ProD2
Play-offs: Lyon OU and La Rochelle on the cusp of Top 14
after semi-final victories
16 May 2010
Lyon OU
will play La Rochelle in the ProD2 play-off final, with the
winners securing promotion to Top 14.
Lyon,
who finished second in the league, went through thanks to a
29-13 home win against Pau that takes coach Raphael
Saint-André one step closer to competing against his brother
(Toulon’s Philippe) in next season’s Top 14 championship.
ProD2 Table
/
ProD2 Top scorers
/
ProD2
Fixtures & Results
The
hosts were always in control after Pau gifted them four
penalties in the opening quarter of an hour – all gratefully
kicked by Pierre-Yves Montagnat – and their superiority was
further consolidated when Pau full-back Clement Fromont was
harshly yellow-carded for a trip.
Lyon
then ran in two tries in four minutes to all but seal the
result, with fly-half Xavier Sadourny (29 mins) and
scrum-half Antoine Nicoud (33) both touching down to open up
a massive 24-3 half-time advantage.
Pau
rallied after the interval and breathed fresh life into the
contest when Gregory Puyo sped in for a 51st-minute
try after an excellent break by Julien Dumora. Clement Darbo
further reduced the gap with a 57th-minute
penalty – making it 24-13 - as Pau enjoyed territorial
domination, but Lyon finally secured the win when flanker
Dorian Seve was driven over the line by his forwards with 17
minutes remaining.
Lyon
will now take on La Rochelle, who they finished level
on points with during the regular season. La Rochelle,
playing their fourth successive semi-final, squeezed through
6-3 at home to Oyonnax thanks to a brace of
second-half penalties from Benjamin Dambielle.
The
victory was a near repeat of the result between these two on
the final day of the regular Prod2 season, when La Rochelle
won 9-6 at Oyonnax to crucially secure home advantage.
Dambielle had the first opportunity to open the scoring but
was wayward with his 35m penalty in the 20th
minute, while Oyonnax’s Bertrand Guilloux was also wide with
an ambitious attempted drop-goal from 40m shortly after. But
the visiting fly-half did eventually break the deadlock with
his second attempt just three minutes before the break, this
time seeing his 25m drop-goal sail through the posts.
It
remained 0-3 to the away side until Dambielle levelled the
scores with his 48th-minute equalizing penalty,
and the La Rochelle full-back was on hand again to kick the
game’s decisive penalty with just 13 minutes remaining.
Oyonnax
pushed for a response of their own in the closing stages but
the nearest they got was a missed drop-goal from second-half
replacement Sebastien Bouillot as they just fell short.
The
play-off final will now be held on May 23rd at
Brive’s Stade Amédée Domenech, with the match due to kick
off at 16.30.
|
