ProD2, r17: SU Agen and Oyonnax both lose as the chasing pack gains ground on top two

18 January 2010

Leaders SU Agen lost for only the fourth time this season as they went down 20-10 at play-off hopefuls La Rochelle on Sunday.

The visitors took a fourth-minute lead courtesy of a François Gelez penalty, but found themselves trailing at half-time after Rochelle full-back Sébastien Boboul slotted two of his own in reply. The home side even survived going temporarily down to 14 men after hooker Franco Pani saw yellow in the 34th minute.

Two further Boboul penalties extended La Rochelle's lead to 12-3 by the hour mark before Agen's Tongan number eight Opeti Fonua went over for the game's opening try on 62 minutes. Romain Sola kicked the conversion to narrow the gap to just two points, but Agen's hopes of completing the comeback were severely hampered when South African flanker Adri Badenhorst was sin-binned with 10 minutes to go.

Boboul's fifth penalty success then eased home nerves before former Clermont Auvergne winger Thomas Combezou touched down five minutes from time to seal an impressive victory.

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La Rochelle stay sixth despite their latest win, but the fight for play-off spots continues to become increasingly congested with at least 10 teams still in contention for those precious four slots. Agen, meanwhile, remain top and on target for automatic promotion, but their one-time 10-point advantage has now been cut to just five despite second-placed Oyonnax losing 13-9 at Tarbes.

South African flanker Werner Loftus gave Tarbes the ideal start with a 10th-minute try - converted by Richard Apanui - and the visitors were constantly playing catch up after that. Two Sylver Tian penalties brought them back to 7-6 by half-time, and they even took the lead when he added a third success with 15 minutes to go, but two Krist Kopetsky penalties in the last seven minutes sealed only Tarbes' second win in their last eight league games.

Oyonnax, therefore, had to settle for the defensive point, but given Agen's subsequent defeat on Sunday it was enough to see them cut the leaders' advantage to five points.

RC Narbonne climbed form fourth to third on the back of their 56-10 hammering of basement club Lannemezan.

Narbonne's bonus-point win - the only one of the weekend - was never in doubt after the hosts scored four unanswered tries in the opening period. Flanker Benjamin Beaux grabbed tow of those, with the others coming via 22-year-old Fijian winger Sionasa Vunisa and a 29th-minute penalty try.

Lannemezan paid dearly for centre Damien Tilhac's 28th-minute yellow card, with Agen scoring three of their tries during his absence, but Narbonne continued to pile on the points even after the visitors returned to 15 men.

The hosts ran in three tries in the opening 10 minutes of the second half with hooker Joachim Algisi, fly-half Christopher Ruiz and Vunisa (again) all going over. The latter's was his seventh in 15 games in a highly promising maiden season in France.

At that stage Narbonne eased off the gas having opened up a 51-3 advantage - Ludovic Mur had kicked a 24th-minute penalty to put Lannemezan on the board - but the visitors soon found themselves back down to 14 men following a yellow card for lock Grégory Bernard after 58 minutes. There was still time for winger Romain Martial to score Narbonne's eighth try, while Lannemezan did at least end on a positive note when replacement Cyril Lin scored for them three minutes from time.

It was, though, no more than a token effort and summed up the struggles that the Fédérale 1 champions have had this season as they slumped to their 15th defeat in 16 league games.

Grenoble went into round 17 in third place but slipped down to fourth despite beating Mont-de-Marsan 14-9 at home.

The match was all square 6-6 at half time thanks to a brace of penalties each from Grenoble's Danie de Beer and Mont-de-Marsan's Thibault Duvallet, but the home side pulled clear shortly after the restart when former Stormers winger Wylie Human touched down for the game's only try.

Duvallet's third penalty success brought the visitors back to 11-9, but ex-Toulon number eight Saone Toevalu was subsequently sent off in the 69th-minute - forcing them to chase the game with only 14 players. Damien Vidal - on as a replacement for de Beer - extended Grenoble's lead with a 71st-minute penalty, but the visitors managed to hold on to claim a valuable defensive bonus.

The result means Grenoble and Narbonne are now tied on 50 points, although the latter are third courtesy of their better points differential.

Away draw specialists Lyon OU remain in the last play-off slot after finishing 12-12 at relegation threatened Aix-en-Provence - their fifth away draw of the season -  although they looked set for a third away win until Russian fly-half Konstantin Rachkov kicked a last-minute penalty for the home side.

Rachkov had earlier kicked two first-half penalties, with Lyon's Pierre-Yves Montagnat replying in kind as the two teams were tied 6-6 at the break. Xavier Sadourny's 49th-minute drop-goal gave Lyon the lead for the first time in the match, but Rachkov levelled 15 minutes later, before yet another Montagnat penalty appeared to set up the visitors for a hard-fought victory.

But Rachkov had the last word, earning Provence two points as they narrowed the gap on 14th-placed Colomiers to just four points - thus keeping alive their hopes of avoiding relegation in their first season in ProD2.

Colomiers went down 10-0 away to Dax as the hosts registered their fourth win in five league games. Mathieu Lièvremont's 34th-minute try, converted by Anthony Lagardère, set Dax on their way, with the latter adding a second-half penalty to complete the victory.

Elsewhere, in-form Pau maintained their upward mobility with a 21-14 home win against Aurillac to record their third successive league victory.

Jérémy Bourlon's second-minute penalty gave the visitors an early lead, but Pau responded with two tries in eight minutes as they came roaring back. First over was Fijian winger Akuila Nawerecagi - for his third try in two games - with full-back Clément Fromont following in soon after as the home team opened up a 12-3 lead.

Stephan Gerber's 29th-minute yellow card for Aurillac was soon followed by two Clément Darbo penalties for the hosts, and at 18-3 at half-time Pau must have been eyeing a potential attacking bonus. But Erasmus van Vuuren's 62nd-minute try for the visitors put paid to that, and the away side gained further ground before the final whistle thanks to a pair of Bourlon penalties which earned them a defensive point.

The weekend's other match saw FC Auch Gers beat Union Bordeaux-Bègles 17-6 to maintain their three-match unbeaten run.

Full-back Damien Duffau set them on their way with a fifth-minute try, and the home side were 11-3 up at half-time after Anthony Salle-Canne's drop-goal and a late penalty from Benjamin Feilles.

Feilles and Henri-Pierre Vermis traded penalties after the restart - the latter adding to his 10th-minute effort in the first period - before Feilles completed the scoring with his own drop-goal on 54 minutes to seal the win.

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