Top 14 Wrap; Wins for Montpellier and Castres

Montpellier thrashed Brive 57-10 and Clermont suffered a shock 23-29 defeat to Castres in Sunday’s French Top 14 action.

Castres 29-23 Clermont

Castres produced a strong, tactical performance to shock Clermont 29-23 in Top 14 action at Stade Pierre Antoine.

Jody Jenneker gave Castres a seventh-minute lead with a well-taken try converted by Benjam Urdapileta. Maama Vaipalu doubled the lead, once again Urdapileta added the extras.

Clermont scrum-half Greig Laidlaw then kicked three successive penalties to narrow the deficit to five points with Castres 14-9 in the lead.

A pair of Udrapileta penalties stretched the lead to 11 but Peter Betham then stamped his authority on the game with an impressive to bring Clermont right back in to connection.

However, Urdapileta continued to rack up the points from a tee with another pair of penalties.

Yohan Beheregaray scored a consolation try after the hooter for Clermont but it was not to be enough as Castres ran out shock 29-23 winners.

The scorers:

For Castres:
Tries: Jenneker, Vaipalu
Cons: Urdapileta 2
Pens: Urdapileta 5

For Clermont:
Tries: Beheregaray, Betham
Cons: Laidlaw 2
Pens: Laidlaw 3

Castres: 15 Julien Dumora, 14 Julien Caminati, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Florian Vialelle, 11 David Smith, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Anthony Jelonch, 6 Alexandre Bias, 5 Victor Moreaux, 4 Loic Jacquet, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Antoine Tichit
Replacements: 16 Kevin Firmin,  17 Tudor Stroe, 18 Christophe Samson, 19 Steve Mafi, 20 Alex Tulou, 21 Yohan Domenech, 22 Thomas Combezou, 23 Damien Tussac

Clermont: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Nick Abendanon, 13 Peter Betham, 12 Remi Lamerat, 11 Remy Grosso, 10 Patricio Fernandez, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Peceli Yato, 7 Viktor Kolelishvili, 6 Camille Gerondeau, 5 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Etienne Falgoux
Replacements: 16 Yohan Beheregaray, 17 Beqa Kakabadze, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Otar Giorgadze, 20 Charlie Cassang, 21 Atila Septar, 22 Fritz Lee, 23 Aaron Jarvis

Referee: Cyril Lafon
Assistant referees: Julien Castaignède, Frédéric Chazal
TMO: Mourad Zitouni

Montpellier 57-10 Brive

Samuel Marques gave the visitors an early 3-0 lead after just a minute but those would be the only points they would score until the 74-minute mark.

The floodgates were opened when Montpellier’s Jesse Mogg went over after just five minutes.

Bismarck du Plessis and Nemani Nadolo scored two apiece either side of one another in a 15-minute spell in which the home side tore their opponents apart with sharp, incisive rugby.

Aaron Cruden is beginning to really have an influence on this backline and knows how to ignite them. He kicked two conversion while Ruan Pienaar slotted four. The combination between the two was a central factor in Montpellier’s dominance.

Fulgence Ouedraogo got in on the act in the 70th minute before Arnaud Mignardi scored a mere consolation try for Brive.

Nadolo put the cherry on the top and the nail in the Brive coffin when he scooped his hat-trick as his side ran out comfortable 57-10 winners.

The scorers:

For Montpellier:
Tries: Mogg, Du Plessis 2, Nadolo 3, Ouedraogo
Cons: Cruden 2, Pienaar 4

For Brive:
Try: Mignardi
Con: Ugalde
Pen: Marques

Montpellier: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Joffrey Michel, 13 Alexandre Dumoulin, 12 Francois Steyn, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Kelian Galletier, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Julien Bardy, 5 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 4 Jacques Du Plessis, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Bismarck Du Plessis, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Julien Delannoy, 19 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20 Martin Devergie, 21 Enzo Sanga, 22 Henry Immelman, 23 Mohammed Haouas

Brive: 15 Benjamin Lapeyre, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Felix Le Bourhis, 12 Poutasi Luafutu, 11 Nadir Megdoud, 10 Enzo Herve, 9 Samuel Marques, 8 Julien Ledevedec, 7 Etienne Herjean, 6 Said Hireche, 5 Peet Marais, 4 Jan Uys, 3 James Johnston, 2 Mike Tadjer, 1 Naama Leleimalefaga
Replacements: 16 Thomas Acquier, 17 Vivien Devisme, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Retief Marais, 20 David Delarue, 21 Matthieu Ugalde, 22 Arnaud Mignardi, 23 Soso Bekoshvili

Referee: Thomas Charabas
Assistant referees: Tual Trainini, Laurent Perrin
TMO: Patrick Dellac

Photo Credit: RugbyRama