Top 14 Wrap: Lyon beat Pau, Castres stun Clermont
Lyon finally won a game in the Top 14, beating Pau at the Matmut Stadium de Gerland, while Castres shocked Clermont late on.
Lyon 35-23 Pau
Matmut Stadium de Gerland
14-man Lyon touched down four times to end a run of five consecutive Top 14 defeats and reignite their play-off push following a comfortable 35-23 triumph over Pau.
Pierre Mignoni’s men displayed no ill-effects from their disappointing form, going 23-10 up via Albertus Buckle and Lionel Beauxis tries, while the fly-half also kicked 13 points.
The visitors responded through a penalty try – an incident which cost Mickael Ivaldi 10 minutes in the sin-bin – and a Colin Slade three-pointer, before Lyon’s Francisco Gomez Kodela was red carded for a shoulder charge to the head of Steffon Armitage.
From the resultant penalty, Slade reduced the arrears on the stroke of half-time to give Simon Mannix’s side hope going into the break, but the hosts responded well to being a man down.
Armitage was sin-binned for Pau at the start of the second period and Thibaut Regard touched down to open up a healthy advantage.
The home team increased the pressure further and Liam Gill went over from close range to effectively complete the win.
Mannix’s men had the final word via Slade’s try and Tom Taylor’s three-pointer, but it was another defeat for Pau in a campaign that has been plagued by inconsistency.
The scorers:
For Lyon:
Tries: Buckle, Beauxis, Regard, Gill
Cons: Beauxis 3
Pens: Beauxis 2
Drop-goal: Beauxis
Yellow Card: Ivaldi
Red Card: Gomez Kodela
For Pau:
Tries: Penalty try, Slade
Con: Slade
Pens: Slade 2, Taylor
Yellow Card: Steffon Armitage
Lyon: 15 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 14 Toby Arnold, 13 Rudi Wulf, 12 Thibaut Regard, 11 Delon Armitage, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Baptiste Couilloud, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Julien Puricelli, 5 Hendrik Roodt, 4 Felix Lambey, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Mickael Ivaldi, 1 Albertus Buckle
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Josh Bekhuis, 19 Taiasina Tuifua, 20 Jonathan Pelissie, 21 Theophile Cotte, 22 Mike Harris, 23 Clement Ric.
Pau: 15 Charly Malie, 14 Adrien Plante, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Watisoni Votu, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Julien Tomas, 8 Steffon Armitage, 7 Sean Dougall, 6 Ben Mowen, 5 Daniel Ramsay, 4 Fabrice Metz, 3 Sylvain Charlet, 2 Quentin Lespiaucq, 1 Jamie Mackintosh
Replacements: 16 Lucas Rey, 17 Jeremy Hurou, 18 Masalosalo Tutaia, 19 Martin Puech, 20 Thibault Daubagna, 21 Tom Taylor, 22 Jale Vatubua, 23 Malik Hamadache.
Referee: Tual Trainini
Assistant referees: Laurent Millotte, Frederic Chazal
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure
Clermont Auvergne 27-31 Castres
Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin
Castres made it seven Top 14 wins in a row as they came from 27-10 behind to beat Clermont 31-27 at Stade Marcel-Michelin on Sunday.
In an ill-tempered match that saw Castres have five players yellow carded to Clermont's three, it is hard to believe they came out on top.
Castres' tries came from Florian Vialelle, David Smith, Alex Tulou and Ludovic Radosavljevic, with Benjamin Urdapilleta, Rory Kockott and Radosavljevic kicking points. 21 of those points came in the second-half to secure what was a thrilling come-from-behind success.
First-half Aurelien Rougerie and Remy Grosso tries set Clermont on their way while Morgan Parra's boot put the hosts in a good position.
But Castres never gave in and this away victory lifts them up to third position, just two points off leaders La Rochelle, going into 2018.
The scorers:
For Clermont:
Tries: Rougerie, Grosso
Con: Parra
Pens: Parra 5
Yellow Cards: Slimani, Beheregaray, Toeava
For Castres:
Tries: Vialelle, Smith, Tulou, Radosavljevic
Cons: Urdapilleta, Kockott, Radosavljevic 2
Pen: Urdapilleta
Yellow Cards: Lassalle, Tichit, Jelonch, Kockott, Radosavljevic
Clermont: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 David Strettle, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Peter Betham, 11 Remy Grosso, 10 Isaia Toeava, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Damien Chouly, 5 Paul Jedrasiak, 4 Arthur Iturria, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Raphael Chaume
Replacements: 16 Yohan Beheregaray, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Peceli Yato, 20 Charly Trussardi, 21 Dorian Lavernhe, 22 Setariki Tuicuvu, 23 Davit Zirakashvili
Castres: 15 Geoffrey Palis, 14 Armand Batlle, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Florian Vialelle, 11 David Smith, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Anthony Jelonch, 6 Mathieu Babillot, 5 Loic Jacquet, 4 Thibault Lassalle, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Antoine Tichit
Replacements: 16 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 17 Mihaita Lazar, 18 Christophe Samson, 19 Alex Tulou, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Robert Ebersohn, 22 Julien Caminati, 23 Yohan Montes
Referee: Cyril Lafon
Assistant referees: Julien Castaignede, Sebastien Hebert
TMO: Eric Briquet-Campin