Top 14, r6: Haskell scores again as  Stade Francais start Delmas era with emphatic win

12 September 2009

Clermont Auvergne have re-claimed the leadership in Top 14 after their 30-22 home win against Racing-Métro 92, but Stade Francais will take the headlines for their 44-18 dismantling of previously unbeaten Castres.

The Parisian giants ended a tough week in the best possible fashion, by picking up an attacking bonus as they brought Castres’ unbeaten start to a juddering halt. Cameron McIntyre’s boot kept the visitors in touch during a tense first-half – ending with Stade leading 16-15 – but new coach Jacques Delmas earned his corn during the interval and the hosts emerged to rack up 23 points in a dramatic 20-minute spell just after the restart.

Mirco Bergamasco’s 42^nd-minute try started it all off, with England Flanker James Haskell following suit 17 minutes later for his second of the season. In-between Stade fly-half Noel Oelschig ensured kicked three penalties – as well as the two conversions – to ensure the scoreboard kept ticking over.

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Julian Arias put the cherry on the icing when he touched down four minutes from time to secure the attacking bonus.

Stade’s opening effort had come from Sylvain Marconnet after just 15 minutes, and Oelschig ended the match with a 22-point haul, making him the leading scorer in Top 14 with 75 points overall.

McIntyre ended with all 18 for Castres, who must now re-group ahead of Wednesday’s re-scheduled away trip to Montauban.

Marc Raynaud’s team will welcome Castres with soaring confidence after they beat Brive 23-20 to record their third successive win – following earlier victories against Stade Francais and Toulon.

Their latest win came despite Brive outscoring them by three tries to one, with Kiwi winger Viliame Waqaseduadua grabbing two of those as he got on the scoresheet for the first time since signing from Waikato Chiefs in the summer. Fly-half Luciano Orquera got Brive’s other try, but it was a mixed afternoon for the Italian No 10 as he also missed with five of his six kicks at goal.

Those failures proved crucial to the end result, and were put in stark contrast by Montauban’s Cédric Rosalen, who succeeded with six of his eight attempts as he racked up 18 points. Full-back Johan Dalla Riva’s 65^th-minute try accounted for Montauban’s other points as they continue their climb up the table.

Biarritz took the honours in the Basque derby as they held on to defeat Bayonne 12-6 in northern Spain despite having Samoan lock Ian Taele-Pavihi sent off for violent conduct on 47 minutes.

A 29,000-strong crowd crammed into the Estadio Anoeta, but the match was a largely staccato affair, punctuated by errors and penalties as tension got the better of the players. Clear-cut openings were at a premium, with all the points being kicked as Biarritz scrum-half Valentin Courrent (four pens) outdid his opposite number Benat Arrayet (two pens). Courrent could even afford a trio of misses midway through the second half, but his profligacy didn’t prove costly.

Back at the top of the table Clermont, 30-22 victors over Racing-Métro 92, have now taken over from Perpignan following the latter’s 17-6 away defeat on Friday night.

Vern Cotter’s men knew any type of win would do, but in the end were thankful once again to the boot of prolific fly-half Brock James, who landed six penalties and a conversion to claim 20 his side’s 30 points.  The others came via first-half tries for Wesley Fofana and Thomas Domingo as Clermont opened up 12-9 interval advantage.

But Racing refused to roll over and Pierre Berbizier’s men even took a 22-21 lead with just 15 minutes left thanks to 11 points from former All Blacks fly-half Andrew Mehrtens, a pair of drop-goals from Fabien Fortassin – his fifth and sixth of the season - and a try from former Stade Francais speedster Julien Arias.

At that stage Racing must have been dreaming of a shock away win, but in the end they didn’t even get the defensive bonus their efforts deserved as James stole it away with his sixth successful penalty in injury time.

Stade Toulousain moved up to second place behind Clermont despite stuttering to an unconvincing 19-13 home win against bottom of the table and win-less SCA Albi. Jean-Baptiste Elissalde’s 50^th-minute try helped them overturn a shock 6-10 half-time deficit, but Albi will be delighted with a defensive bonus from a trip to the Stade Ernest Wallon.

Lucas Borges’ first-half try was just reward for their spirited approach, but Toulouse coach Guy Noves will settle for the win and second place after their weekend preparations were disrupted by Byron Kelleher’s arrest for an alleged drink driving incident in the early hours of Friday morning.

Elsewhere in Top 14, there was further last-minute heartbreak for Toulon as they went down 21-20 in Montpellier following Benjamin Thiéry’s late, late try. Last week it was an injury-time penalty from Rosalen which cost them a draw at Montauban, but this week it was an injury-time fumble from Jamie Robinson which allowed Thiéry to touch down.

The result was especially galling for Toulon head coach Philippe Saint-André as he watched his side ship an 11-point advantage in the closing 10 minutes. Toulon had appeared nailed on winners at that stage as they led 20-11 thanks to tries for Ross Skeate and Juan Martin Lobbe, and 10 points from Jonny Wilkinson’s boot.

Conversely, Montpellier must have been lamenting the woeful place kicking form of Benoit Paillaugue – who had an afternoon return of three successes from 10 – but late tries from Tomas Kuzbik and Thiéry saved his blushes, with Paillaugue at least slotting the crucial (and ultimately match-winning) conversion of the former’s effort.

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