Heineken Cup: Clermont break Montauban’s
hearts but Stade and Toulouse both power on
19 October 2008
Crisis-club Montauban
suffered more Heineken Cup heartbreak, but there were wins
for Stade Francais, Biarritz, Toulouse and Clermont in the
second round of European action.
Montauban, who lost to a
late penalty kick in Munster week, looked set to mark their
home debut with victory before Napolioni Nalaga scored five
minutes from time to steal victory for Clermont in the
all-French Pool One clash on Sunday afternoon.
More than 8,000 people
crammed in to the Stade de Sapiac as Montauban sought to put
their financial worries aside on their home debut in
Europe’s premier club competition, but Nalaga’s 75th-minute
try – his second of the game – proved decisive as Clermont
won 24-19.
The Fijian winger was
prominent throughout, opening the scoring after just three
minutes following a lightning Clermont counter-attack
initiated by Pierre Mignoni. Brock James converted and then
exchanged penalties with Petre Mitu as they stretched their
lead to 10-3.
Mitu, who is enjoying a
fine competition, pulled Montauban back to 9-10 with two
further penalties before Clermont flanker Alexandre Audebert
scored the game’s second try 15 minutes before the interval
following another line-break by Nalaga. James again
converted as Clermont, beaten by Sale last week, went in at
half-time 17-12 ahead.
The men in green needed a
quick response and found themselves back on level terms when
flanker Antoine Battut raced on to a Yoann Audrin chip and
scored after 55 minutes. Mitu’s conversion made it 19-17 and
it stayed that way despite mounting Clermont pressure until
Nalaga broke the home team’s hearts five minutes from
time.
French sides had also
experienced mixed fortunes on Saturday with Stade Francais
and Biarritz cruising to easy home – against Llanelli
Scarlets and Rugby Calvisano respectively – while Castres
and Perpignan both lost narrowly – to Edinburgh and the
Ospreys.
Stade, like Toulouse on
Friday night, took their time to exert dominance before
brushing aside their Welsh visitors with some scintillating
rugby early in the second-half as they scored three tries in
nine minutes.
The runaway Top 14
leaders, who have now won nine consecutive games, were
restricted to penalties and speculative drop goals as they
struggled to assert their authority in the initial stages in
their Pool 4 clash at the Stade Jean Bouin. But they turned
on the power after the interval as tries from winger Julien
Saubade and captain Sergio Parisse (2) extended their lead
from 9-8 to 30-8 in the blink of an eye.
Italian number eight
Parisse was a massive presence throughout and was only
denied a hat-trick when desperate defending stopped him just
inches short of the line on the hour mark.
Full-back Lionel Beauxis was also in fine
form, adding four second-half conversions to his three
first-half penalties to maintain his own 100% record, in
contrast to Juan Martin Hernandez who missed with all three
of his attempted drop goals.
Beauxis also had the
pleasure of securing Stade’s winning bonus point when he
charged down an attempted kick and ran in Paris’ fourth try
from the halfway line in the closing minutes, taking his
personal tally to 22 points in the process.
The Scarlets started
brightly, even scoring the game’s first try when Mark Jones
sped in after 19 minutes, and their refusal to cave in was
later rewarded when replacement Ceiron Thomas touched down
five minutes from the end. But in truth they were never in
this contest once Stade had stretched their legs after the
interval and a second successive defeat leaves them
contemplating an early exit from this year’s Heineken Cup.
Biarritz, on the other
hand, will be hoping that their 41-10 win over Rugby
Calvisano keeps alive their hopes of qualifying from Pool 6.
A crowd of 7,500 saw them
run in six tries against the Italians, with English flanker
Magnus Lund and hooker Benoit August grabbing two apiece.
Flanker Samiu Vahafolau
got the points rolling when he broke through for the opening
try after 15 minutes and it was pretty much one-way traffic
thereafter. The home side were 17-0 up at half-time and
secured the winning bonus point on the hour when replacement
winger Jean-Baptiste Gobelet raced in.
Julien Peyrelongue added
the finishing touches with four conversions and a penalty,
while Ludovic Nitoglia gained some late consolation for the
visitors with a 75th-minute try.
Remarkably, the 41-10
score line was exactly the same as when these two sides met
in December 2004.
Perpignan’s hopes also
remain much alive, despite their 15-9 defeat away to the
Ospreys at Liberty Stadium in Pool 3.
For all their pressure the
Ospreys failed to score a try for the second game in the
succession, but Perpignan’s continuous infringing proved
costly as teenage fly-half Dan Biggar kicked five penalties
to Jerome Porical’s three.
The French side’s cause
was further hindered by three yellow cards – for Adrien
Plante, Jean-Pierre Perez and Guillaume Vilaceca – and they
were even forced to play with 13 men at one point in the
first half.
Having said that, the
Ospreys were fortunate not to lose Paul James before the
interval after his punch laid out Marius Tincu, but was
somehow missed by referee Wayne Barnes.
The resulting penalty
handed Porical his third successful kick to give the
visitors a 9-6 half-time lead, but the Ospreys piled on the
pressure after the interval as they sought to make their
numerical advantage count.
Number eight Filo Tiatia
was twice denied tries for minor infringements but Biggar
held his nerve with a trio of kicks to ensure the home side
emerged victorious.
Perpignan, who beat
Treviso 27-16 last week, threw everything at the Welsh in a
last-gasp effort to win the game and looked to have
succeeded when Viliami Vaki crashed over from five metres in
the final minute, only for Barnes to infuriate the French
once more by calling a forward pass.
Ultimately Perpignan had
to settle for a losing bonus point, but at least they should
have Dan Carter in their line-up for their next Heineken Cup
match, against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on December
6th.
That match looks key to their hopes of
progressing after the Tigers racked up a 60-16 away victory
at Benetton Treviso to move top of the group.
Castres’ 13-6 home defeat
by Edinburgh in Pool 2 probably signals the end of their
campaign following on from last week’s 25-11 defeat to
Wasps.
The French side were
looking good at 6-0 up after 10 minutes thanks to a brace of
penalties from Cameron McIntyre, but the match turned on a
moment of brilliance from the Scots after quarter of an
hour.
It was sparked by IRB
World Player of Year nominee Mike Blair when the scrum-half
tapped and ran a quick penalty before off-loading to wing
Mark Robertson, who side-stepped three defenders before
running in from 35 metres.
Chris Paterson added the
conversion to give Edinburgh a 7-6 interval lead, an
advantage he stretched to 13-6 by the end thanks to two
second-half penalties.
The result was a hammer
blow to Castres’ qualification hopes, but sent the Scots
home delirious after their first away win in the Heineken
Cup for five seasons.
Toulouse were France’s
other winners, beating Glasgow Warriors 16-22 on Friday
night at Firhill to confirm their credentials in Pool 5 (see
report).
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