ProD2, r4: Grenoble take outright lead; Dax and SU Agen win again to climb into top four

20 September 2009

Grenoble confirmed their status as early-season pace setters in ProD2 when thy made it four wins from four with a narrow 16-15 home victory over Pau on Friday night.

But the home side had to fight back from 0-9 down after half an hour as a trio of Andre Hough penalties potentially set Pau up for a second successive away win. Peni Fakalelu's 35th-minute yellow card changed the context of the contest, however, with Grenoble capitalising on the Tongan prop's exclusion to score the game's only try - through Julien Campo - right on the stroke of half time.

Danie de Beer's conversion narrowed the interval gap to just two points, with three second-half penalties then steering the hosts home, despite temporarily losing young centre Pierre Aguillon following his 55th-minute sin-bin.

Two late penalties from Hough ensured Pau stayed right in the match until the end, but the visitors had to be content with a defensive bonus for their journey back to the Midi-Pyrenees.

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Grenoble are now two points clear of RC Narbonne, who lost their unbeaten start when they went down 13-6 away to Oyonnax, last season's beaten play-off finalists.

A 48th-minute penalty try for the hosts proved to be the game's turning point after a brace of Jeandre Fourie kicks - a penalty and a drop-goal - had given Narbonne a 6-3 half-time lead.

Oyonnax's South African winger Rudi Vogt landed the conversion and two penalties on debut to seal the win, but Narbonne's defensive bonus was just enough to keep them above Lyon OU in second place.

The latter remain undefeated after their 12-12 away draw at Colomiers, secured when prolific full-back Pierre-Yves Montagnat landed a crucial last-minute penalty. The former Oyonnax player scored all of Lyon's points for the second successive match - via four penalties - and has now amassed an impressive 60-point haul in just four games for his new club. Not only is he the league's leading scorer - three points ahead of La Rochelle's Benjamin Dambielle - he is also joint-leading try scorer (with three).

Australian fly-half Ben Martin - formerly with Marseille-Vitrolles - scored nine of Colomiers' points - via two penalties and drop-goal - with full-back Morgan Saout getting the other three courtesy of his opportunistic drop on the hour.

Relegated Mont-de-Marsan returned to winning ways as they beat promoted Aix-en-Provence 24-18, but the former Top 14 side still failed to break the try line, with fly-half Thibault Duvallet kicking all of their points via eight successful penalties.

You don't get many 42-point matches without a single try, but that's exactly what happened here with Duvallet just out-kicking Antoine Lescalmel (who landed six penalties for the visitors). Les Montois will obviously be pleased to have registered the home win, but Provence won't be too unhappy to have picked up their third defensive bonus in four games, especially as they were 21-6 down after 56 minutes.

La Rochelle made it back-to-back wins as they beat Tarbes 16-6 at home in another match where try-scoring opportunities were at a premium. Krist Kopetsky gave the visitors an early six-point lead when he kicked two penalties in the opening five minutes, but Rochelle's Dambielle replied with interest as his three successful efforts gave the home side a narrow 9-6 lead at half-time.

It remained that way until the home side's forwards' pressure finally paid dividends with a 52nd-minute penalty try, which Dambielle duly converted to complete the afternoon's scoring.

Elsewhere, Adam Jaulhac's 39th-minute try set Union Bordeaux-Bègles on their way to a 19-9 home win against Aurillac.

The former Brive espoir grabbed the game's only try, with Henri-Pierre Vermis' boot claiming all of Union's other points through four penalties and a conversion. Aurillac had started brightly enough with Jeremy Bourlon's two penalties in the opening quarter of an hour giving them a 6-0 lead, but they had to wait until the 67th minute for their next score - when Bourlon added a third penalty - and finished the match with 14 men following Julien Maréchal's late yellow card.

Pre-season promotion favourites SU Agen climbed up to third following their 19-3 away win at FC Auch Gers on Sunday afternoon. The visitors got off to an inauspicious start as Georgian prop Anton Peikrishvili was sin-binned shortly after a Vincent Cortes penalty had given Auch the early lead, but a trio of Romain Sola successes eased them 9-3 ahead by half-time.

Peikrishvili then made amends for his earlier yellow when he touched down for the game's only try seven minutes after the restart, with Sola adding the conversion and a later penalty to complete the scoring.

But any hopes that Agen harboured of pushing on for the attacking bonus were soon scuppered when scrum-half Sylvain Dupuy saw straight red in the 57th minute, leaving the visitors to play out time with just 14 men.

The other Sunday fixture saw Dax win 23-11 at basement club Lannemezan as they moved up to fourth. Thomas Lièvremont's side were looking good value for an attacking bonus after running in three first-half tries - through Yves Pedrosa, Ratu Naisa Narukutabua and Loic Mazières - but Lannemezan put in a spirited performance after the interval to shade the second half 8-3 and deny them the extra point.

Jean-Marie Heraut initiated the response when he slotted his second penalty of the afternoon on 50 minutes, with replacement hooker Nicolas Sentous going on to grab a try for the home side midway through the second half, and just one minute after Dax's Yoann Carpentier had been yellow-carded.

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