Top 14 wrap: Stade, Agen, Bordeaux and Lyon win

There were important victories for Stade Francais and Agen at the bottom of the Top 14, while Bordeaux-Bègles and Lyon also secured wins.

Saturday
Castres 28-23 Toulouse
Bordeaux-Bègles 19-18 Pau
Brive 25-27 Lyon
Stade Francais 50-13 Clermont Auvergne
Agen 36-21 Oyonnax

Bordeaux-Bègles 19-18 Pau
Stade Chaban-Delmas

Pau’s top-six ambitions suffered a blow as they went down 19-18 to a Baptiste Serin-inspired Bordeaux-Bègles at the Stade Chaban-Delmas.

On his 100th appearance for the club, the scrum-half was magnificent and opened his account in the fourth minute.

Colin Slade responded with one of his own before the visiting pivot moved the play-off contenders ahead after a second three-pointer.

The match remained tight throughout and, although Slade gave Simon Mannix’s men a six-point buffer, Serin broke the try-scoring deadlock on the stroke of half-time.

Pau’s pivot did add three penalties in the second period but Serin struck the decisive blow six minutes from time, snatching a victory which eases the pressure on boss Rory Teague.

The scorers:

For Bordeaux:
Try: Serin
Con: Serin
Pens: Serin 4
Yellow Card: Dufour

For Pau:
Pens: Slade 6
Yellow Card: Malie

Bordeaux: 15 Nans Ducuing, 14 Ed Fidow, 13 Jean-Baptiste Dubie, 12 Apisai Naqalevu, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Cameron Woki, 6 Mahamadou Diaby, 5 Jandre Marais, 4 Loann Goujon, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Florian Dufour, 1 Sebastien Taofifenua
Replacements: 16 Adrien Pelissie, 17 Jefferson Poirot, 18 Pierre Gayraud, 19 Johan Aliouat, 20 Nick Frisby, 21 Romain Lonca, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Peni Ravai

Pau: 15 Charly Malie, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Jale Vatubua, 11 Julien Fumat, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Thibault Daubagna, 8 Steffon Armitage, 7 Martin Puech, 6 Ben Mowen, 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Daniel Ramsay, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Quentin Lespiaucq, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Lucas Rey, 17 Jamie Mackintosh, 18 Dave Foley, 19 Baptiste Pesenti, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Tom Taylor, 22 Benson Stanley, 23 Malik Hamadache

Referee: Cyril Lafon
Assistant referees: Cedric Marchat, Arnaud Blondel
TMO: Eric Gauzins

Brive 25-27 Lyon
Stade Amedee-Domenech

Baptiste Couilloud’s late try stunned Brive as Lyon improved their play-off prospects by overcoming the relegation-threatened team 27-25 at the Stade Amedee-Domenech.

It was a tightly fought contest throughout but Nicolas Godignon’s men got off to the perfect start, crossing the whitewash through James Johnston.

Lionel Beauxis responded for the visitors with two penalties – the second coming after Johan Snyman had been sin-binned – as they moved into the lead.

Lyon then crossed the whitewash via Mike Harris while Snyman was still off the field, but Brive responded just shy of the interval when Samuel Marques sniped over from close range.

The hosts were boosted further by Liam Gill’s yellow card and Seremaia Burotu’s score as they went six points clear. Matthieu Ugalde then added a drop-goal before Gaetan Germain’s penalty put Brive in a dominant position.

However, nerves evidently took hold following Gill’s try from the restart and Couilloud duly won the game for the visitors late on.

The scorers:

For Brive:
Tries: Johnston, Marques, Burotu
Cons: Germain 2
Pen: Germain
Drop-goal: Ugalde
Yellow Card: Snyman

For Lyon:
Tries: Harris, Gill, Couilloud
Cons: Beauxis 3
Pens: Beauxis 2
Yellow Card: Gill

Brive: 15 Gaetan Germain, 14 Guillaume Namy, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Seremaia Burotu, 11 Benito Masilevu, 10 Matthieu Ugalde, 9 Samuel Marques, 8 Petrus Hauman, 7 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 6 Said Hireche, 5 Peet Marais, 4 Johan Snyman, 3 James Johnston, 2 Francois Da Ros, 1 Vivien Devisme
Replacements: 16 Mike Tadjer, 17 Demba Bamba, 18 Fabien Sanconnie, 19 Poutasi Luafutu, 20 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 21 Felix Le Bourhis, 22 Thomas Laranjeira, 23 Sila Puafisi

Lyon: 15 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 14 Toby Arnold, 13 Rudi Wulf, 12 Mike Harris, 11 Delon Armitage, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Jonathan Pelissie, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Julien Puricelli, 5 Hendrik Roodt, 4 Felix Lambey, 3 Richard Choirat, 2 Mickael Ivaldi, 1 Stephane Clement
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Francois van der Merwe, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Baptiste Couilloud, 21 Taiasina Tuifua, 22 Thibault Regard, 23 Clement Ric

Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: Tual Trainini, Patrick Pechambert
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure

Stade Francais 50-13 Clermont Auvergne
Stade Jean-Bouin

Stade Francais gave their survival hopes a huge boost following a dominant 50-13 triumph over a dismal Clermont Auvergne.

