Jonny Wilkinson suffered a
rare off day with the boot, although he did still manage two
conversions, a penalty and a drop-goal as Toulon maintained
their unbeaten start to the campaign. The recalled England
fly-half also had a major hand in his side's opening try as
he fed Welsh centre Jamie Robinson, who in turn set up
winger Sinoti Sinoti.
The combined boots of
Anthony Floch and Seremaia Bai ensured Clermont went in
12-10 ahead at the interval, with Bai extending that to
18-10 courtesy of two more penalties shortly after the
resumption.
Toulon winger Clément
Marienval then grabbed the home team's second try (on 50
minutes), and Wilkinson duly converted from the sidelines
before giving way to Sebastien Fauqué, who wrapped up the
win with three subsequent penalties of his own.
The win means Toulon are
not only joint leaders with Stade Toulousain, but are now
also the only unbeaten team left in Top 14.
Stade Toulousain
were forced to play catch up after gifting Bayonne a
pair of first-half tries at the Stade Ernest Wallon. First,
Jean-Baptiste Elissalde's innocuous grubber kick was blocked
by Lionel Mazars - who handed Vilimoni Bolavucu an easy run
in - then Frédéric Michalak's tame pass was intercepted for
a 60m try as Mazars added his own score right on half-time
to leave the 17-time champions 14-6 adrift.
The game's turning point
was a raft of heavyweight substitutions on 50 minutes as Guy
Noves tired of his team's powder puff efforts and turned to
his big guns. Replacement scrum-half Byron Kelleher injected
the necessary impetus to Stade's play and the new-look front
row also began to exert pressure as they earned a
55th-minute penalty try.
Number eight Shaun Sowerby
completed the fightback with Stade's second try nine minutes
from time, but the sloppy handling and endless unforced
errors will be a concern for Noves as he prepares his team
for Sunday's showdown with Clermont.
Bayonne coach Richard
Dourthe, meanwhile, will be delighted with a defensive
bonus, although ultimately disappointed his charges couldn't
hold out to inflict Stade's first home league defeat since
April 2008.
Defending champions
Perpignan kept pace with the top two thanks to a
convincing 21-9 home win against Brive. First-half
tries from David Marty and Christophe Manas set the Catalans
on their way, with Nicolas Laharrague adding a further 11
points with his boot as they registered their third win in
four games.
Brive's points came from
two Luciano Orquera penalties and an Andy Goode drop-goal,
but the latter - playing at full-back - ended the match on
the sidelines as he became the third Brive player to see
yellow. Irish lock Christian Short was sin-binned in the
first half, and replacement prop Petrisor Toderasc followed
suit after the interval as Brive's ill-discipline let them
down.
Perpignan's Gerrie Britz
was also yellow-carded at the end (with Goode), but the win
was already secure by then and the home side's only concern
was whether they'd also collect the attacking bonus.
There was no doubting the
night's biggest shock, however, with Stade Francais
going down 35-40 at home to Montauban - who had
started the evening at the foot of the table and without a
win.
An early yellow card for
Stade winger Henri Camara paved the way for Montauban's
opening try from Bogdan Balan and the visitors remained
within a point of the hosts at half-time despite four
penalties from starting scrum-half Falie Oelschig and a pair
of drop-goals from fly-half Lionel Beauxis.
Montauban's Cedric Rosalen
replied with four penalty kicks of his own as Stade went in
18-18 ahead, but the visitors reclaimed the lead shortly
after the interval when ... Viard rounded off an excellent
move to claim their second try of a topsy-turvy evening.
Rosalen added the extras to take Montauban 24-18 ahead, with
Oelschig's fifth penalty reducing the arrears.
But Marc Raynaud's men
weren't done yet and soon opened up a 16-point advantage
thanks to Abdel Boutaty's try and eight more points from the
prolific Rosalen's prolific boot.
Substitute scrum-half
Julien Dupuy then set up Beauxis for Stade's first try of
the evening, with England sevens captain Ollie Phillips
adding a second late on - to earn a defensive bonus - but
Montauban held on for a worthy win that will lift spirits
after defeats to Stade Toulousain and Clermont Auvergne.
The questions will
continue to be asked at Stade Francais, meanwhile, with
Australian coach Ewen McKenzie under increasing pressure
after just one win in four following a heavy summer of
expenditure.
Fellow play-off hopefuls
Biarritz are also struggling and slipped to their
third defeat in four as they went down 22-18 at
Montpellier, with Benoit Paillauge the home side's hero
with .. points.
Paillaugue was on the
money with all five penalty attempts, and also converted
scrum-half Julien Thomas' 50th-minute try as Montpellier
bounced back from their capital disappointment in Paris,
when they let slip a 23-13 advantage.
Again they conceded late
tries here, with Biarritz's Benoit August and Nicolas
Brusque both going over in the closing five minutes, but
this time they held on for the deserved win after they had
roared into a 22-6 lead.
At least Biarritz got a
defensive bonus, but three defeats from four is a shocking
start to the campaign for a team which was only too ready to
trumpet its own play-off credentials after a positive
pre-season.
Re-born Bourgoin
capped off a superb few days by beating Racing-Métro
17-13 to make it back-to-back wins for the financially
strapped club.
Bourgoin - who were saved
from bankruptcy earlier in the week - followed Saturday's
excellent 22-17 home win against Biarritz with another gutsy
performance as they beat the Jacky Lorenzetti backed club.
Cash is certainly not a
problem for Paris outfit coached by Pierre Berbizier, but
nothing can compensate for team spirit - something which
seems to have blossomed at Bourgoin following their
early-season struggles.
The home celebrated their
survival - and the release of all player contracts - by
notching two tries in the first-half as they opened up a
14-6 advantage. The first was a penalty try, and the second
a debut score for Albert Vulivuli, who was finally able to
make his belated Bourgoin bow after the DNACG gave the go
ahead for all new signings to play.
Michel Loree's second-half
try for Racing briefly threatened to dampen the party
atmosphere, but Benjamin Boyet landed a crucial penalty to
maintain the momentum as Bourgoin's defiance remained
resolute to the end.
