Pro D2 Notes: Brive fall at Sapiac as Oyonnax and Provence pull clear
Montauban defeated the previously unbeaten Brive in Round 6
©USM Sapiac
Our last Pro D2 Notes ended with three unbeaten teams and a rather interesting question: what would happen when all three went away from home?
Now we know. Brive lost 32-24 at Montauban, Provence survived 28-26 at Soyaux-Angoulême, and Oyonnax produced another extraordinary attacking performance to win 57-14 at Narbonne.
The unbeaten three have become the unbeaten two, but the more significant development may be that Oyonnax and Provence are beginning to put daylight between themselves and everybody else.
After six rounds, Oyonnax lead on 28 points, with Provence on 25 and Brive third on 21. Grenoble and Biarritz follow on 18, Montauban are sixth on 17, and the promotion conversation is becoming considerably more interesting.
We are, however, only one-fifth of the way through the regular season. There is plenty of rugby still to come.
Montauban answer our question
Our previous Notes asked whether Montauban could challenge one of the promotion favourites at Sapiac, and last Thursday evening provided the answer: Montauban 32, Brive 24, with four home tries from Vaiolini Ekuasi, Stéphane Ahmed, Dachi Papunashvili and Siosifa Amone.
Brive arrived having won five consecutive matches. They left with their first defeat and perhaps a clearer sense of just how difficult the road back to the Top 14 might be.
Montauban, by contrast, have now won all three of their home league fixtures, beating Grenoble, Béziers and Brive, three clubs with considerable professional pedigree.
What made this latest win particularly interesting was the manner of it. Montauban had less possession and less territory, but converted their opportunities far more effectively.
There is something familiar about that. During their promotion campaign two seasons ago, Montauban showed a real knack for winning matches that weren't necessarily going their way. The Top 14 subsequently exposed their limitations, but Pro D2 may be reminding them of their strengths. The next challenge is to take that Sapiac form on the road.
Johnny Matthews: another chapter, but no tries this time
Naturally, our attention at TRU remains on Johnny Matthews. In our September Notes, we revisited the Scottish hooker's remarkable journey from Sedgley Park Tigers to Glasgow, international rugby and now Montauban.
Our own archive includes photographs of Matthews packing down alongside Max Ashcroft, who played loosehead for Sedgley after the pair signed for the club at the same time.
Matthews scored 28 tries in 29 National Two North appearances in 2016/17, and his four tries in two matches against Béziers and Biarritz suggested little had changed.
Against Brive he didn't score, yet Montauban won and four different players crossed the line. That may tell us something important. Montauban cannot build a promotion challenge around their driving maul alone, and here they showed a broader attacking threat.
There is also a substantial British connection in this squad, with Matthews joined by Karl Wilkins, Lewis Bean and Jack Maunder, while Australian centre Joey Walton adds to the English-speaking contingent.
Brive, meanwhile, count former Ireland scrum-half John Cooney and English back Jamie Shillcock among their experienced overseas players. For British followers, these fixtures are another reminder that Pro D2 is far from an exclusively French affair.
Oyonnax: 262 points in six games
We are running out of superlatives for Oyonnax. After putting 56 points on Nevers in Round Five, they travelled to Narbonne and scored 57. That makes 113 points in two matches and 262 across six, an average of almost 44 a game, with a points difference of +133.
Newly promoted Narbonne, who are finding life at this level demanding, were still in the contest at half-time, trailing 24-14. Oyonnax then scored five unanswered second-half tries to win 57-14.
In our previous Notes, we highlighted that Oyonnax were producing extraordinary attacking numbers without necessarily dominating possession. That remains an interesting characteristic. They don't seem to need endless phases to score. Instead, they convert opportunities at a rate opponents are finding extremely difficult to contain.
There is, of course, a question of sustainability, and 30 league matches are a very different challenge from six. But the early evidence suggests Oyonnax are not merely winning. They are setting a level of attacking efficiency that could make them the benchmark for everybody else.
Provence: Six wins, six different challenges
If Oyonnax are the entertainers, Provence may be the pragmatists. Their 28-26 victory at Soyaux-Angoulême was another example of a team finding a way to win a difficult fixture.
