ProD2: Tarbes and Pau fall from reckoning as the race for promotion goes to the wire

03 May 2009

The race for play-off places became clearer at the weekend as outsiders Tarbes and Pau both fell from the reckoning, leaving just five teams battling for the four available slots.

Second-placed SU Agen are already guaranteed one of those, leaving SCA Albi, Oyonnax, La Rochelle and Lyon OU to fight it out on the final weekend, with a mere three points separating third from sixth. And the congestion could increase further when La Rochelle travel to Colomiers this afternoon for the weekend's final game - with an away win set to leave it two points between four clubs.

ProD2 Table

La Rochelle, who played on Sunday, remain at the head of the four-strong pack jostling for position after they claimed a crucial bonus point in their 29-15 away win at Colomiers.

The visitors left it late, however, with a 79th-minute penalty try finally sealing the additional point which ensured they remain in third place.

The closing drama seemed some way off as they scored twice in the opening half hour, with Sébastien Morel and Nicolas Djebaili, although Colomiers kept in touch through a tri of first-half penalties from Corey Niwa.

The hosts had gone into the match safe in the knowledge they couldn't be relegated after Bourg's defeat on Saturday, but they remained reliant on Niwa's boot as they failed to cross the try-line throughout.

The Kiwi added a further brace after the break, but Benjamin Dambielle proved equally proficient for La Rochelle as he landed three in 16 minutes to keep the visitors ahead, before the late penalty try sealed the bonus.

Fourth-placed SCA Albi ensured their presence in the final-day drama with a hard-fought 30-23 home win against SU Agen.

Vincent Clément's sixth minute try got them off to a perfect start, and they were 14-10 up at the interval after Kiwi Blair Stewart added three successful penalties. Agen's Yoann Huget touched down on the quarter hour to continue his superb form, and the free-scoring former Stade Toulousain winger doubled up when he crossed again after 58 minutes to make it 14 for the season so far.

But Stewart had already added a further brace of penalties by then to leave the hosts 23-20 ahead with just 10 minutes to play.

Yogane Corréa then eased Albi's nerves when he went over for their second try - converted by Stewart - before François Gelez kicked a late penalty to ensure the visitors at least departed with a defensive bonus.

The defeat was Agen's first in nine games, but they remain assured of a home semi-final whatever the outcome of their last match as they play host to already promoted Racing-Métro 92.

Albi, who were relegated from Top 14 due to financial irregularities last season, are now at home to relegated Béziers next week as they bid to bounce straight back up - via the play-offs.

They are one point clear of Oyonnax, who maintained their own promotion hopes as they fought back from 10-3 down at half-time to win 10-18 at Grenoble.

Pierre-Yves Montagnat - ProD2's leading scorer - kicked the visitors into an early lead, but Grenoble ended the half on a high after a 39th-minute penalty try was converted by Dannie De Beer.

Two further Montagnat penalties narrowed the gap to a solitary point within 10 minutes of the restart, before Bertrand Guilloux's drop-goal finally put them back in the lead. Montagnat added a fourth successful kick on the hour mark and Guilloux's subsequent penalty ensured the win, and the prospect of securing a possible home semi-final if they beat RC Narbonne at home next weekend.

Lyon OU narrowed the gap on Oyonnax to just one point after securing the bonus in their 30-10 home win against Union Bordeaux-Bègles.

Jeandre Fourie and Thibault Duvallet traded early penalties before Lyon's Fabien Laurent crossed for the game's opening try just before the half-hour mark. Fourie added the extras to give the hosts a 13-3 interval lead, and they went on to ensure the bonus as they followed up with three more tries in the second half.

South African Fourie grabbed the first two himself en route to a match haul of 20 points, with Rémy Grosso getting the crucial fourth after Maxime Machenaud's 65th-minute response from Union had threatened to throw a spanner in the works.

The win was Lyon's seventh in eight games, but they know they must maintain that momentum away to Auch next week if they're to squeeze into the play-offs as they remain ideally placed to capitalise on any last-day slip-ups.

Tarbes gained revenge over Pau with a 23-22 victory in the Midi-Pyrenees derby, but it was a result which ultimately benefitted neither side as they both finally bowed out of the race for play-off places.