The Parisians have endured an awful campaign but this game evidently came at the right time, with Clermont frustrated at their Champions Cup defeat to Racing 92 last weekend.

Les Jaunards’ season was effectively finished because of that loss and Stade benefited from that disappointment, scoring five tries in an excellent display.

Auvergne did field a strong side but the hosts were dominant and Waisea Nayacalevu opened the scoring in the fourth minute.

Although the visitors briefly took the lead via Greig Laidlaw’s penalty and Patricio Fernandez’s try, Jules Plisson’s successive three-pointers took the home team 13-10 ahead.

Laidlaw levelled matters at the break, but Stade proceeded to dominate the second period. They scored 37 unanswered points, going over via Remi Bonfils, Arthur Coville, Zurabi Zhvania and Nayacalevu, while Plisson had an excellent day with the boot.

The scorers:

For Stade:
Tries: Nayacalevu 2, Bonfils, Coville, Zhvania
Cons: Plisson 4, Steyn
Pens: Plisson 5

For Clermont:
Try: Fernandez
Con: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 2

Stade: 15 Djibril Camara, 14 Julien Arias, 13 Waisea Nayacalevu, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Jimmy Yobo, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Clement Daguin, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Antoine Burban, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Remy Bonfils, 1 Sakaria Taulafo
Replacements: 16 Laurent Sempere, 17 Zurabi Zhvania, 18 Mathieu De Giovanni, 19 Hugh Pyle, 20 Arthur Coville, 21 Morne Steyn, 22 Marvin O'Connor, 23 Ramiro Herrera

Clermont: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Peter Betham, 13 Damian Penaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Remy Grosso, 10 Patricio Fernandez, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Viktor Kolelishvili, 6 Judicael Cancoriet, 5 Sitaleki Timani, 4 Paul Jedrasiak, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Loni Uhila
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Raphael Chaume, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Camille Lopez, 22 Aurelien Rougerie, 23 Davit Zirakashvili

Referee: Thomas Charabas
Assistant referees: Pierre Brousset, Frederic Chazal
TMO: Eric Briquet-Campin

Agen 36-21 Oyonnax
Stade Armandie

Agen produced an excellent display to defeat fellow strugglers Oyonnax 36-21 and significantly boost their chances of survival.

The result could prove pivotal at the end of the campaign and Adrien Buononato’s men will rue a poor start which saw them go 5-0 down inside of a minute.

Philippe Sella’s side won the ball from the kick-off, shifted the ball right and Johann Sadie produced a neat off-load to send Nicolas Metge across the whitewash.

Although Ben Botica reduced the arrears with a penalty, the hosts were creating opportunities and Pierre Fouyssac was the next to touch down.

Botica’s accuracy from the tee kept the visitors in contention but Agen were exerting plenty of pressure on the opposition line and it eventually yielded a try for Sadie.

Jake McIntyre had missed three conversions but was finally on target with a three-pointer just before the interval as they took a nine-point buffer into the break.

Oyonnax began the second period excellently and Botica gave them hope by going over from close range, but they remain bottom as McIntyre’s penalty and further tries from Filipo Nakosi and Facundo Bosch effectively ended the game as a contest.

Agen had dominated the last half-hour but it was Buononato’s outfit that had the final word through Maxime Veau.

The scorers:

For Agen:
Tries: Metge, Fouyssac, Sadie, Nakosi, Bosch
Con: McIntyre
Pens: McIntyre 2, Vincent

For Oyonnax:
Tries: Botica, Veau
Con: Botica
Pens: Botica 3

Agen: 15 Clement Laporte, 14 Nicolas Metge, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Pierre Fouyssac, 11 Filipo Nakosi, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Antoine Erbani, 7 Facundo Bosch, 6 Yoan Tanga, 5 Mickael De Marco, 4 Denis Marchois, 3 Dave Ryan, 2 Marc Barthomeuf, 1 Quentin Bethune
Replacements: 16 Paula Ngauamo, 17 Morgan Phelipponneau, 18 Tom Murday, 19 Akapusi Qera, 20 Hugo Verdu, 21 Thomas Vincent, 22 Mathieu Lamoulie, 23 Arthur Joly

Oyonnax: 15 Quentin Etienne, 14 Dug Codjo, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Ulupano Seuteni, 11 Daniel Ikpefan, 10 Ben Botica, 9 James Hall, 8 Rory Grice, 7 Bilel Taieb, 6 Hika Elliot, 5 Valentin Ursache, 4 Phoenix Battye, 3 Irakli Mirtskhulava, 2 Quentin MacDonald, 1 Tommy Raynaud
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Geledan, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Patrick Sobela, 20 Jeremy Gondrand, 21 Maxime Veau, 22 Axel Muller, 23 Pietro Ceccarelli

Referee: Jerome Garces
Assistant referees: Jonathan Dufort, Jean-Luc Rebollal
TMO: Maxime Chalon