The hosts had been impressive at home and started the round fifth. Provence led throughout but had to withstand a late comeback, inflicting Soyaux-Angoulême's first home defeat of the season.
Six from six. Their 188 points scored are some way behind Oyonnax's 262, but that makes their record no less impressive. We have now watched Provence win comfortably, survive high-scoring contests, overturn deficits and close out a narrow away win.
The contrast between the two unbeaten teams is becoming one of the most compelling stories in the competition.
Oyonnax are showing how convincingly they can win. Provence are showing how consistently they can win. Both qualities matter in a promotion campaign, and both clubs increasingly look capable of securing the kind of regular-season finish that reduces the uncertainty of the play-offs.
Grenoble rise as Biarritz stumble
We have been asking whether Biarritz might emerge as the fourth genuine promotion contender, and their 52-33 defeat at Aurillac suggests that question remains open.
After three successive victories, Biarritz were comprehensively beaten by a side that had won only once in its opening five matches. Aurillac took a bonus-point win and moved away from the bottom of the table, while Biarritz slipped to fifth.
Grenoble, meanwhile, have quietly put together an impressive recovery. Their 23-20 win over Colomiers was their third in succession and, after an uncertain start, lifts them to fourth on 18 points.
Their next assignment is particularly interesting. On Saturday evening they travel to Brive: one team has just lost its unbeaten record, the other has won three on the bounce. If Grenoble win at Brive, the promotion picture will look rather different again.
At the bottom, unlucky is no longer enough
Then there is Nevers. After four rounds they had lost four matches by a combined nine points, and we wondered whether they might be the unluckiest side in professional rugby. Then Oyonnax scored 56 against them, and last weekend Nissa beat them 32-17.
Six matches, six defeats, four league points and bottom of Pro D2. The argument that Nevers are simply unfortunate is becoming harder to sustain.
More worrying still, their immediate rivals have started collecting points. Agen beat Dax 49-30 to move up to 12th, Nissa's win lifted them to 11th, and Valence-Romans beat Béziers 47-20 to climb to ninth.
Colomiers, last season's regular-season runners-up, remain in serious difficulty. Their 23-20 defeat at Grenoble leaves them 15th on seven points, an extraordinary position for a club that began the season with such expectations.
With Nevers on four, Colomiers on seven and Béziers on eight, nobody is being relegated in October, but the bottom of the table is already taking shape.
The British pathway: one to watch at Brive
We also continue to follow Noah Brown. The 19-year-old, 6ft 9in second-row is with Brive's Espoirs after finding his route through the English academy system blocked and pursuing an opportunity in France instead. He is eligible for England and South Africa.
Brown has yet to break into Brive's Pro D2 side, so it would be premature to present him as an emerging star.
But his story deserves attention.
Talking Rugby Union has long covered emerging players through university rugby, the National Leagues and alternative development pathways, and Brown raises an intriguing question: could Pro D2 become another route for talented British-qualified youngsters whose opportunities are limited at home? We will keep following his progress.
Round Seven: Three matches worth watching
This weekend offers another chance to test the developing narrative. On Friday, Montauban travel to Dax, which should tell us whether their home form can travel beyond Sapiac. Also on Friday, Nevers host Agen in what already feels like a fixture they cannot afford to lose.
Then, on Saturday evening, Brive welcome Grenoble: third against fourth, a wounded promotion favourite against a challenger gathering momentum. Meanwhile, Oyonnax host Valence-Romans on Friday and Provence travel to Nissa, both looking to extend their perfect starts.
Six rounds in, we have already seen the first significant shift in the promotion race. Brive have fallen, Montauban have climbed, Grenoble are recovering, Biarritz have stumbled and Nevers remain winless. Through it all, Oyonnax and Provence continue to lead the way.
Last week we wondered whether the unbeaten three could survive their first collective examination away from home. They couldn't. This week the question is different.
Are Oyonnax and Provence beginning to turn Pro D2 into a two-team race?
![Pro D2 Round Two: What to Watch on Thursday and Friday [3rd & 4th September]](/images/c-042912/001.jpg)
