Top 14 Wrap: Toulon edge battle at the bottom
Toulon secured a crucial victory over Grenoble in the Top 14 late game on Saturday, while there were earlier wins for Clermont, Agen, La Rochelle and Lyon.
Results
Saturday
Montpellier 23-28 Clermont Auvergne
Castres 13-16 Agen
La Rochelle 16-11 Racing 92
Lyon 30-10 Pau
Toulon 22-3 Grenoble
Montpellier 23-28 Clermont Auvergne
GGL Stadium
Clermont Auvergne continued their fine domestic form to extend their lead in the Top 14 table following an impressive triumph over Montpellier.
Les Jaunards struggled to find their rhythm against Lyon last weekend until Morgan Parra entered the fray but, with the scrum-half starting at the GGL Stadium, they were into their stride immediately.
Vern Cotter’s men have faltered this season and they were 7-0 down early on when star centre Wesley Fofana crossed the whitewash for the visitors.
To the hosts’ credit, they fought back and successive Ruan Pienaar penalties reduced the arrears after 25 minutes.
Pienaar then added another off the tee to take Cotter’s charges in front, but Parra moved Auvergne back ahead on the stroke of half-time.
It was tight going into the second period but Clermont displayed their quality by taking the game away from the home team. Firstly, Damian Penaud touched down before Camille Lopez and Parra kicked three-pointers to open up a comfortable buffer.
Matters worsened for the 2017/18 Top 14 runners-up when Kelian Galletier was sin-binned and Isaia Toeava completed the victory by going over, despite Vincent Giudicelli and Yvan Reilhac consolation scores.
The scorers:
For Montpellier:
Tries: Giudicelli, Reilhac
Cons: Steyn 2
Pens: Pienaar 3
Yellow Card: Galletier
For Clermont:
Tries: Fofana, Penaud, Toeava
Cons: Parra 2
Pens: Parra 2
Drop goal: Lopez
Yellow Card: Yato
Montpellier: 15 Francois Steyn, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Johan Goosen, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Benjamin Fall, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements: 16 Vincent Giudicelli, 17 Gregory Fichten, 18 Konstantin Mikautadze, 19 Kelian Galletier, 20 Enzo Sanga, 21 Arthur Vincent, 22 Yvan Reilhac, 23 Mohammed Haouas
Clermont: 15 Isaia Toeava, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 George Moala, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Alivereti Raka, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Judicael Cancoriet, 6 Damien Chouly, 5 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Etienne Falgoux
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Loni Uhila, 18 Paul Jedrasiak, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Greig Laidlaw, 21 Tim Nanai-Williams, 22 Peceli Yato, 23 Rabah Slimani
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas, Eric Soulan
TMO: Denis Grenouillet
Castres 13-16 Agen
Stade Pierre-Fabre
Struggling Agen stunned last season’s Top 14 winners Castres thanks to Andres Zafra Tarazona’s dramatic late score at the Stade Pierre-Fabre.
Philippe Sella’s side have struggled on their travels but they were excellent throughout against the defending champions.
They controlled the play and frustrated the hosts, earning a penalty after 15 minutes which Leo Berdeu converted for a 3-0 advantage.
Berdeu followed that up with another successful effort off the tee, giving them a six-point buffer until the final action of the half when Benjamin Urdapilleta reduced the deficit at the break.
Christophe Urios’ charges then began the second period on the front foot and moved ahead for the first time in the match as Thomas Combezou crossed the whitewash.
Berdeu and Urdapilleta traded three-pointers and, going into the final 10 minutes, Urios’ outfit looked to be in control, despite losing Combezou and Mathieu Babillot to the sin-bin earlier in the second period.
However, Agen had other ideas and, after David Smith became the third Castres player to be yellow carded, Tarazona touched down late on to snatch the win.
