Top 14, round 2 review: Stade Toulousain crush Brive; Montpellier stun Perpignan

22 August 2009

Seventeen-time champions Stade Toulousain handed would-be challengers Brive a rugby lesson as they ran in five tries during their 38-0 demolition at the Stade Ernest Wallon.

Fly-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde set the scoreboard ticking when he slotted a second-minute drop-goal with Toulouse’s first attack, and when Cédric Heymans then raced over less than 60 seconds later it was clear it would be an afternoon of toil for the Brivistes.

Elissalde went on to add two penalties and a second drop-goal as they opened up a 19-0 advantage by half-time, before Maxime Médard, Vincent Clerc, and substitute centre Rémy Lamerat all went over in the second period.

Brive weren’t helped by last week’s hero Luciano Orquera missing three early penalties and it proved a frustrating afternoon for England internationals Shaun Perry and Jamie Noon as they were left chasing shadows by Toulouse’s star-studded back line.

The only downside for the rampant victors was a late injury to Médard as the young French international went off with a suspected shoulder dislocation that is expected to rule him out for a fortnight.

For Brive they must now turn their attention to next week’s visit of Clermont Auvergne, before travelling to Perpignan after that in what will prove a stern test of their season’s aspirations.

Clermont warmed up for that match with a 37-16 home win against Montauban that leaves them joint leaders of Top 14 with Stade Toulousain.

The free-scoring ‘Jaunards’ ran in four tries, with full-back Anthony Floch helped himself to a brace – to add to last week’s effort against Bourgoin – while the ever-impeccable Brock James maintained a 100% kicking record by landing four conversions and two penalties to take his season’s tally to 31 points after just two games.

Former Saracen Brent Russell and club captain Aurélien Rougerie scored Clermont’s other tries, with Montauban’s response coming through a Julien Laharrague try and the boot of scrum-half Julien Audy (who kicked three penalties and a conversion).

It remained a competitive match throughout, despite the one-sided nature of the scoreline, with three yellow cards in the dying minutes as tempers boiled over. Clermont’s explosive Canadian Jamie Cudmore and Montauban’s Abdellatif Boutaty were both sin-binned for punching, while visiting coach Sébastien Calvet was also sanctioned for protesting.

Elsewhere, England World Cup winners Iain Balshaw and Jonny Wilkinson were to the fore as Biarritz and Toulon both recorded impressive wins.

Balshaw grabbed two tries and set up another before waltzing off to a standing ovation at the Parcs des Sports Aguilera as Biarritz thrashed newcomers SCA Albi 39-6.

The 30-year-old left-winger opened the scoring in the eighth minute following an initial break from French international centre Damien Traille. Flanker Benoit Guyot then took up the charge before passing for Balshaw to open his Biarritz account by flattening in the corner.

Blair Stewart’s two penalties briefly threatened to keep Albi in the game, but Balshaw went over again on the half hour after being superbly teed up by fly-half Julien Peyrelongue. The Basque’s No 10 added the conversion and two penalties to leave the home side – who also featured Leicester import Ayoola Erinle - 18-6 to the good at half-time.

Memories of last week’s shock home defeat by Castres were well and truly buried when Biarritz added their third try after 55 minutes – with Balshaw turning provider this time for tyro full-back Paul Couet-Llanes, and Peyrelongue adding the extras.

The game – and attacking bonus point – were already secured by the time Balshaw was replaced on the hour, but Biarritz continued to push on and added two further scores in the final 10 minutes, via a penalty try and a second for 18-year-old Couet-Llanes.

England World Cup colleague Wilkinson, meanwhile, was busy guiding Toulon to their first win of the season as they dispatched Racing-Métro 27-13 at the Stade Félix Mayol.

Wilkinson kicked four penalties and a conversion to match James’ season tally of 31 points, but it was his attacking play from fly-half which caught the eye.

A simple miss-pass sent Welsh international Jamie Robinson on his way for the game’s opening try after 21 minutes – and his first for the club - and an inch-perfect chip for winger Christian Loamanu paved the way for returning captain Joe van Niekerk to add the second on the stroke of half time.

In-between Wilkinson also found time to perform a try-saving dive as he somehow got a hand under the ball to deny Racing No 8 Jacques Cronje. The England fly-half was then spared the final 20 minutes in southern France’s searing heat as Philippe Saint-André brought on Sebastien Fauqué, who duly rounded off the scoring with a 74^th-minute penalty after Italian centre Andrea Masi had touched down to the give the visitors belated hope.

The match also featured two yellow cards with feisty Australian scrum-halves Matt Henjak (Toulon) and Nic Berry (Racing) both getting sin-binned, while former Bristol captain Joe El Abd made a positive start at flanker on his Toulon debut.

Defending champions Perpignan were given a rude wake-up call after going down 18-12 at Montpellier.

Fly-half Benedict Paillaugue was Montpol’s hero, kicking all 18 points via five penalties and a drop-goal as they made amends for last weekend’s 30-9 hammering at Brive.

Montpellier had looked all at sea in that encounter, especially up front, but the return of club captain and French international Fulgence Ouedraogo proved inspirational as they recorded a noteworthy win.

Paillaugue - playing at No 10 with Francois Trinh-Duc at centre – set them on their way with a fifth-minute penalty, and he doubled the lead on the quarter hour when Perpignan were transgressed again. It was to prove the story of the afternoon as the French titleholders were continuously penalised, or made unforced handling errors as they failed to click into top gear.

To compound their misery scrum-half David Mélé experienced a torrid afternoon with his place-kicking as he missed four out of six penalties before ceding duties to Nicolas Laharrague. The latter kicked two second-half penalties in four minutes to briefly bring the Catalans back to 15-12, but Paillaugue’s sixth success proved decisive, despite playing the final 10 minutes with 14 men following Mickael de Marco’s yellow card.

In the weekend's final match Castres continued their impressive start to the season with a 29-9 home win against struggling Bourgoin.

Samoan number eight Josefa Tekori enjoyed a fine match, scoring one try and setting up the late second for lock Rodrigo Capo-Ortega, while Kiwi fly-half Cameron McIntyre chipped in with four penalties and two conversions as Castres joined Stade Toulousain and Clermont Auvergne as the only teams with two wins from two.

Financially troubled Bourgoin, meanwhile, are now rooted to the foot of the table and pointless.

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