Not that Tarbes allowed that to stop the end-of-match party as they not only avenged their last-minute one-point defeat at Pau earlier in the season, but also had the satisfaction of leapfrogging over their rivals into seventh spot.

Flowing rugby was at a premium in a typically tetchy derby that saw three yellows and numerous scuffles, but the result was all that mattered for Tarbes as they edged to victory courtesy of Scottish centre Martin Worthington's 37th-minute try and 18 points from the combined boots of Anthony Bourgeois (three pens) and Krist Kopetzky (two pens and a drop-goal).

For Pau it's a question of what might have been after their fifth reverse in six games underlined their lack of squad depth, with the attention now turning to next season. Scrum-half Clément Darbo kicked five penalties and also converted Arnaud Epito's 47th-minute try, but lack of discipline and silly errors proved their undoing once more in front of a lively full house at the Stade Maurice Trélut.  

At the other end of the table Bourg-en-Bresse's improbable late fight for survival finally ended in valiant failure as their relegation to Fédérale 1 was confirmed following a 48-32 defeat at champions Racing-Métro 92.

Bourg's best hope was that their hosts would be nursing a mighty promotion hangover, but unfortunately they crashed into a Racing side still intent on partying as the home side ran in five first-half tries, and seven in total.

Samoan centre Sefulu Gaugau got the ball rolling as early as the second-minute, and it was virtual one-way traffic thereafter as Top 14's newest arrivals put on an attacking masterclass for their fans at Stade Colombes. Fijian Sireli Bobo was next over - when he registered try number 12 for the season -  with South Africans Francois Van Der Merwe and Ashley Clarke also scoring, before Australian scrum-half Nic Berry completed the first-half rout.

The ever-green Andrew Mehrtens converted all five tries, as well as landing a 14th-minute penalty, with Bourg's response limited to a Nic Fitsemanu try and five points from the boot of Clint Eadie.

Nigel Staniforth and Eadie then crossed for further scores as Racing relaxed after the break, before Clarke ran in his second of the afternoon and Italian hooker Carlo Festuccia completed the home side's scoring. There was still time for former Saracens fly-half Paul Bailey to grab Bourg's fourth try in the dying seconds, but it wasn't enough to save them from relegation as they joined Béziers in dropping down to Fédérale 1.   

The once mighty Béziers at least went out with a bang as they beat RC Narbonne 37-18 to register their third successive home win - a victory that lifted them off the foot of the table at Bourg's expense.

The hosts scored two tries in either half with Franck Villaz and Pierre-Olivier Julien touching down before the interval, and Frédéric Cermeno and Anthony Poujol getting on the scoresheet after the restart.

Anthony Tesquet (two conversions and two pens) and Thomas Pochelu (two conversions and a pen) further boosted the home side's score, while Brice Chevchenko and Vincent Favre-Trosson both crossed for second-half tries for Narbonne.

Entertainment was the order of the day at Aurillac as they edged a 10-try bonanza by a single point against FC Auch Gers, eventually winning 37-36 despite a second-half rally from the visitors.

The hosts looked set to run riot as they chalked up four tries and 27 unanswered points in the opening 22 minutes, with Australian Graydon Staniforth starting proceedings off with the initial touch down. Georgian Malkhaz Urjukashvili was next over, quickly followed by flanker Mathieu Lescure and Fijian winger Féro Lasagavibau, as he grabbed his 11th try of another prolific season.

But just when it seemed records might be set to tumble the visitors opened their own try account as Pierre Aguillon went over in the 25th minute, with Vincent Cortes converting. The fightback continued after the interval when Cameroonian prop Bernard Nnomo scored five minutes after the restart, followed eight minutes later by Patrick Bosque as the visitors threatened to make a game of it.

Cortes converted the latter and added a 70th-minute penalty as Auch narrowed the deficit to 30-22, only for Lasagavibau to race in for Aurillac once more to ensure the win - and his 12th try of the season.

There was still time, however, for the visitors to end with a flourish as scrum-half Christophe Clarac crossed in the 76th minute and Mathieu Badel deep into injury time. Cortes again added the extras as Auch ultimately ended a single point short, leaving Aurillac to continue their positive end to the season with a run that has seen just two defeats in their last nine games.

By contrast, this was Auch's fifth consecutive defeat, and their ninth in 12 - although their real battle remains to avoid the threat of bankruptcy.

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