The scorers:
For Castres:
Try: Combezou
Con: Urdapilleta
Pens: Urdapilleta 2
Yellow Card: Combezou, Babillot, Smith
For Agen:
Try: Tarazona
Con: Berdeu
Pens: Berdeu 3
Yellow Card: Ryan
Castres: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 David Smith, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 8 Camille Gerondeau, 7 Mathieu Babillot, 6 Baptiste Delaporte, 5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 4 Loic Jacquet, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Antoine Tichit
Replacements: 16 Kevin Firmin, 17 Tapu Falatea, 18 Thibault Lassalle, 19 Alex Tulou, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Florian Vialelle, 22 Julien Caminati, 23 Marc Clerc
Agen: 15 Mathieu Lamoulie, 14 Clement Laporte, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Julien Heriteau, 11 Valentin Saurs, 10 Leo Berdeu, 9 Paul Abadie, 8 Yoan Tanga, 7 Vincent Farre, 6 Antoine Miquel, 5 Denis Marchois, 4 Tom Murday, 3 Yohann Montes, 2 Paula Ngauamo, 1 Morgan Phelipponneau
Replacements: 16 Marc Barthomeuf, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Andres Zafra Tarazona, 19 Loic Hocquet, 20 Lucas Rubio, 21 Thomas Vincent, 22 Tamaz Mchedlidze, 23 Dave Ryan
Referee: Jerome Garces
Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon, Frederic Chazal
TMO: Eric Gauzins
La Rochelle 16-11 Racing 92
Stade Marcel-Deflandre
La Rochelle made it five league victories in a row following an excellent triumph over one of the title favourites, Racing 92, on Saturday.
It was tight and tense affair which was livened up by Pierre Aguillon’s 14th minute effort, who benefited from good work by Marc Andreu.
Ihaia West had already opened the hosts’ account before Aguillon helped make it a 10-point buffer and it was a lead they would not relinquish.
Leone Nakarawa did provide the Parisians with some hope by going over, but Jono Gibbes’ men were 13-8 in front at the interval after West and Teddy Iribaren had traded penalties.
Racing were still in the game but they could not break through the home side’s solid wall and La Rochelle’s fly-half made sure of the win from the tee.
Iribaren rescued a potentially priceless losing bonus-point with the last kick of the game, but the 2016 Top 14 winners deservedly succumbed at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre.
The scorers:
For La Rochelle:
Try: Aguillon
Con: West
Pens: West 3
Yellow Card: Atonio
For Racing 92:
Try: Nakarawa
Pens: Iribaren 2
Yellow Card: Iribaren
La Rochelle: 15 Vincent Rattez, 14 Arthur Retiere, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Pierre Aguillon, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Alexis Balès, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Gregory Alldritt, 6 Kevin Gourdon, 5 Thomas Jolmes, 4 Romain Sazy, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Jean Charles Orioli, 1 Dany Priso
Replacements: 16 Hikairo Forbes, 17 Leo Aouf, 18 Mathieu Tanguy, 19 Zeno Kieft, 20 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 21 Maxime Lafage, 22 Jeremy Sinzelle, 23 Arthur Joly
Racing 92: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Louis Dupichot, 13 Olivier Klemenczak, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Ben Volavola, 9 Teddy Iribaren, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 6 Fabien Sanconnie, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Boris Palu, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Dominic Bird, 19 Wenceslas Lauret, 20 Antoine Gibert, 21 Leonard Paris, 22 Anatole Pauvert, 23 Cedate Gomes Sa
Referee: Pierre Brousset
Assistant referees: Tual Trainini, Richard Duhau
TMO: Laurent Sclafer
Lyon 30-10 Pau
Matmut Stadium de Gerland
Play-off chasers Lyon increased Pau’s woes following a dominant bonus-point victory at the Matmut Stadium de Gerland.
Pierre Mignoni’s men were defeated 31-11 by leaders Clermont in Round 10 but they responded well to that defeat, dominating from the kick-off and crossing the whitewash through Toby Arnold.
Jean-Marcellin Buttin then touched down for the hosts before Antoine Hastoy finally got the visitors on the scoreboard via a penalty at the end of the first quarter.
Lyon maintained their control on proceedings, however, and after Liam Gill had gone over, Jonathan Pelissie’s three-pointer gave them a 17-point buffer at the interval.
With Mignoni’s charges in command, their intensity dipped slightly but they still managed to score twice more through Virgile Lacombe and Charlie Ngatai.
Baptiste Pesenti crossed in between those two efforts from the home team, but Pau were outplayed throughout and succumbed to their seventh domestic defeat of the season.
