Top 14: Stade Francais move top despite going down again to bogey side Montauban

13 March 2009

Montauban 22 (6) Stade Francais 16 (0)

Stade Francais slipped to their second consecutive away defeat as they went down 22-16 to Montauban at Stade Sapiac on Friday night.

The capital’s glamour boys were outplayed for much of the match and only scraped a defensive bonus – which moved them temporarily into first place – thanks to a last-minute try and conversion.

Full-back Johan Dalla Riva was the Montauban hero, racing in for the home side’s only try to seal victory in the 75^th minute, having earlier landed an opportunistic drop-goal.

In truth the home side should have won more convincingly and Stade had the waywardness of Petre Mitu’s boot to thank for their bonus point. The Romanian missed three of five kicks at goal in the first half as Montauban edged into a 6-0 lead at the interval.

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They dominated in the scrum and lineout but had to wait until the 36^th minute before Mitu finally found his target. Like London buses the combative scrum-half then went from famine to feast as he doubled the hosts’ lead a minute later, and he was also on target seven minutes after the restart as they nosed into a 9-0 advantage.

At that point it seemed Montauban were just one good pass away from cutting free but discarded French fly-half Lionel Beauxis then landed two penalties and a drop-goal as the home side’s momentary ill-discipline threatened to undo their good work. With just 10 minutes to go the visitors, trailing 12-9, sniffed an unlikely win as they sought to make Montauban pay for their earlier profligacy.

Argentine scrum-half Agustin Pichot came on for Noel Oelschig on the hour as he made his return to Stade Francais colours, but just when it seemed that the night could turn sour for the Tarn et Garonne side Julien Audy stepped up to kick a 71^st-minute penalty, before Dalla Riva showed good pace to score his try just four minutes later. The full-back fully deserved his score after having a first-half effort ruled out for a forward pass. Audy was on target again with the conversion as the Montauban suddenly opened up a 22-9 lead, but the Parisians were not done yet and Beauxis went over in the final minute as they benefited from one last effort.

They still needed the conversion to ensure the bonus point, and league convert Mark Gasnier duly obliged as the match finished 22-16.

Coach Ewen McKenzie will no doubt be pleased for small mercies having come through another match without so many of his absent internationals, especially at a ground where they have failed to win since 2000, but it also confirmed once more that summer recruitment is required to add more depth to their vaunted squad.

For Montauban, meanwhile, this was a welcome return to winning ways after successive away defeats, and boosts their push for Heineken Cup qualification. 

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