Bordeaux produced an impressive display in the early Top 14 game on Sunday to beat Lyon, while Toulon’s woes continued following a defeat to La Rochelle.
Bordeaux-Begles 35-13 Lyon
Stade Chaban-Delmas
Lyon failed in their attempt to move above Toulouse and into third in the Top 14 table following a disappointing defeat to Bordeaux-Begles.
Bordeaux, on the other hand, were excellent and went into the break 8-3 ahead through Baptiste Serin’s try and penalty.
UBB were not initially rewarded for their dominance but Serin added two more three-pointers in the second half before Semi Radradra, Mahamadou Diaby and Yann Lesgourgues secured the win as they went above Lyon.
It was a poor display by Pierre Mignoni’s side who, despite opening brightly and going 3-0 in front through the kicking accuracy of Lionel Beauxis, were often sent into reverse.
Afa Amosa was the player that did most of the damage and it was his surge that set up the first try. The number eight barrelled through Beauxis’ weak attempted tackle, off-loaded to Alexandre Roumat and, although Pierre-Louis Barassi tapped the ball back, Serin was on hand to touch down.
Bordeaux’s back-row continued to cause problems for the opposition, with Amosa a powerhouse in the loose. Under pressure, Lyon infringed and the hosts’ scrum-half gave his team a five-point buffer at the interval.
Serin then added another off the tee in the second period, although the visiting pivot immediately cancelled out that score with a three-pointer of his own.
Mignoni’s charges were conceding penalties with regularity, however, and one such infringement saw Mickael Ivaldi yellow carded. Serin kicked the resultant opportunity before they effectively ended the game as a contest just shy of the hour mark.
Conditions had worsened after the break but UBB still managed to play some excellent rugby and good hands gave Radradra a one-on-one opportunity, which the Fijian duly took.
Ivaldi returned to the field but it did not alter the momentum as Diaby and Lesgourgues rubberstamped the victory, despite Rudi Wulf’s consolation score, which was sandwiched in between those tries.
The scorers:
For Bordeaux:
Tries: Serin, Radradra, Diaby, Lesgourgues
Cons: Serin, James, Meret
Pens: Serin 3
For Lyon:
Try: Wulf
Con: Wisniewski
Pens: Beauxis 2
Yellow Card: Ivaldi
Bordeaux: 15 Nans Ducuing, 14 Blair Connor, 13 Semi Radradra, 12 Ulupano Seuteni, 11 George Tilsley, 10 Brock James, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Afa Amosa, 7 Alexandre Roumat, 6 Mahamadou Diaby, 5 Cyril Cazeaux, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Clement Maynadier, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: 16 Adrien Pélissié, 17 Laurent DelBoulbes, 18 Kane Douglas, 19 Beka Gorgadze, 20 Yann Lesgourgues, 21 Lucas Meret, 22 Jean-Baptiste Dubié, 23 Lasha Tabidze
Lyon: 15 Charlie Ngatai, 14 Toby Arnold, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Thibault Regard, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Jonathan Pélissié, 8 Loann Goujon, 7 Patrick Sobela, 6 Julien Puricelli, 5 Hendrik Roodt, 4 Felix Lambey, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Mickael Ivaldi, 1 Hamza Kaabeche
Replacements: 16 Jeremie Maurouard, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Francois van der Merwe, 19 Carl Fearns, 20 Jean-Marc Doussain, 21 Jonathan Wisniewski, 22 Rudi Wulf, 23 Clément Ric
Referee: Vincent Blasco-Baque
Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon, Jean-Luc Rebollal
TMO: Eric Gonthier
Toulon 9-13 La Rochelle
Stade Mayol
La Rochelle heaped the pressure on former boss Patrice Collazo following a narrow victory over Toulon at the Stade Mayol.
Collazo joined the three-time European champions from the Stade Marcel-Deflandre outfit in the off-season, but the 2014 Top 14 winners have struggled under his guidance in 2018/19, losing six of their eight domestic encounters.
The visitors were helped to the win by Ihaia West with the fly-half scoring all of their points through a try, conversion and two three-pointers, while Anthony Belleau responded for the home side via three penalties.
West, who has proven to be an astute addition, dictated proceedings from pivot early on and the playmaker opened the scoring by scything through the opposition rearguard and touching down.
It was the worst possible start for the hosts, who are under significant pressure to produce results, but they hit back when Belleau kicked a penalty.
However, they were struggling to create opportunities. Despite having Julian Savea, Malakai Fekitoa and Josua Tuisova in a potent-looking backline, the visitors contained them excellently.
La Rochelle were rewarded for their endeavour as West took them 10-3 ahead. They also defended well following Uini Atonio’s yellow card, with Belleau’s second three-pointer Toulon’s only score while the prop was off the field.
When Atonio returned early in the second period, the visitors increased the intensity and restored their seven-point buffer via their fly-half.
The game was low on quality, though, and ambled along as mistakes pervaded the contest, but the hosts’ pivot gave them hope going into the final stages following a third successful effort off the tee.
Collazo’s men looked for the winning try but La Rochelle held on to keep themselves in touch with the play-off race.
The scorers:
For Toulon:
Pens: Belleau 3
For La Rochelle:
Try: West
Con: West
Pens: West 2
Yellow Card: Atonio
Toulon: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Mathieu Bastareaud, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Yoan Cottin, 8 Florent Vanverberghe, 7 Raphael Lakafia, 6 Swan Rebbadj, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Brian Alainu’uese, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Xavier Chiocci
Replacements: 16 Bastien Soury, 17 Florian Fresia, 18 Juandre Kruger, 19 Liam Messam, 20 Daniel Ikpefan, 21 Francois Trinh-Duc, 22 Eric Escande, 23 Emerick Setiano
La Rochelle: 15 Vincent Rattez, 14 Paul Jordaan, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Jules Favre, 11 Elliot Roudil, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Alexis Balès, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Gregory Alldritt, 6 Remi Bourdeau, 5 Thomas Jolmes, 4 Romain Sazy, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 1 Dany Priso
Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Leo Aouf, 18 Jone Qovu Nailiko, 19 Zeno Kieft, 20 Thomas Berjon, 21 Maxime Lafage, 22 Pierre Aguillon, 23 Arthur Joly
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant referees: Jonathan Dufort, Frederic Chazal
TMO: Patrick Dellac