The scorers:
For Lyon:
Tries: Arnold, Buttin, Gill, Lacombe, Ngatai
Con: Pelissie
Pen: Pelissie
For Pau:
Try: Pesenti
Con: Hastoy
Pen: Hastoy
Yellow Card: Pesenti
Lyon: 15 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 14 Toby Arnold, 13 Rudi Wulf, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Xavier Mignot, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Jonathan Pélissié, 8 Liam Gill, 7 Patrick Sobela, 6 Julien Puricelli, 5 Francois van der Merwe, 4 Felix Lambey, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Mickael Ivaldi, 1 Albertus Buckle
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Etienne Oosthuizen, 19 Carl Fearns, 20 Jean-Marc Doussain, 21 Charl McLeod, 22 Thibault Regard, 23 Hamza Kaabeche
Pau: 15 Colin Slade, 14 Charly Malie, 13 Benson Stanley, 12 Jale Vatubua, 11 Watisoni Votu, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Thibault Daubagna, 8 Steffon Armitage, 7 Paddy Butler, 6 Ben Mowen, 5 Daniel Ramsay, 4 Julien Delannoy, 3 Malik Hamadache, 2 Laurent Bouchet, 1 Geoffrey Moise
Replacements: 16 Lucas Rey, 17 Jamie Mackintosh, 18 Dave Foley, 19 Baptiste Pesenti, 20 Martin Puech, 21 Julien Blanc, 22 Florian Nicot, 23 Lourens Adriaanse
Referee: Cedric Marchat
Assistant referees: Sebastien Minery, Patrick Pechambert
TMO: Akim Hadj-Bachir
Toulon 22-3 Grenoble
Stade Mayol
Toulon slightly eased the pressure on head coach Patrice Collazo following this ultimately comfortable victory over fellow strugglers Grenoble.
It was a dreadful match between two teams desperate for the points, but Collazo’s men did open the brighter and pressurised the opposition line.
They failed to take advantage, however, and it was rather symptomatic of their season that they failed to capitalise. The intent was there but the quality was severely lacking as the encounter remained scoreless at the end of the first quarter.
When Collazo guided La Rochelle to the summit of the Top 14 in 2016/17, they played some thrilling rugby, but that has not been in evidence this year and the hosts duly fell behind to Gaetan Germain’s penalty.
At least they had Hugo Bonneval, who provided the spark Toulon needed. Firstly, the full-back’s break got them on the front foot and allowed Anthony Belleau to move them level at the break, before he started the second period in similar vein.
Bonneval stepped outside of an attempted tackle and kicked ahead, putting the visitors under pressure. Grenoble’s clearance was charged down and Mathieu Bastareaud was on hand to power over from close range for a crucial score.
That gave the home side the momentum and their individual quality came to the fore. Josua Tuisova, who has had a quiet season, suddenly burst into life and showed his power and pace to brilliantly finish in the corner.
At the point, the result was effectively sealed but Toulon went in search of the bonus-point and, after Steven Setephano had been sin-binned, Guilhem Guirado went over to secure the full five.
The scorers:
For Toulon:
Tries: Bastareaud, Tuisova, Guirado
Cons: Belleau 2
Pen: Belleau
For Grenoble:
Pen: Germain
Yellow Card: Setephano
Toulon: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Francois Trinh-Duc, 11 Jonah Placid, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Eric Escande, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Raphael Lakafia, 6 Swan Rebbadj, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Brian Alainu’uese, 3 Emerick Setiano, 2 Anthony Etrillard, 1 Florian Fresia
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Stéphane Onambele Mbarga, 19 Jean Monribot, 20 Julian Savea, 21 JP Pietersen, 22 Yoan Cottin, 23 Marcel van der Merwe
Grenoble: 15 Gaetan Germain, 14 Bastien Guillemin, 13 Etienne Dussartre, 12 Alaska Taufa, 11 Daniel Kilioni, 10 Franck Pourteau, 9 Lilian Saseras, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Fabien Alexandre, 6 Steven Setephano, 5 Hans Nkinsi, 4 Mickael Capelli, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg
Replacements: 16 Duncan Casey, 17 Mihaita Lazar, 18 Leva Fifita, 19 Antonin Berruyer, 20 Ben Lucas, 21 Taleta Tupuola, 22 Pablo Uberti, 23 Ali Oz
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
Assistant referees: Ludovic Cayre, Jean-Luc Rebollal
TMO: Patrick Dellac