ProD2, r1: Newcomers Carcassonne begin with thrilling away win at FC Auch Gers

29 August 2010

ProD2 newcomers Carcassonne celebrated their promotion from Fédérale 1 with an opening-day 25-26 away win at FC Auch Gers.

The hosts started brightly enough and were 9-3 ahead after half an hour thanks to a trio of penalties from Pierre-Alexandre Dut, but Carcassonne then replied with a penalty try, converted by former Montauban scrum-half Cédric Rosalen, as they began to find their feet.

Dut's fourth penalty reclaimed the lead for Auch just before the break, but Carcassonne replied with interest as Félix Le Bourhis, yet another former Montauban player, touched down for the second try. Garcia was again on hand to convert, leaving the visitors 12-17 ahead at the break.

It was then a question of hanging in there during a turbulent second period, during which Carcassonne had three players sin-binned for various offences. It began when lock Cédric Guironnet was shown yellow in the 46th minute, continued with number eight Jérôme Baradat following suit after 55 minutes, and concluded with flanker Emmanuel Etien being temporarily banished on 68 minutes.

That meant the visitors played half an hour of the second half down to 14 men, but they still did enough to hang on for their historic victory. Two Dut penalties brought Auch back to 18-20 with 10 minutes to go before Rosalen landed a quickfire brace of his own to all but seal the win.

There was still time for substitute Christophe Clarac to touch down for a 78th-minute try for the hosts, but Dut's conversion left them agonisingly one point short as they fell 25-26.

Ambitious Mont-de-Marsan also got their season off with a bang as they won 9-12 away to FC Grenoble.

'Les Montois' have serious promotion aspirations this season and were indebted to four successful penalties from Benat Arrayet as they began with a precious away win. Arrayet was on target in the 4th, 36th, 44th and 49th minutes as he cancelled out three penalties from the home side's Blair Stewart (in the 6th, 30th and 48th minutes). 

The other away winners in Round 1 were Colomiers, who surprisingly triumphed 15-20 at  Union Bordeaux-Bègles on Friday night.

The sides were level at 3-3 after quarter of an hour when Colomiers full-back Morgan Saout touched down for the game's only (and decisive) try. Two penalties from Bordeaux's debutant Kiwi fly-half Gerard Fraser left the home side trailing 6-11 at half-time, but Frédéric Couzier ensured the precious away win for Colomiers by landing three second-half penalties to keep them ahead.

Relegated SCA Albi were the highest scorers in Round 1 as they ran in six tries to dispatch ProD2 newcomers Saint-Etienne 45-19.

The visitors actually opened the scoring with a sixth-minute penalty from 35-year-old former French international Alexandre Péclier, but three tries in 14 minutes (from Dave Valinqueur, Romain Sola and Vincent Clément) soon put Albi firmly in charge.

Their 23-6 half-time lead was soon extended further when Valinqueur doubled up 16 minutes after the restart, and there were further late tries from Laurent Baluc-Rittener and Sofiane Guitoune as Albi marked their return to ProD2 with a convincing win.

Fly-half Péclier managed four penalties for Saint-Etienne in reply, also adding a 78th-minute conversion following Guenael Henri's late consolation try, but the concession of 45 points could be an ominous foretaste of a tough season ahead for the visitors. Albi, meanwhile, could rejoice in being the only team to register an attacking bonus in the opening round of fixtures, thus leaving them as early division leaders.

Aurillac debutant Maxime Petitjean came back to haunt his previous club Dax as he kicked 23 points in the home side's 36-13 win.

The 26-year-old fly-half landed six penalties, a conversion and a drop-goal, adding to second-half tries from South African back row Jacques Nieuwenhuis and Fijian winger Ropate Ratu.

His impressive match haul helped the hosts overcome a sticky start which saw them trailing 3-13 after 28 minutes following Neumi Nanuku's 12th-minute try and eight points from the boot of Dax debutant Richard Apanui.   

Apanui's former club Tarbes went down 34-29 away to RC Narbonne after two late Christopher Ruiz penalties rescued the home side in the closing seven minutes.

The dramatic finale was in keeping with an entertaining match that saw three tries in the opening 12 minutes, including a first-minute effort on debut from Tarbes' former Racing-Métro fly-half Fabien Fortassin.

The 26-year-old duly brushed himself down to convert his own try, and went on to amass 24 points on debut, but it still didn't prove enough to secure the win.

Tarbes winger Sébastien Caujolle also went over early for the visitors, with Léo Griffoul replying for the hosts. Fortassin added both conversions and two subsequent penalties to lift Tarbes 10-20 ahead after half an hour, before a pre-break rally saw Narbonne come storming back.

Joachim Algisi's 34th-minute try halved the deficit before full-back Griffoul ran in his second try of the game (on 39 mins), leaving Ruiz to kick the conversion which gave Narbonne a 22-20 half-time lead.

Ruiz and Fortassin then traded kicks throughout the second-half, with the lead changing hands five times before the former's late double sealed the home win. Tarbes were left to rue what might have been following yellow cards for Thomas Lasserre (60 mins) and Thierry Lacrampe (76), but at least had the satisfaction of departing with a defensive point.

Griffoul also saw yellow (in the 68th minute) but his two-try start proved just enough to leave Narbonne as first-day winners.

Saturday's other match saw promotion hopefuls Lyon OU ease to a 22-9 home win over Aix-en-Provence - the previously relegated team offered a reprieve by Montauban's financial meltdown and subsequent double relegation.

A possible upset looked on the cards as Provence surprisingly led 6-9 at half-time, but Lyon quickly regained control after the break as they hit the visitors with a decisive burst of 16 points in 14 minutes.

And it was Pierre-Yves Montagnat they largely had to thank for their fight-back as he added a try, conversion and two penalties to his brace of first-half kicks, to end with a match haul of 19 points. Xavier Sardourny also chipped in with a drop-goal, while Provence's points came via Danie de Beer (two pens) and Antoine Lescalmel (one pen).

Pau play host to Oyonnax on Sunday afternoon.

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