ProD2, r14: SU Agen win at Lyon to extend lead to seven points; Narbonne up to second

14 December 2009

ProD2 leaders SU Agen got back to winning ways at the weekend, edging out third-placed Lyon OU 10-9 to register a hard-fought away victory.

Romain Sola's 73rd-minute drop-goal sealed it for the visitors, adding to Laurent Cabarry's earlier try just before half-time. It completed a sound fightback by Agen after they had earlier dropped 6-0 behind and also seen hooker Jalil Narjissi sin-binned.

Romain Loursac's second drop-goal for the hosts had Lyon 9-7 after 48 minutes, but Sola's late reply proved the difference as Agen bounced back from last weekend's defeat at Narbonne.

Furthermore, the result extended their lead to seven points after second-placed Oyonnax lost 21-13 away to Grenoble on Sunday.

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Oyonnax winger Jean-Marie Oulouma scored the game's opening try after 19 minutes but Grenoble then replied with two of their own in a frantic three-minute spell as number eight Olivier Chaplain and winger Lucas Dupont both touched down to help the hosts to a 15-10 half-time advantage.

Fly-half Danie de Beer added two more penalties for the home side after the break, taking his match haul to 11 points as Grenoble snuck up to fifth and into the play-off berths. Oyonnax, meanwhile, slipped down to fourth as they exchanged places with RC Narbonne, who beat La Rochelle 16-13 at home.

Narbonne did all their scoring in the first half with three Christopher Ruiz penalties putting them 9-3 up before Romain Martial crossed for a try right on the stroke of half-time. Ruiz's conversion made it 16-3, but La Rochelle full-back Sébastien Boboul orchestrated a second-half fightback by slotting a 43rd-minute penalty before converting his own try a quarter of an hour later. At 16-13 it was anyone's game, but Narbonne held on for the win despite having Guillaume Borwin sin-binned in the closing minutes.

Mont-de-Marsan followed up last week's away win at Colomiers by beating Pau 18-14 at home on Saturday.

The hosts were 9-11 down at half-time after Karim Koulder's 28th-minute try helped Pau into the lead, and they were still trailing 12-14 when Thibault Duvallet stepped up to slot penalty number five with just seven minutes remaining. He followed up with a sixth just for good measure three minutes later, but Pau at least did enough to gain the defensive bonus.

Union Bordeaux-Bègles just did enough to edge out Dax with a 17-16 home win. Maxime Petitjean gave Dax the lead with a fifth-minute penalty but Bordeaux replied strongly with tries from Nicolas Descamps and Saia Fekitoa by midway through the opening period. Petitjean managed a drop-goal to leave it 14-6 at half time, with Dax not having helped themselves by having Yoann Carpentier and Régis Rameau both yellow-carded.

But they got right back into the match four minutes after the break when Fijian winger Ratu Narukutabua Naisa went over for his sixth try of the campaign. Petitjean added the conversion to put Dax 14-16 ahead, but Raphaël Lagarde's 69th-minute penalty eventually won it for the hosts.

FC Auch Gers ended their four-match losing streak with an emphatic 35-14 home win against Aix-en-Provence.

Auch ran in four tries in all - two in either half - as they recorded the weekend's only attacking bonus. Scrum-half Anthony Salle-Canne started the scoreboard ticking when he touched down after 11 minutes, with fly-half Benjamin Feilles following suit 15 minutes later. The Auch No 10 also kicked three penalties and a conversion as they moved into a 21-9 half-time lead, with all of Provence's points coming from the boot of Antoine Lescalmel.

Auch number eight Alexandre Ricaud was next to score - with Feilles again adding the extras - but the home joy was tempered 10 minutes later when Vincent Noutary went over for the visitors, and thus deleted the attacking bonus. It took of all three minutes for Auch to respond, however, with replacement hooker Sébastien Bruère touching down on the hour mark to reclaim the extra point, and this time there was to be Provence comeback.

Provence remain in the relegation zone but are now a point behind 14th-placed Colomiers after the latter secured a defensive bonus in their 28-21 away defeat at Tarbes.

Remarkably there was only one try in a game of 49 points, with Tarbes centre Thomas Pieter Loftus going over in the 55th minute. The scores were 15-15 at the time with Krist Kopetsky kicking four penalties and a drop-goal for the home side and Frédéric Couzier replying with an identical haul for the visitors.

The Loftus try proved decisive though, with Kopetsky and Couzier adding two more penalties each as the match ended 28-21 to Tarbes.

Basement club Lannemezan couldn't build on last weekend's maiden league win, slipping to a 9-19 home defeat against Aurillac on Sunday afternoon.

The visitors raced into a 6-0 lead thanks to a fourth-minute penalty from Jérémy Bourlon and an eight-minute drop-goal from Graydon Staniforth, but Lannemezan steadied the ship and had fought level by half time courtesy of two Thomas Pochelu penalties.

The decisive break came four minutes after the restart as Romanian centre Romeo Gontineac touched down for the game's only try. Bourlon was again on target with the conversion, but it still looked as if Lannemezan might hold on for the defensive bonus until he dashed their hopes with two more penalties in the last three minutes.

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