Top 14: Week 21 Review
Leaders Toulouse saw their advantage at the top cut to a single point after a shock defeat at Bordeaux allowed Clermont to slash the gap between first and second. Stade's seven try victory over Agen lifted the Parisians above their neighbours Racing, who fell to defeat over a Toulon side consolidating third place.
Friday
Bordeaux-Bègles 18 “ 17 Toulouse
Five penalties and a drop goal from Bordeaux fly-half Camille Lopez were enough to edge the minnows to a famous victory over the league leaders Toulouse on Friday night.
Despite a handful of impressive performances at home this season, the Top 14 debutants had slipped towards the danger zone with five defeats in six, but another confident performance in front of their home fans has left them all-but safe with the season coming to a close.
The first half saw Lopez and the returning Lionel Beauxis trading three penalties apiece, and Lopez's drop-goal separated the sides by three points at the break.
Beauxis slotted a fourth penalty to level the scores up six minutes into the second half, but a brace from Lopez quickly restored and extended the home team's lead with 20 minutes remaining.
The only try of the game came with five minutes remaining; Yves Donguy “ Toulouse's top try scorer “ went over to give Beauxis the opportunity to win the game with the conversion. But the French international's attempt was wide and Bordeaux held on for one of the biggest victories in the side's recent history.
Saturday
Clermont Auvergne 29 “ 23 Perpignan
With Toulouse's defeat on Friday night, Clermont had a golden opportunity to narrow the gap at the top and duly delivered in a close game at the Stade Marcel Michelin.
A game of great importance to both sides started off in heated circumstances, with Clermont prop Lionel Faure and Perpignan hooker Charles Geli sent to the sin bin with just a minute on the board.
James Hook kicked the first points of the game after two minutes, but a trio of David Skrela penalties and a try for flanker Alexandre Lapandry gave the hosts a 14-3 lead after 15 minutes. Perpignan closed the gap to a point before the half-hour mark with a second Hook penalty and a converted effort from full-back Joffrey Michel, before Skrela kicked a fourth penalty to extend Clermont's lead to four points at the break.
The home side started the second half as they ended the first: with a Skrela penalty, but the visitors struck back almost instantaneously with a second try of the game through Adrien Plante to level the scores.
A second sin-binning for Perpignan was not enough to help extend Clermont's lead, but a trio of penalties from the impressive David Skrella in the final 20 minutes gave the hosts their sixteenth win of the season. James Hook's late penalty was not enough to upset the home side, but it did secure a vital losing bonus-point for Perpignan, who are now just a point above the drop zone.
Lyon 17 “ 34 Biarritz
Biarritz edged Lyon a step closer to relegation at the Stade Matmut while doing their own survival hopes no end of good with a comprehensive victory on Saturday.
Dimitri Yachvili and Romain Loursac exchanged a penalty each in the opening exchanges before the visitors struck with the first try of the game through Taku Ngwenya on 26 minutes. Ricky Januarie responded for the hosts to leave the game delicately poised at 10-10 at the break.
Biarritz came out the stronger of the two sides after half-time, fearsome number eight Imanol Harinordoquy crossed for his team's second try four minutes into the second period. Yachvili's conversion gave the Basque side a seven point lead before the sin-binning of Lyon scrum-half Januarie on 53 minutes ended Lyon's chances of a vital victory.
In the time the South Africa international was off the field Biarritz raced away; first a penalty from Yachvili, followed by a converted try from Dane Haylett-Petty. By the time Januarie returned, the gap was 17 points and the game was all-but over as a contest.
With ten minutes remaining, Yachvili completed his 19-point haul, converting his own try before he was yellow-carded with five minutes remaining.
In the dying seconds Lyon crossed for their second try of the match through Lee Thomas, denying their opponents a try bonus-point in the process, but with a nine point gap between themselves and safety, their stay in the top flight is almost at an end. Biarritz however leapfrog Perpignan and Brive into tenth place, but remain four points from danger after rivals Bayonne's victory.
Castres 27 “ 18 Montpellier
Romain Teulet kept up his good form with the boot as he kicked 17 of his team's points in a vital play-off clash against fellow hopefuls Montpellier.
Three penalties from Teulet and a try from wing Marc Andreu gave the hosts a half-time lead of 14-5, Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino getting Montpellier's first half try.
The second half started with a second Castres try, Romain Martial on the other winger crossing for the hosts. Martin Bustos Moyano replied with two penalties to close the gap to ten points, but another pair of penalties from Teulet cancelled out the Argentine's efforts.
Alex Tulou scored a second try for Montpellier with a minute to go, but it was too little too late for the visitors who slip to a second defeat in three, and fall behind Castres to fifth place in the table.
Stade Français 53 “ 27 Agen
Stade Français ran out triumphant winners in the capital as they trampled over Agen in a ten-try thriller.
Felipe Contepomi and Conrad Barnard kicked a penalty each in the first ten minutes, before the yellow-carding of Agen full-back Silvere Tian opened the doors for the first two tries of seven for Stade. First Sergio Parisse, then fellow back-row David Lyons went over to give the Parisians a 15-3 lead by the time Agen were back to full strength.
