ProD2 round 11: Aurillac recover against Grenoble to win and stay top

01 December 2008

Leaders Aurillac were given a shock at home by Grenoble after conceding two tries in the opening 12 minutes, before rallying to win 29-22.

An upset looked on the cards when tries by Julien Campo and Simon Sarthou gave the visitors an early 10-3 lead, but both tries went unconverted, allowing Delkeith Pottas to kick Aurillac back into contention with a hat-trick of penalties.

The leaders still trailed 13-9 at half-time but Fijian wing Fero Lasagavibau scored a try early in the second half, with Australian Graydon Staniforth adding the decisive second 15 minutes from the end.

Pottas, crucially, converted both, together with another brace of penalties as Aurillac confirmed top spot with their ninth win of the season.

Second-placed Racing Metro ’92 kept the pressure up with a 22-9 home win against promotion rivals SCA Albi on Sunday.

Former All Black fly-half Andrew Mehrtens kicked five penalties for the Paris club before Sefulu Gaugau’s last-minute try sealed the victory.

Sunday’s other match saw Tarbes beat Auch 26-12 in a stormy Armagnac-Bigorre derby that saw two red cards and three yellows.

The home side scored all 26 points in the opening half hour as Isoa Domolailai and Thierry Lacrampe both crossed for tries, with Richard Apanui kicking both conversions and four penalties.

Benoit Paillaugue replied with a brace of penalties in each half but it wasn’t enough for the visitors.

Maxime Santoni (Tarbes) and David Penlava (Auch) both saw red in closing minutes as the feisty encounter ran its course, following earlier yellows for Thierry Berhabe, Alexandre Ricaud (both Auch) and Domolailai.

La Rochelle bounced back from defeat at Agen with a comprehensive 33-9 home win against struggling Beziers, as they climbed up to third.

David McGowan, Sebastien Boboul and Cobus Grobler all scored – together with a penalty try – as the hosts overpowered their relegation-threatened visitors.

Boboul added a pair of penalties and conversions to complete the scoring, together with a Remy Tales penalty, while Beziers’ reply came in the shape of a brace of first-half penalties from Thomas Pochelu and a Jonathan Bousquet drop goal.

Pau moved up to fifth as they turned on the power to dispatch basement club Bourg-en-Bresse 35-3, with Nicolas Mouret, Arnaud Epito (2) and Julien Fumat all scoring for the home side.

Sebastien Descons initially kicked Pau into a 9-0 lead courtesy of three penalties before Mouret went over five minutes before the interval.

Epito then scored the first of his two tries on 53 minutes, with Fumat adding the third after Nicolas Manguelin had kicked a penalty to earn the visitors their solitary points.

Epito rounded off the scoring five minutes from time, with Andre Hough adding the conversion to complete the romp.

Francois Gelez kicked 21 points as SU Agen beat Colomiers 36-17 in an entertaining encounter.

The home side got off to the perfect start when Tongan back row Uelenitoni Fono went over for a first-minute try – converted by Gelez – but Colomiers struck back thanks to Fijian winger Malakai Bakaniceva’s 15^th-minute reply.

Gelez kicked four first-half penalties as the home side then eased clear, with Georgian Irakli Machkaneli adding a second try on 33 minutes to open up 26-10 interval lead.

South African Daniel Du Plessis got cosmopolitan Agen’s third try midway through the second half, with lock Cedric Fadel getting a late consolation for the visitors as he went over two minutes from time.

Agen, who this week confirmed that Fijian winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca has re-signed for his former club until the end of the season, are now up to sixth as they seek to build a late promotion surge.

Elsewhere, first-half tries from Frederic Montagnat and Henri-Pierre Vermis set Union Bordeaux-Begles on their way to a 15-9 home win against promotion chasing Oyonnax.

An opening-minute drop goal from Sebastien Bouillot gave the visitors an early 3-0 lead, but they were left chasing the game after hooker Montagnat touched down on nine minutes.

Vermis added the second try shortly before half-time, with Thibault Duvallet adding the conversion to leave it 12-3 at the break.

Pierre Yves Montagnat slotted a brace of second-half penalties to reduce the arrears, but Duvallet landed his own on 72 minutes to confirm Union’s fifth win of the season.

Finally, a last-minute converted try wasn’t enough for Narbonne as they went down 14-13 away to Lyon.

Jeandre Fourie and Christopher Ruiz exchanged penalty kicks before Fabien Laurent went over after 31 minutes as Lyon opened up an 11-3 half-time advantage.

Fourie’s 48^th-minute penalty extended the lead only for Ruiz to land his second kick to leave the tie intriguingly placed at 14-6.

The visitors pushed for further scores but were held at bay until Shawn Hegarty went over for a converted try in the dying seconds to leave them tantalisingly one point away from a draw.

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