ProD2, r7: RC Narbonne take top spot after SU Agen's last-minute defeat at Oyonnax

19 October 2009

RC Narbonne are the new leaders of ProD2 after they demolished high-flying Grenoble 32-0 to leapfrog over SU Agen, who went down 12-10 at Oyonnax.

Narbonne ran in four unanswered tries against Grenoble, with former Brumbies No 8 Jone Tawake setting the scoreboard rolling with his eighth-minute opener for the home side. Christopher Ruiz added the conversion and a subsequent drop-goal before 21-year-old Fijian winger Sionasa Vunisa grabbed try number two - and his fourth for the season - after 27 minutes.

Centre Delkeith Pottas scored Narbonne's third just two minutes into the second half and replacement prop Jérémy Castex rounded off an excellent afternoon for the new pace-setters  when he completed the scoring five minutes from time.

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Sunday's win lifted them a point ahead of SU Agen after the latter were beaten 12-10 by Oyonnax in a repeat of last year's play-off semi-final.

The visitors - and pre-weekend leaders - started brightly enough with Cameroonian prop Bernard Nnomo opening the scoring with his 19th-minute try. Scott Daruda's conversion made it 7-0, and it remained like that until three minutes into the second half before a Sylver Tian penalty finally got Oyonnax on the board.

The full-back added two further successful kicks - in the 53rd and 69th minutes - but Agen were still leading 10-9 as the game entered its final minute thanks to Brice Dulin's 63rd minute penalty. A last-minute transgression proved costly for the visitors, however, as Sébastien Bouillot stepped up to slot a match-winning kick that saw the hosts climb up to fifth spot, while Agen had to settle for a defensive bonus and the end of their five-match winning streak.

Sunday's other match saw struggling Colomiers beat La Rochelle 19-13 to record only their second league win of the season.

Scrum-half Jérémy Bertin touched down to put the hosts in front after just eight minutes, but a brace of Benjamin Dambielle penalties snuck the visitors ahead before a double red card incident in the 34th minute saw Colomiers winger Vereniki Goneva and La Rochelle flanker Nicolas Djebaili both sent off.

Colomiers No 8 Guillaume Bortolaso then squeezed over the home side's second try just before the interval, with Ben Martin's conversion handing them a 12-6 half-time lead.

It remained that way until Norman Ligairi's try for La Rochelle shortly before the hour mark, but the away team's victory hopes were dashed eight minutes from the end when replacement scrum-half Sébastien Inigo scored Colomiers' third try. Martin again added the conversion to make it 19-13, but La Rochelle did at least have the consolation of returning home with the defensive bonus.

On Saturday, Pau claimed the Midi-Pyrenees derby honours after winning 23-22 at rivals Tarbes, despite being a man down for the majority of the second half following Julien Jacquot's red card.

The home side began brightly with Scottish centre Martin Worthington touching down for the opening try after just two minutes, with Krist Kopetsky adding the conversion. But Pau responded with a try of their own when winger Bruno Hiriart crossed after quarter of an hour.

Fly-half Andre Hough missed the conversion but did add two drop-goals and a pair of penalties - all in the space of 10 minutes - as the visitors went into half-time with a 17-10 advantage.

Kopetsky landed an early penalty in reply shortly after the restart, before Tarbes' hopes were raised further following Jacquot's 47th-minute dismissal. However, it was Pau who scored next with Hough completing his hat-trick of drop-goals just two minutes after the full-back had received his marching orders.

The home side continued to press with their numerical advantage and had regained a narrow lead by the 68th following three successful penalties as they appeared set for a hard fought derby win. But Pau scrum-half Sebastien Descons had the last word, kicking a 77th-minute match-wining penalty as the visitors completed their second away win of the season.

Lyon OU maintained their positive start to the season with a bonus-point 26-6 home win against FC Auch Gers.

The hosts only led 5-0 at half-time courtesy of flanker Dorian Seve's 26th-minute try, but they piled on the points after the break with hooker Ephram Taukafa and replacement scrum-half Antoine Nicoud both going over.

Alexandre Gomez kicked three penalties and a conversion to complete the scoring, with Auch restricted to a couple of Vincent Cortes penalties in reply as they slipped to their second  successive defeat.

Former Top 14 side Mont-de-Marsan beat Union Bordeaux-Bègles 16-12 to record only their third league win since being relegated.

Yannick Lafforgue's 43rd-minute try proved the crucial score, with Thibault Duvallet adding the conversion and three penalties. Union battled throughout and were never more than seven points behind thanks to Henri-Pierre Vermis' four successful penalties, and at least had the satisfaction of gaining a defensive bonus away from home.

Aurillac bounced back from last week's narrow defeat at Grenoble with a convincing 20-6 home win over Thomas Lièvremont's Dax.

English fly-half Rory Teague kicked five penalties for the hosts before Fijian Dan Baleinadogo scored the game's only try (in the 63rd minute) to seal the win, leaving Dax without a victory in their last three matches.

Down at the other end of the table resurgent Aix-en-Provence made it three matches unbeaten as they overcame fellow new arrivals Lannemezan 12-6 in a feisty affair that also saw two red cards and an end-of-match 'bagarre general'.

Mur Ludovic got Lannemezan off to a good start with his eight-minute penalty, but Provence's Antoine Lescalmel had already equalized by the time of the double sending off in the 28th minute. Provence's Lionel Gautherie and Lannemezan's Damien Costanzo were the two to go as tempers boiled over.

Lescalmel added a second penalty to see the home side 6-3 up at the interval, but Lannemezan reclaimed the lead thanks to a 43rd-minute try from flanker Jean-Baptiste Cros. The visitors fought valiantly for what would have been their first win since gaining promotion, but Lescalmel kicked two more penalties - the latter in the 70th minute - to leave with the sorry record of seven losses from seven instead.

The LNR's disciplinary committee is bound to have its say in due course, but Lannemezan will have to live with the pain of yet another defeat in the meantime as they continue to be rooted to the foot of the table despite doubling their points tally courtesy of their defensive bonus.

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