Top 14, r7: Brive slide down to 10th after Perpignan, Castres and Bayonne all win

20 September 2009

Defending champions Perpignan warmed up for next weekend's visit of Clermont Auvergne with a 28-9 home win against Montauban on Sunday afternoon.

The Catalans were in control throughout the match thanks to a superb effort from their forwards, and eventually secured the attacking bonus when Farid Sid touched down with seven minutes to go.

His late effort added to earlier tries from number Gerrie Britz and scrum-half Nicolas Durand as the 'Sang et Orr' eventually made their forward domination count.

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Up until a minute before half-time they had been dependent on the boot of fly-half Nicolas Laharrague for all of their points as he slotted four penalties against the battling visitors - for whom Julien Audy and Régis Lespinas also kicked a penalty apiece. But then Britz stormed over for the game's opening try, right on the stroke of half-time, as Perpignan finally pulled clear.

Audy added a second penalty soon after the resumption, but any thoughts of a fightback were quickly dashed when a sustained period of forwards' pressure culminated with Durand scuttling over from a five-metre scrum.

After that it was merely a question of whether the champions could claim the attacking bonus, which they duly did with Sid's late try.

The result means leaders Clermont will visit next weekend with a slender three-point advantage over the title holders in what could be one of the encounters of the season.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Toulon confirmed their status as serious play-off candidates by beating Stade Toulousain at Marseille's Velodrome for the second successive season, while unsung Castres continued their impressive start with a hard-fought 9-6 home win against Racing-Métro 92 as Romain Teulet (three pens) just outkicked Andrew Mehrtens (two pens) in the pouring rain.

The afternoon's other match saw Bayonne return to winning ways with a convincing 26-3 home victory against Montpellier.

Tyro winger Benjamin Fall grabbed his fifth try of an already prolific season as the Basques opened up a 13-3 half-time advantage, with hooker Ace Tiatia scoring their second just five minutes from the end. The Samoan also saw yellow in the final minute for a technical foul.

Bayonne's other points were all kicked, with Benat Arrayet landing three penalties and a conversion, and Cédric Garcia helping himself to a conversion and a penalty.

For Montpellier it was a sorry continuation of their Jekyll and Hyde form this season, with the Mediterranean side so far proving a match for anyone at home but a 'gimme' for all-comers away.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, leaders Clermont Auvergne opened up clear ground at the top following their thumping 40-8 away win at basement club SCA Albi.

'Les Jaunards' ran in six tries despite head coach Vern Cotter making 12 changes to the starting XV which overcame Racing-Métro 92 last weekend. It was a match dominated by 'firsts' for last season's runners-up, with summer signing Willie Wepener setting the trend when he touched down for their opening score after just five minutes.

It was a maiden Clermont try for the former Golden Lions hooker, with Portuguese international flanker Julien Bardy following suit on 32 minutes. In between there was a 70m breakaway try from French winger Julien Malzieu as he revelled in his first game of the season following a lengthy injury-enforced absence.

Fly-half Brock James nailed two of the three conversions to put Clermont 19-3 up at half-time, with Albi's solitary response a Blair Stewart penalty after 29 minutes.

The visitors surged further ahead eight minutes after the interval when French flanker Julien Bonnaire marked his first start of the season with Clermont's fourth try - with James again adding the extras - but Albi refused to roll over and created their own try when Benjamin Lapeyre replied just five minutes later. That it was only their third of an increasingly difficult season underlines the struggles the still win-less home side are currently experiencing following their promotion from ProD2.

The chasm in playing strength was further enforced when Cotter withdrew Malzieu after 64 minutes, only for Albi to now be confronted by Napolioni Nalaga, the league's top try-scorer for the past two seasons. The flying Fijian inevitably made his mark, touching down for Clermont's fifth on 78 minutes, with former Saracen Brent Russell adding their sixth just before the final whistle.

James landed both conversions to make it five from six in the game, leaving Clermont (temporarily at least) six points clear of second-placed Stade Toulousain - who face Toulon away on Sunday afternoon.

Stade Francais were also in celebratory mood after they beat a determined Bourgoin side 20-6, picking up the attacking bonus at the same time to make it an impeccable 10 out of 10 for new coaching duo Jacques Delmas and Didier Faugeron.

Mirco Bergamasco and Julien Arias both followed up last week's tries against Castres, with replacement centre Mathieu Bastareaud sealing the bonus with his 72nd-minute effort.

England sevens captain Ollie Phillips was within inches of adding a fourth score right at the death, but that would have been harsh on a Bourgoin side which battled hard all afternoon at the Stade Jean Bouin.

Indeed, had Argentine fly-half Alberto Di Bernardo had his kicking boots on they would probably have emerged with a defensive bonus, but the former Leeds Carnegie player missed with four first-half penalties as he got a rare start ahead of Benjamin Boyet. As it was the visitors had to make do with his ninth-minute drop-goal and 46th-minute penalty for their afternoon's efforts.

Incredibly, for a team which was in the relegation zone before last weekend, Stade were fleetingly up to third, before the weekend's other results saw them finally end up seventh - although just three points behind third-placed Toulouse - further illustrating how tight and open this current Top 14 campaign appears to be.

Fifth-placed Biarritz capped an excellent eight days themselves with a 15-12 away win at Brive.

Fly-half Valentin Courrent scored all of their points, with four successful penalties topped by his 64th-minute match-winning drop-goal.

For Brive it was further disappointment following last week's 23-20 reverse at Montauban, and means they have now lost four of their opening seven matches, in addition to their 9-9 home draw with derby rivals Clermont.

Their latest defeat - which left them in a disappointing 10th position - will be felt all the more keenly because they were 9-6 up at half time thanks to a trio of penalties from Luciano Orquera. Winger Viliame 'Vili' Wagaseduadua tried his best for the home side with a couple of powerful runs, and he even slotted a 52nd-minute drop-goal, but it ultimately proved in vain as the Limousin club just fell short again.

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