Top 14, r17: Riki Flutey makes winning return as Brive beat champions Perpignan

03 January 2010

England centre Riki Flutey made a triumphant playing comeback as Brive beat Top 14 champions Perpignan 29-9 at the Stade Amédée Domenech.

Flutey played played the entire 80 minutes as he started only his second match for Brive since signing from London Wasps. The British Lions centre failed to score, but he did set up Brive's third try late on as the Limousin club secured a morale-boosting bonus-point win against the Catalans. His presence alone clearly lifted the home side, who responded in style to Wednesday's 52-10 drubbing at derby rivals Clermont Auvergne. It also leant a heavy English presence to the home side, with Jamie Noon lining up alongside Flutey in the centres, with Shaun Perry at scrum-half and Steve Thompson in at hooker.

Brive, who beat Stade Toulousain 27-21 last time out at home, forged ahead in the 14th minute when Georgian prop Davit Kinchagishvili powered over after scrum-half Perry had been stopped just short following a quickly taken tap-penalty. Alexis Palisson missed the conversion, but Brive's forwards continue to dominate up front, especially with Catalan hooker Marius Tincu already in the sin-bin for a professional foul.

Steve Meyer's 40m penalty briefly narrowed the gap on 20 minutes, but Perpignan were disrupted by the injury-enforced loss of international centres David Marty (21st minute) and Maxime Mermoz (30th) as the ferocity of battle took its toll.

Perry was the focal point of much of Brive's impressive first-half display, while hooker Thompson rolled back the years with a rampaging run to the Perpignan 22 just before the half hour. Indeed, such was the home team's growing confidence they even spurned a simple penalty kick in the search for more tries before the break.

Palisson did eventually elect to kick at goal, with successful efforts in the 33rd and 38th minutes leading to Brive's 11-3 half-time lead. The latter penalty came after Perpignan winger Farid Sid had been yellow-carded for not releasing the ball on the ground as the visitors suffered a pre-interval double whammy.

Palisson and Meyer traded two more penalties apiece before the former gave Brive the definitive break when his one-two with Ronnie Cooke paved the way for the full-back to score in the corner. Palisson duly converted his own try before the home supporters were sent into delirium as Cooke crossed for their third try just four minutes later.

Top 14 Table  / Top 14 try-scorers / Top 14 Results / Top 14 Fixtures

Elsewhere, Top 14 leaders Castres wasted no time in going about their business at home to basement club SCA Albi, racing into a 22-3 advantage after registering three tries in the opening 25 minutes.

Former Toulon speedster Marc Andreu got the ball rolling with his fourth-minute effort before Australian fly-half Cameron McIntyre grabbed number two just after the quarter hour. Further pressure then brought a 25th-minute penalty try as Albi scrum-half Kevin Boulogne jumped the gun on a five-metre scrum.

The ever-reliable Romain Teulet slotted two of the conversions and an eighth-minute penalty to ensure the scoreboard kept ticking, but Albi then surprised everyone by getting back a try of their own. And it was Boulogne, making amends for his earlier error, who touched down and then converted his own effort to leave the visitors 22-10 down at half time. Boulogne's action-packed match came to a premature end three minutes before the interval, however, when he was forced off with a thigh injury he sustained while scoring his try, with Sébastien Pages coming on as his replacement.

Albi lock Paul Guffroy was yellow carded for a punch four minutes after the restart, and Castres took immediate as former All Blacks flanker Chris Masoe continued his superb season with another try, his second in five days. Albi's ill-discipline then went to pot, with fly-half Frédéric Manca seeing yellow on 51 minutes and then Pages getting a straight red just four minutes later.

Castres inevitably redoubled their attacking intent and scored their fifth try less than two minutes later as McIntyre grabbed his second of the match against 13-man Albi. Samoan number eight Iosefa Tekori added try number six before the end with Castres ending up 44-10 winners at the Stade Pierre Antoine.

Racing-Métro 92's nine-match winning streak finally came to an end, as they lost 17-18 at home to lowly Bourgoin - their first league defeat since  September 19th 2009.

Racing went into this match flying high in joint second position, but it was strugglers Bourgoin who made the initial running, quickly opening up an 11-point lead after just a quarter of an hour in Paris. Benjamin Boyet's third-minute penalty set them on their way before Camille Lavast's try in the corner extended their advantage. Boyet missed the conversion, but landed a drop-goal shortly after to make it 0-11.

Kiwi back row John Leo'o finally put Racing on the board with his 32nd-minute try, and Jonathan Wisniewski's conversion left the hosts 7-11 down at the interval.

But hopes that the momentum had swung their way proved premature as Bourgoin's Albert Vulivuli scored under the posts 10 minutes after the restart. Boyet's conversion made it 7-18 and Racing knew they would have draw deep to preserve their winning streak.

Wisniewski's 61st-minute try gave them just the fillip they needed, with the fly-half adding the conversion and a 66th-minute drop-goal to narrow the gap to just one point. Bourgoin had also slipped temporarily to 14 men by then with prop Vincent Pelo seeing yellow in the 65th minute,

Racing pile on the pressure in the closing minutes but Francois Steyn missed with a long range penalty and Wisniewski was wide with an attempted drop as the visitors held out for a crucial away win that will help ease their relegation fears.

Stade Francais' season-long quest for a maiden away win again ended in failure, as they could only manage a 6-6 draw at Montauban. Two Lionel Beauxis penalties saved them from an eighth league defeat after Cédric Rosalen had twice kicked the hosts into the lead. This was Stade's fourth away draw of the season.

Biarritz made it two home wins in five days as they beat Montpellier 26-10, outscoring their visitors by four tries to one to claim the attacking bonus too.

Former England full-back Iain Balshaw and centre Arnaud Mignardi both crossed for Biarritz in the final 10 minutes of the opening half, with the latter getting his second as the hosts upped the tempo early in the second half. American winger Takudzwa Ngwenya also scored for the Basques, with Marc Giraud's 71st-minute reply not enough to deny them the bonus.

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