibault Lassalle, 3 Ruaan du Preez, 2 Jody Jennejer, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha
Replacements: 16 Clement Julien, 17 Marc Clerc, 18 Miroslav Nemecek, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Fabien Cibray, 21 Riaan Smit, 22 Pierre Aguillon, 23 Antoine Tichit

Referee: Laurent Cardona


Bordeaux-Bègles 30-21 Racing-Métro
Stade Chaban Delmas

Bordeaux-Bègles made it two wins from two to move up to fourth in the table with an impressive win over Racing-Métro.

The home side scored three tries, including one for fit-again Sofiane Guitoune, as they looked much improved on last week's difficult win over Lyon.

Bordeaux scored the first try of the afternon through prop Patrick Toetu, who used all his size to power over. The Bordeaux back row had made the initial inroads before the tighthead crashed over from close range.

Racing responded with three points from the boot of Jonathan Sexton after a good scrum by the visitors.

Sexton added another penalty as Racing seemed to be working their way into the match, but Bordeaux responded with two penalties of their own from Pierre Bernard to lead 13-6 at the break.

Racing came back in much better shape after the break, and quickly reduced the deficit to four with a Sexton penalty.

And they moved in front for the first time when new signing Teddy Thomas went over. The move started with a great run from Henry Chavancy, and after a little kick forward from Sexton, Thomas dotted down.

Bordeaux reacted wtih a third penalty of the afternoon for Bernard, moving back in front 16-14.

With eight minutes remaining Bordeaux made the decisive move, with Julien Rey going under the posts after a neat chip through from Guitoune. Bernard's conversion stretched the lead to nine points.

The scoring wasn't done with Bordeaux adding another try through a Guitoune interception after Thomas had scored his second of the afternoon.

The scorers:

For Bordeaux:
Tries: Toetu, Rey, Guitoune
Cons: Bernard 3
Pens: Bernard 3

For Racing:
Tries: Thomas 2
Cons: Goosen
Pens: Sexton 2

Bordeaux: 15 Darly Domvo, 14 Sofiane Guitoune, 13 Julien Rey, 12 Thibault Lacroix, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Matthew Clarkin (c), 7 Hugh Chalmers, 6 Louis-Benoit Madaule, 5 Jandre Marais, 4 Julien Ledevedec, 3 Patrick Toetu, 2 Benat Auzqui, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Adam Jaulhac, 19 Taiasina Tuifua, 20 Bertrand Guiry, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Romain Lonca, 23 Sebastien Taofifenua

Racing: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Adrien Plante, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Alexandre Dumoulin, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Camille Gerondeau, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Franco van der Merwe (c), 4 Thibault