Barnard kicked a second penalty, but a second penalty for Contepomi and a try from the Argentina international within three minutes of each other extended the home side's lead further.
Agen wing Belisario Agulla got his teams first try of the game before the break to ensure that Stade didn't have things completely their own way at half-time, but it was a half that belonged to the hosts.
But it was Stade who struck first in the second half, Contepomi touching down for his second “ and his side's fourth “ two minutes after the break. Morgan Turinui extended Stade's lead further eight minutes later to kill the game as a contest with half an hour remaining.
An in-form Contepomi contributed 26 points to Stade's total, despite spending ten minutes in the bin after being yellow carded on the hour. Agen used the man advantage to strike back through Silvere Tian, making amends for his own earlier sin-binning, but no sooner had he scored Stade replied with their sixth try. Julien Arias touched down and Martin Rodriguez Gurruchage converted while his countryman was off the field.
The score stood at 46-20 with ten minutes to go, but the hosts weren't finished yet. Replacement hooker Aled de Malmanche added a seventh try with five minutes remaining to complete the rout. But Agen at least had the final say, Jean Monribot took the try tally into double figures in the final minute, but it was nowhere near enough to prevent Stade from essentially ending Agen's assault on the play-off places. Stade however move ahead of their neighbours Racing into sixth place, in a fight that is sure to go down to the final day.
Toulon 32 “ 20 Racing Métro
Toulon kept up the heat on the top two after an electric encounter in the glorious Mediterranean sunshine that saw Racing's run of three wins come to an end.
The hosts haven't lost since the first week of January, but it was Racing who had the better start in a game where two teams better known for their forward strengths ran everything with some high intensity, flowing rugby.
Two early Jonny Wilkinson penalties were answered by two Racing tries coming off the back of set-piece manoeuvres from the scrum, and a little help from some poor Toulon defending.
The try scorers for Racing were centre Henry Chavancy and Sireli Bobo, with Gaeten Germain converting both efforts.
Wilkinson added a third penalty to keep the home side in touch, before Toulon took the lead through a wonderful try. The hosts turned the ball over in their own 22, before some aggressive running and precise offloading put full-back Luke Rooney through to score under the posts; Wilkinson's conversion put the home side in front.
Racing regained the lead on the half-hour mark through Gaeten Germain, before a fourth penalty conceded in the ruck gave Wilkinson the chance to cancel out Germain's effort, the Englishman duly obliging. But it was the Racing full-back who would have the final say of the half, kicking a second penalty to give the visitors a well-earned but narrow lead at the break.
Germain missed the opportunity to extend Racing's lead at the start of the second half, and he was punished by the ever-reliable Wilkinson who put over two penalties to give the home side a five point lead.
Toulon were playing the sort of rugby that clear sunny weather was made for, running everything that came their way and constantly testing the Racing defensive line. But it took until the 60th minute before they added to their early try.
After a rare penalty miss by Wilkinson, the Toulon pack surged forward from a line-out. Toulon scrum-half Sebastian Tillous-Borde picked the ball up two metres from the line and ducked through a gap in the visitor's defence to take the game out of Racing's reach.
Wilkinson's conversion made it 32-20 and that would be how the game finished. After such a positive first half Racing failed to score a single point, and as a result not only lost the game, but failed to leave the south coast without even a losing bonus-point to their name. Toulon consolidate their third place, while Racing drop out of the top six, trailing Stade by three points.
Bayonne 19 “ 12 Brive
Bayonne secured the most crucial of victories in the Saturday evening kick off, dragging Brive into the relegation dogfight in the process.
It has come to be expected that matches involving the stout defence of Brive are not likely to yield many tries, but it was the sole try of the match that separated the two teams after 80 minutes.
Fly-halves Benjamin Boyet and Mathieu Belie kicked two penalties each early on, twice Belie giving Brive the lead only for Boyet to cancel out the Brive man's efforts.
Both teams were reduced to 14 men on 24 minutes as Bayonne's Guillaume Bernad and Brive's Julien Caminati were sent to the sin-bin, and briefly the home side were down to 13 as Abdellatif Boutaty was sent to the bin seven minutes later. The reduced numbers “ and the spaces created by the missing men “ failed to produce any scoring, and the scores remained at a stalemate at the break.
The game changed on 45 minutes when winger Caminati again was sin-binned, this time ending his contribution to proceedings. The visitors would be forced to play the final 35 minutes with 14 men, and in the end it was too much for Brive.
Two Boyet penalties gave the hosts the lead for the first time in the game, Belie cancelling out one of Boyet's scores with a third of this own.
The Brive line was finally broken with five minutes remaining, Lionel Mazars crossing Bayonne to take the game away from the visitors. Belie's fourth penalty with two minutes remaining at least secured a losing bonus-point for Brive, but the gap to Bayonne in the relegation zone is just four points. Bayonne are a single point behind Perpignan, and with five games to go, the fight to stay up is a long way from over.
