Victories for Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne put the top two sides well clear of the chasing pack, as Stade Francais won the battle of Paris and Perpignan fell to a seventh consecutive defeat in Week 12 of the French Top 14.
Friday
Bordeaux-Begles 16-14 Brive
A last gasp try by Tongan wing Vungakoto Lilo gave Bordeaux- Begles a vital victory in Friday night's clash with Brive. Brive scrum-half Mathieu Belie twice kicked his side ahead in the first half, only for Gerard Frazer to cancel his scores out on both occasions with the sides going in at half time tied at six points apiece.
Frazer then put Bordeaux ahead for the first time in the game on 46 minutes, but the sides were to prove inseparable yet again as Belie levelled the scores up two minutes later. The score remained unchanged until replacement Julien Caminati looked to have secured a fourth win of the season for the away side with just four minutes to go. Bordeaux, however, were to have the final say with the game's only try. Former Bristol man Lilo crossed four minutes after the 80 was up to put Bordeaux 10th in the league, just a point behind Brive.
Saturday
Toulouse 33-12 Toulon
Matt Giteau's debut failed to inspire Toulon as their golden patch came to an end at the hands of the champions at the Stadium de Toulouse. The hosts edged a close first half which saw Timoci Matanavou go over in the corner for his sixth try of the season, with Luke McAlister converting. Toulon hooker Jean Phillipe Genevois was sin-binned and McAlister traded points with Johnny Wilkinson, with the score 13-12 at half time.
The second half was a more one-sided affair with Toulouse scoring 20 unanswered points, securing a bonus point in the process. McAlister kept the scoreboard ticking over and even the sin-binning of Toulouse prop Census Johnston was not enough to give Toulon some points. The second try for Toulouse came courtesy of Vincent Clerc on 58 minutes when he latched onto a Yannick Jauzion chip. Jean Bouilhou then became the second Toulouse player to see yellow, but the home side still managed to secure the bonus point with a third try after Luke Burgess snuffed out a loose pass by Giteau to score with three minutes remaining. Toulon drop to fifth in what is turning out to be an incredibly close fight for the play-off places, whilst Toulouse “ along with Clermont “ are beginning to run away at the top.
Clermont Auvergne 33-16 Castres
Clermont kept Toulouse in check this week, matching the league leader's haul of 33 points as they saw off third placed Castres to extend the gap between the top two sides and third place to 7 points.
The hosts led 16-9 at half time with three penalties from scrum-half Morgan Parra and a try from fly-half Brock James, and Castres points coming from the boot of Pierre Bernard.
Scottish lock Nathan Hines then put Clermont further ahead on 55 minutes before Parra put the game beyond doubt with a third try with ten minutes remaining. Clermont then quite literally threw away a bonus point, as a wayward pass from Parra's replacement Ludovic Radosavljevic was intercepted by Seremaia Bai who scored Castres' only try to deny Clermont a maximum five points.
Stade Francais 29-3 Racing Metro
Stade Francais moved level on points with their local rivals with another impressive display, running out dominant victors with Argentinean pivot Felipe Contepomi orchestrating proceedings brilliantly.
Scrum-half Julien Dupuy opened the scoring with a penalty on 20 minutes, before Pascal Pape crossed for the first try of the game. Contepomi score a drop goal and Dupuy scored another penalty three minutes before half-time to give Stade a 16-0 lead at the break.
Jonathan Wisniewski scored the opening points of the second half “ Racing's only score of a disappointing game for the away side whose aspirations of being the biggest side in the capital took a severe hammering today. It would be the only points until the 67th minute, when Contepomi slotted two penalties in quick succession to take the game away from Racing. Unsurprisingly given the rivalry there were flared tempers, and both sides saw themselves reduced to 14 men for the final ten minutes. First Paul Sackey was yellow carded for the hosts, and soon after South African flanker Bernard La Roux was binned for Racing to ensure both sides ended the match with even numbers.
Former Racing Metro player Jerome Filol then scored the second try of the game, as Stade had the final say in a game which they dominated from start to finish.
Sunday
Lyon 19-12 Perpignan
A third win of the season for Lyon ensured that Perpignan's horror season continues. Lyon remain in the drop zone, but are now just three points behind Sunday's visitors and with a game in hand.
Three penalties from Jerome Porical looked to have given Perpignan the edge at the mid-way point, but Lyon winger Romain Grosso scored the sole try of the match two minutes before the break to give the home side a 13-9 lead.
Fly-half Xavier Sadourny opened the scoring in the second half with a drop goal before full-back Romain Loursac added to his two first half penalties with Lyon's final points of the game on 50 minutes. Porical's fourth penalty in the last ten minutes at least secured a losing bonus point for the floundering Catalans who have now lost seven matches on the bounce.
Agen 37-18 Bayonne
Agen continued their fantastic start to the season with a strong victory over Bayonne at the Stade Armandie on Sunday. Three penalties from Conrad Barnard gave Agen a 9-5 half-time lead, despite the sole try of the first half going to the visitors.
Brice Dulin scored Agen's first try ten minutes into the second half, even while down to 14 men with the sin-binning of captain Adri Badenhorst. Bayonne responded quickly with Marc Baget scoring their second try soon after and after an exchange of drop-goals from Bejnamin Boyet and Barnard the game was left in the balance at 20-18 with just under 20 minutes remaining.
It was another yellow card, this time for a shoulder-charge by Bayonne's Sione Lauaki that took the game away from Bayonne. Barnard slotted over his fifth penalty, before first Junior Pelesasa and then Saimoni Vaka scored for Agen to give the home side their 7th victory of the season with perhaps a flattering result.
Biarritz 23-30 Montpellier
A losing bonus point wasn't enough to prevent Biarritz returning to the bottom of the Top 14 table. In a thrilling game that saw the sides separated by just two points with 10 minutes to go, it was a resurgent Montpellier that secured a try bonus point to keep them within touching distance of the play-offs.
The electric Takudzwa Ngwenya helped Biarritz to an 11-8 half-time lead with Timoci Nagusa crossing for Montpellier. The visitors took the lead early in the second half as Mickael de Marco scored Montpellier's second try of the match. A third followed on 64 minutes as full-back Lucas Amorosino crossed to regain the lead after the boot of Biarritz fly-half Benoit Baby had kept Montpellier in check. The match was left finely balanced until the away side turned the screw in the final quarter. First Bustos Mayano kicked his second penalty of the match, before Francois Trinh-Duc took advantage of a chaotic scrum to see off their hosts.
There was enough time for Benoit Baby to kick a penalty in the 82nd minute to at least give the dishevelled Biarritz a losing bonus point. The result leaves Biarritz bottom again as the Top 14 takes a break for the third round of European fixtures, whilst Montpellier's recovery continues, ensuring that they are still in contention for the play-off places.
