Top 14, r18: Castres stay top despite defeat; Toulon, Brive and Stade Francais all win

09 January 2010

Top 14 leaders Castres slumped to only their fifth defeat of the season as Montpellier won 15-0 at a snow-bound Stade Yves du Manoir on Saturday.

Argentine full-back Fédérico Todeschini was the hero, slotting four first-half penalties  as Montpellier opened up a 12-0 advantage at the break.

The home side continued to push after the interval and twice came near to scoring a try in the final 10 minutes before France fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc landed their fifth penalty success with the game's final kick.

Montpellier's latest victory added Castres to their increasingly impressive list of home scalps. Didier Bes' beat Stade Francais 25-23 in their last home game, having already downed Perpignan, Biarritz, Toulon and Clermont Auvergne earlier in the season.

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Castres retain their Top 14 lead despite the loss, although Clermont Auvergne could yet usurp them if they win at Stade Toulousian on Sunday evening.

Toulon climbed back into the top six following their 18-7 home win against Montauban at the Stade Félix Mayol.

Philippe Saint-André's team were given an early shock when Fijian winger Vilimoni Delasau sprinted in from 90m after overturning Toulon ball, but Jonny Wilkinson's 16th-minute penalty appeared to settle the hosts.

Three minutes later scrum-half Fabien Cibray went over in the corner for his first try since joining from Biarritz after a close-in blindside break with Gabriele Lovobalavu, and Wilkinson was on the money again to make it 10-7. The England fly-half then added a 38th minute drop-goal for good measure as Toulon went to half time with a six point lead.

The Toulon pack continued to dominate after the break and a second try duly came when lock Jocelino Suta touched just seven minutes after the restart. Wilkinson failed to convert this time, but the home side held on to win 18-7 and maintain their unbeaten home record this season.

The victory lifted them four points clear of Biarritz - who had been in sixth position - with the Basques now needing to win at Stade Francais to hold on to their cherished play-off berth.

Rejuvenated Brive were also in winning form, although they did it the hard way away to basement club SCA Albi.

The Limousin were leading 0-7 thanks to a converted first-half penalty try when Gerhard Vosloo's 53rd-minute yellow card changed the entire complexion of the match. Brive had only just got back up to 15 men following Shaun Perry's sin-bin, but this time the numerical discrepancy proved costly.

Albi turned the game on its head by scoring twice in three minutes with scrum-half Kevin Boulogne following number eight Vincent Clement over the line as the home side eyed a rare victory. But Boulogne, crucially, could only land one of the two conversions, allowing Brive to recapture the lead soon after when England's Jamie Noon crashed over from five metres for his second league try for the club.

Full-back Alexis Palisson made sure of the extras to hand Brive a 12-14 advantage, but Albi refused to give up and reclaimed the lead nine minutes from time when Boulogne kicked an opportunistic drop-goal from 25m.

With time running out Brive regathered their energies for one last push and were rewarded when sustained forward pressure earned a 76th-minute penalty, which Palisson duly kicked to win the match.

England centre Riki Flutey came through his second comeback back unscathed, giving further cheer to national team manager Martin Johnson ahead of Wednesday's EPS squad announcements.

The victory was Brive's fourth in five league games, and took them level on 42 points with Biarritz as they continue their late surge for a top six finish.

The latter lost ground after slipping to a 25-15 away defeat against Stade Francais, for whom fullback Lionel Beauxis kicked 20 points.

More than 70,000 fans braved the elements to watch the Parisians do battle at the Stade de France, and they were given the perfect start when hulking centre Mathieu Bastareaud barged over for a second-minute try. Beauxis duly landed the conversion and subsequently added three penalties as the hosts opened up a 16-6 half-time lead.

Beauxis went on to add three more successful kicks after the break, with Biarritz's response limited to four Dimitri Yachvili penalties and a Julien Peyrelongue drop-goal. Peyrelongue missed with a later drop-goal attempt that would have earned the Basques a defensive bonus, but they had to be satisfied with the welcoming sight of Imanol Harinordoquy returning to action (for the last 20 minutes) after his two-month injury lay-off.

The win enabled Stade to leapfrog Biarritz into seventh position - no doubt giving Stade's former Biarritz coach Jacques Delmas plenty to smile about - but they remain one point behind Toulon.

On Friday, Top 14 champions Perpignan emerged with style from their recent slump as they ran in five tries for a bonus-point 31-12 home win against Racing-Métro 92.

The Catalans went into the match having lost their four previous games (two in the Heineken Cup and two in the league) but emerged triumphant at a wintery Stade Aimé Giral once they had weathered an against-the-wind first half.

The home side trailed 5-9 at the interval, but they soon added to scrum-half Nicolas Durand's opening try, with Gavin Hume, Benoît Bourrust Olivier Olibeau and Farid Sid all going over after the restart.

The win maintained their 100% home record in Top 14 this season - nine wins from nine - and temporarily lifted them above Racing and into provisional third place, pending the weekend's other results.

Racing fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski gave the visitors early hope when he slotted a fourth-minute penalty, but Perpignan replied on the quarter hour when Durand broke through for the game's opening try. The hosts continued to hold Racing at bay for the remainder of the half, with Wisniewski limited to another penalty and a drop-goal as they failed to utilize the considerable advantage of a strong tail wind.

Their lack of cutting edge was immediately put into sharp focus after the interval as Perpignan quickly scored two more tries through centre Hume and prop Bourrust. Second row Olibeau and winger Sid added further scores as Perpignan's domination was complete, leaving the defending champions clear winners on a night when they finally rediscovered their class.

Full-back Jérôme Porical added three out of five conversions, while Wisniewski kicked one more penalty for the vanquished visitors.

When Perpignan president Paul Goze was asked afterwards if he welcomed the return to form he replied: "No. Perpignan has not returned. It has always remained calm, even during this series of four defeats."

Goze added: Tonight I am very happy with the score, and especially with how we played. I think that was our best performance of the season at the Aimé Giral."

Try-scorer Farid Sid was also pleased to have returned to winning ways: "We wanted to react to prove that our series of four losses was not catastrophic."

Coach Jacques Brunel, meanwhile, said he was thrilled with the victory, but surprised by its margin. "Considering the weather and the opposition we really did not think we'd score five tries. We just wanted to win, period. But we are very satisfied, both with the result and how we played. It is essential for us to remain unbeaten at the Aimé Giral," he added.

Racing have now lost back-to-back matches after their nine-game winning streak was surprisingly ended by Bourgoin on Sunday, but assistant coach Simon Mannix said there was no reason to panic: "Tonight we saw the difference between the champions of France and a promoted team."

He added: "It is unfortunate that our domination of the scrum wasn't better rewarded and I didn't always understand the referee's decisions in that area. It's a big disappointment, but we will recover from it."

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