Stade Francais moved back up to second in the Top 14 table following victory at Castres, while Toulon succumbed to Montpellier on Sunday.
Results
Sunday
Castres 9-14 Stade Francais
Montpellier 29-17 Toulon
Castres 9-14 Stade Francais
Stade Pierre-Fabre
Jules Plisson scored nine points as Stade Francais stunned defending Top 14 champions Castres 14-9 at the Stade Pierre-Fabre on Sunday.
It was all about the Parisians’ dominant pack and the accurate boot of Plisson in the opening period as the fly-half kicked three penalties for a 9-0 advantage at the break.
Rory Kockott responded for the defending champions but Julian Arias’ try completed the win, despite the hosts’ scrum-half adding a brace of three-pointers for a losing bonus-point.
The wet weather had caused problems in several games over the weekend and this was no different as the teams struggled for continuity.
Christophe Urios’ men opened the brighter but the visiting pack soon began to take control and they were rewarded via Plisson’s penalty.
Castres are renowned for their strength up front but Heyneke Meyer’s outfit were dominating the scrum battle and another infringement at the set-piece allowed their fly-half to make it 6-0.
That became a nine-point buffer at the interval through the accurate kicking of their pivot and the hosts were in trouble going into the final 40 minutes.
Although Kockott reduced the arrears early in the second period, Stade produced the decisive blow as Arias latched onto a grubber through and touched down.
Urios’ charges continued to battle and were rewarded when Kockott was twice on target from the tee to rescue a losing bonus-point, but the Parisians’ defence remained solid to claim an important win following their defeat to rivals Racing 92 last weekend.
The scorers:
For Castres:
Pens: Kockott 3
For Stade:
Try: Arias
Pens: Plisson 3
Castres: 15 Armand Batlle, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 David Smith, 10 Julien Dumora, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Camille Gerondeau, 6 Mathieu Babillot, 5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 4 Loic Jacquet, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Antoine Tichit
Replacements: 16 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 17 Tudor Stroe, 18 Christophe Samson, 19 Alex Tulou, 20 Yann David, 21 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 22 Yohan Le Bourhis, 23 Marc Clerc
Stade: 15 Kylan Hamdaoui, 14 Julien Arias, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Julien Delbouis, 11 Djibril Camara, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Ryan Chapuis, 7 Sekou Macalou, 6 Mathieu De Giovanni, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Laurent Sempere, 1 Heinke van der Merwe
Replacements: 16 Laurent Panis, 17 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, 18 Paul Gabrillagues, 19 Hugh Pyle, 20 Clement Daguin, 21 Morne Steyn, 22 Jonathan Danty, 23 Giorgi Melikidze
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon, Bruno Gabaldon
TMO: Eric Briquet-Campin
Montpellier 29-17 Toulon
GGL Stadium
Toulon fell to a fifth Top 14 defeat of the campaign as they went down to a Montpellier side that moved up to fourth in the table.
It was a tight first half as the hosts went 10-7 ahead through Benjamin Fall’s try and Ruan Pienaar’s penalty, while Daniel Ikpefan responded for Patrice Collazo’s men.
However, Timoci Nagusa’s effort just shy of the interval seemed to dent the visitors’ confidence and last season’s runners-up effectively completed the victory through quick-fire scores from Jan Serfontein and Louis Picamoles, despite Anthony Meric’s consolation.
Vern Cotter’s charges have not been at their best so far but they are starting to produce the goods and they had more than enough quality to dispatch Toulon.
Pienaar set them on their way with a three-pointer before Fall rewarded their control by crossing the whitewash at the end of the first quarter.
To the away side’s credit, they battled and reduced the deficit via Ikpefan but a yellow card for Eric Escande altered the course of the contest.
Montpellier immediately benefited from the scrum-half’s absence as Nagusa touched down for a 15-7 advantage at the break before Serfontein went over early in the second period.
Although Francois Trinh-Duc’s penalty appeared to keep Collazo’s outfit in the contest, hopes were almost immediately dashed by Picamoles’ effort.
There was still half-an-hour remaining at that stage but it took until the 74th minute for the next, and ultimately final, score, which came through Toulon’s Meric.
Liam Messam was sent-off late on to compound the away side’s misery and Montpellier duly went in search of the bonus-point, but they were unable to cross for the fifth time.
The scorers:
For Montpellier:
Tries: Fall, Nagusa, Serfontein, Picamoles
Cons: Pienaar 3
Pen: Pienaar
For Toulon:
Tries: Ikpefan, Meric
Cons: Trinh-Duc 2
Pen: Trinh-Duc
Yellow Card: Escande
Red Card: Messam
Montpellier: 15 Benjamin Fall, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Yvan Reilhac, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Vincent Martin, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kelian Galletier, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Nico Janse van Rensburg, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements: 16 Romain Ruffenach, 17 Gregory Fichten, 18 Julien Ledevedec, 19 Kevin Kornath, 20 Enzo Sanga, 21 Alexandre Dumoulin, 22 Gabriel Ngandebe, 23 Antoine Guillamon
Toulon: 15 Mathieu Smaili, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Francois Trinh-Duc, 11 Daniel Ikpefan, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Eric Escande, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Jaques Potgieter, 6 Raphael Lakafia, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Swan Rebbadj, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Sebastien Taofifenua
Replacements: 16 Anthony Etrillard, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Stéphane Onambele, 19 Jean Monribot, 20 Julian Savea, 21 Malakai Fekitoa, 22 Anthony Meric, 23 Emerick Setiano
Referee: Pierre Brousset
Assistant referees: Adrien Descottes, Jean-Claude Labarbe
TMO: Akim Hadj-Bachir