ProD2, r12: Leaders SU Agen open up eight-point gap with their 10th league victory

30 November 2009

Pace-setters SU Agen have now opened up an eight-point gap at the top of ProD2 as they continue their seemingly inexorable drive towards securing automatic promotion to Top 14.

Their latest win - their 10th in 12 matches - saw them thrash struggling Aix-en-Provence 29-3 as they picked up their fourth bonus-point victory of an increasingly profitable season.

South African number eight Adri Badenhorst set them on their way with an eighth-minute try, converted by Scott Daruda, and the home side were 12-0 up after quarter of an hour after the ref awarded a penalty try.

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Konstantin Rachkov kicked a penalty in reply for the visitors, but it proved to be their only score of another testing afternoon as the leaders dominated from first to last. Lock Cyril Chavet added try number three just after the half hour and Badenhorst grabbed his second six minutes after half time when the former Stormers player made it 24-3.

Winger Yoan Huget ran in for try number five on 62 minutes, after which Agen eased off the gas and brought on a series of replacements as they saved their energies for next weekend's away trip to RC Narbonne.

RC Narbonne are currently fourth, 10 points behind Agen, but will be boosted by Saturday's 32-17 away win at FC Auch Gers.

There was nothing between the two sides at half-time as the kickers dominated, with Auch's Benjamin Feilles landing four penalties (in addition to Damien Duffau's first-minute drop-goal), while Delkeith Pottas replied with five successful penalties for Narbonne.

Twenty-two-year-old Feilles went on to land three more kicks in the opening quarter of the second half as the hosts edged 24-15 ahead, but the 58th-minute introduction of Christopher Ruiz - in place of Pottas - proved a turning point.

The former Perpignan player scored the game's opening try just eight minutes after coming on, and his subsequent conversion narrowed the gap to just two points and the visitors pushed for victory with 14 minutes left to play.

Feilles' eighth successful penalty put Auch 27-22 up shortly after, but inside centre Fabien Grammatico - another former Catalan player - then went over for Narbonne's second try, with Ruiz's conversion putting them ahead. The ebullient fly-half then completed a match-winning cameo by slotting a 78th-minute drop-goal to complete the win as Auch slumped to their sixth defeat in seven games.

Lyon OU had gone into the weekend as Agen's nearest rivals but they slipped back to third after drawing 9-9 away to Grenoble.

Three times full-back Alexandre Gomez kicked them into the lead with successful penalties, but Grenoble replied in kind on each occasion through Damien Vidal, and even overcame a yellow card in each half as Pierre Laurent and Lucas Dupont were both sib-binned.

That result enabled Oyonnax to move into second - level on points with Grenoble but ahead on games won - following their 36-10 demolition of Mont-de-Marsan.

The hosts ran in five tries to secure the bonus-point victory, with former Castres lock Gambo Adamou claiming an unlikely hat-trick as he touched down in 19th, 50th and 74th minutes.

Full-back Sylver Tian started it all off with an early penalty before winger Jérémy Aiccardi got the game's first try on 15 minutes. Cameroon-born Adamou then followed suit before 21-year-old Aiccardi doubled up on 22 minutes to put the home side 20-0 ahead.

A brace of Tian penalties further extended the advantage before half time - with Yannick Lafforgue grabbing one in reply for the visitors - before Adamou's second try on 50 minutes put Oyonnax 31-3 up.

Timoci Matanavu's 56th-minute try briefly raised spirits for the away side but there was still time for Adamou to complete his hat-trick late on as Mont-de-Marsan finished with just 13 men following yellow cards for Dov Kosse (in the 73rd minute) and Soane Toevalu (in the 78th minute).

Aurillac climbed to sixth after Jérémy Bourlon's last-minute penalty sealed a 25-22 home win against La Rochelle.

The hosts were outscored by two tries to nil in the opening period with Rémi Tales and Benjamin Ferrou both going over for La Rochelle, although four penalties from English fly-half Rory Teague at least kept them in the hunt at 12-17.

Teague added a fifth success soon after the restart and Aurillac then claimed the lead for the first time in the match when Mathieu Lescure touched down in the 60th minute as the hosts capitalised on their numerical advantage following Tales' yellow card.

Teague's conversion made it 22-17 but La Rochelle ensured a frantic finale when flanker Piula Faasalele scored their third try with just three minutes remaining. The missed conversion left the scores tied at 22-22, paving the way for Bourlon's late match-winner after coming on as a replacement for Teague.

Union Bordeaux-Bègles continued their recent good form by recording a third successive win, this time 16-9 away to basement club Lannemezan on Sunday.

The still win-less home side were eyeing a possible upset after Thomas Pochelu's third penalty success levelled the scores 9-9 with 13 minutes to play, but Camille Lopez's 75th-minute try broke their hearts as Bordeaux just did enough to claim the victory.

The defensive bonus point was scant consolation for the Fédérale 1 champions, who have now lost 12 out of 12 games since gaining promotion to ProD2.

Tarbes' promising start to the season continued to unravel as they lost 19-16 away to Dax, their fourth successive defeat and their fifth in six games.

Maxime Petitjean's fourth-minute drop-goal was cancelled out by a Richard Apanui penalty shortly after for the visitors, but Dax reclaimed the lead when hooker Yves Pedrosa crossed for the game's try on 26 minutes.

Petitjean's conversion made it 10-3 but Tarbes were back on level terms four minutes later after the ref awarded them a penalty try which Apanui successfully converted.

It remained nip-and-tuck after the interval Petitjean (three more pens) and Apanui (two more) the sole scorers as the home side just edged a tense encounter.

Pau's home game with Colomiers was postponed on Saturday after five members of the away squad contracted the H1N1 (swine flu) virus.

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