Top 14, round 12: Shocks aplenty as the
relegation battle hots up
29 November 2008
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Toulouse 32 |
Bayonne 11 |
|
Montauban 6 |
Perpignan 9 |
|
Castres 9 |
Bourgoin 23 |
|
Mont-de-Marsan
12 |
Clermont 11 |
|
Toulon 6 |
Dax 13 |
|
Biarritz 13 |
Stade Francais 32 |
|
Montpellier 9 |
Brive 22 |
Relegation threatened Mont-de-Marsan and
Bourgoin both sprung surprise victories on Saturday as the
focus turned firmly on the bottom of the table in Top 14.
Basement club Mont-de-Marsan pulled
off the biggest shock of the afternoon with a 12-11 home win
against last year’s runners-up Clermont, leaving them
celebrating back-to-back victories for the first time this
season.
Ex-Saracens full-back Brent Russell scored
the game’s only try as Clermont edged into an 11-9 lead
shortly before half-time, but the combined boots of Yannick
Laforgue (three penalties) and Damien Cler (one penalty)
proved enough to earn Les Montois the win.
Clermont, meanwhile, were left to reflect on
their sixth defeat of the season – hardly the top four form
their fans have come to expect – and an unwise decision to
field a weakened team.
Mont-de-Marsan remain at the foot of the
table but are now only three points behind Castres,
who replaced their visitors in the drop zone after losing
23-9 at home to Bourgoin.
Castres had been leading 9-6 when the match
turned on the 52nd-minute dismissal of New
Zealand prop Carl Hoeft for stamping. Bourgoin, who had
started the day in 13th, went on to score two
tries in the closing quarter through centre David Janin.
Benjamin Boyet converted both, adding to his earlier two
penalties and a drop-goal to complete Castres’ misery.
Toulon
failed to build on last week’s home win against Biarritz and
remain perilously placed just above the bottom two after
they lost 13-6 to Dax at the Stade Felix Mayol.
The visitors were 6-0 down before a try from
Samoan full-back Gavin Williams got them going, with Antoine
Vignau-Tuquet adding the conversion and two second-half
penalties on a mixed afternoon with his kicking.
Both teams had a player sent-off as tensions
rose in the closing minutes, with Toulon’s Orene Ai’i and
Dax’s Frederico Martin-Aramburu seeing red for fighting.
Up at the top Toulouse have a
three-point gap after trouncing would-be challengers
Bayonne 32-11 on Friday night (see report).
Bayonne had gone into the weekend sitting
pretty in second, but they tumbled to fourth after their
chastening defeat at the Stade Ernest-Wallon.
Stade Francais
took full toll of their slip to climb back up to second as
they ran in five tries, including three in eight minutes, at
demoralised Biarritz.
Their 32-13 win looked a distant dream when
Takudzwa Ngwenya scored his seventh try of the season to
help the home side into an early 7-0 lead, but the Paris
club rebounded in style with number eight Juan Manuel
Leguizamon immediately replying in kind.
Dimitri Yachvili and Falie Oelschig then
exchanged penalties to leave the match evenly poised 10-10
at half-time, but a series of missed kicks proved crucial
after the break.
Yachvili wasted three penalties and Marcelo
Bosch another, before Stade cut loose with four second-half
tries.
Biarritz born Julien Saubade grabbed the
first, with human battering ram Mathieu Bastareaud adding
the second before Mauro Bergamasco chipped in with a late
brace of his own.
The bonus point win was enough to earn Stade
outright second place, with Biarritz pondering an unforeseen
relegation battle after crashing to their fourth successive
defeat.
Perpignan
are now third after scraping to a narrow 9-6 away win at
Montauban, with fly-half David Mele kicking all of their
points, including the decisive penalty three minutes from
time.
The weekend’s final game saw the trend for
away wins continue as Brive triumphed 22-9 at
Montpellier to climb to sixth.
English fly-half Andy Goode was on the money
again, kicking four penalties, a drop goal and a conversion
as he became the league’s highest points scorer (with 136).
Goode opened the scoring with a ninth-minute
penalty and Brive went further ahead shortly after when
Regis Bianco touched down for the game’s only try.
Three Mark McHugh penalties brought
Montpellier back to within a point, but that was as good as
it got for the home side.
Goode added a second penalty just before the
break despite the visitors being down to 14 men after Arnaud
Mele’s yellow card.
Brive prop Pablo Henn was also sin-binned
shortly after the restart but Ireland’s McHugh missed with
three successive penalties as the hosts squandered the
chance to take the lead.
The misses proved crucial with Goode going on
to add two more penalties and a 30m drop goal to seal
Brive’s first away win of the season.
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