La Rochelle kicked off the Top 14 weekend with a triumph over Clermont before Grenoble, Pau, Lyon and Toulouse prevailed in Saturday’s action.
Saturday
La Rochelle 16-12 Clermont Auvergne
Grenoble 28-25 Bordeaux-Bègles
Pau 12-9 Perpignan
Racing 92 13-19 Lyon
Toulouse 10-0 Agen
La Rochelle 16-12 Clermont Auvergne
Stade Marcel-Deflandre
Clermont suffered only their second defeat of the season when they went down to La Rochelle 16-12 in the opening game of the round.
At the end of a low scoring first-half it was La Rochelle leading 9-0 thanks to three Ihaia West penalties as Clermont were kept scoreless.
La Rochelle won this fixture 51-20 last season but any hopes of a similar result were cooled when Damian Penaud scored with barely a minute of the second-half played. Morgan Parra couldn’t convert the try which meant La Rochelle were 9-5 ahead and needing to keep Clermont at bay.
A high tackle from Clermont back-row Peceli Yato on 53 minutes meant the visitors were down to 14 players for 10 minutes, but he was joined by team-mate Etienne Falgoux and La Rochelle replacement prop Arthur Joly two minutes later due to scrum issues. That made it 14 against 13 before Clermont prop Loni Uhila saw red for making contact to Pierre Bourgarit’s head with his shoulder. The visitors were now down to 12 men.
La Rochelle turned the screw at scrum time and were awarded a penalty try on the hour mark to move 16-5 in front before Clermont hit back via a driving maul, with replacement hooker John Ulugia crashing over to reduce the home side’s buffer to four points with nine minutes remaining.
La Rochelle were able to hold onto their lead at Stade Marcel-Deflandre however to claim their fourth win of 2018/19, all coming at home.
The scorers:
For La Rochelle:
Try: Penalty try
Pens: West 3
Yellow Card: Joly
For Clermont:
Tries: Penaud, Ulugia
Con: Laidlaw
Yellow Cards: Yato, Falgoux
Red Card: Uhila
La Rochelle: 15 Arthur Retiere, 14 Vincent Rattez, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Jules Favre, 11 Jeremy Sinzelle, 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 Hikairo Forbes, 17 Leo Aouf, 18 Lopeti Timani, 19 Kevin Gourdon, 20 Jean Victor Goillot, 21 Maxime Lafage, 22 Marc Andreu, 23 Arthur Joly
Clermont: 15 Isaia Toeava, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Rémi Lamerat, 12 George Moala, 11 Tim Nanai-Williams, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Peceli Yato, 7 Viktor Kolelishvili, 6 Arthur Iturria, 5 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Loni Uhila
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Greig Laidlaw, 21 Patricio Fernandez, 22 Apisai Naqalevu, 23 Rabah Slimani
Referee: Ludovic Cayre
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco-Baque, Patrick Pechambert
TMO: Denis Grenouillet
Grenoble 28-25 Bordeaux-Bègles
Stade des Alpes
Grenoble notched their second win of the season, clinging on to hold off a Bordeaux fightback after having led 25-3 at one point.
Adrien Latorre and Salesi Fifita scored tries inside the first 15 minutes, with Gaetan Germain converting Fifita’s and adding a penalty as Grenoble raced out to a 15-0 lead, racking up a point a minute early on.
Baptiste Serin got Bordeaux-Begles on the board with a penalty, but that was cancelled out by one from Germain, and then Etienne Fourcade’s try on the half-hour mark, converted by Germain, gave Grenoble a commanding lead.
Mahamdou Diaby scored just before the break, converted by Serin, to give Bordeaux a sniff of a comeback, and although Germain scored another penalty early in the second half, when Beka Gorgadze crossed the whitewash and Serin converted after 49 minutes, the comeback was most certainly on.
Serin landed a penalty on 64 minutes and Nans Ducuing scored a try with six to go to leave the game in the balance at 28-25 but the home side clung on for a morale-boosting win that lifts Grenoble well away from bottom club Perpignan.
The scorers:
For Grenoble:
Tries: Latorre, Fifita, Fourcade
Cons: Germain 2
Pens: Germain 3
For Bordeaux-Bègles:
Tries: Diaby, Gordadze, Ducuing
Cons: Serin 2
Pens: Serin 2
Grenoble: 15 Gaetan Germain, 14 Daniel Kilioni, 13 Pablo Uberti, 12 Alaska Taufa, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Adrien Latorre, 9 Theo Nanette, 8 Loic Godener, 7 Fabien Alexandre, 6 Steven Setephano, 5 Taiasina Tuifua, 4 Leva Fifita, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg
Replacements: 16 Mike Tadjer, 17 Beka Gigashvili, 18 Francois Uys, 19 Killian Geraci, 20 Lilian Saseras, 21 Franck Pourteau, 22 Lolagi Visinia, 23 Ali Oz
Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Eto Nabuli, 13 Romain Lonca, 12 Nathan Decron, 11 Nans Ducuing, 10 Baptiste Serin, 9 Yann Lesgourgues, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Alexandre Roumat, 6 Mahamadou Diaby, 5 Cyril Cazeaux, 4 Jandré Marais, 3 Lekso Kaulashvili, 2 Florian Dufour, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: 16 Clement Maynadier, 17 Thierry Paiva, 18 Kane Douglas, 19 Leroy Houston, 20 Jules Gimbert, 21 Lucas Meret, 22 Jean-Baptiste Dubié, 23 Lasha Tabidze
Referee: Jonathan Dufort
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona, Jean-Luc Rebollal
TMO: Mourad Zitouni
Pau 12-9 Perpignan
Stade du Hameau
Perpignan remain rooted to the bottom of the Top 14 after a narrow 12-9 defeat to Pau at the Stade du Hameau.
In an absolute dog of a game played in pouring rain, four penalties from Antoine Hastoy, including the winner in the final moments, pipped three from Paddy Jackson to leave Perpignan floundering seven points away from the safety of twelfth place.
The scorers:
For Pau:
Pens: Hastoy 4
For Perpignan:
Pens: Jackson 3
Yellow Card: Chateau
Pau: 15 Charly Malie, 14 Marvin Lestremau, 13 Julien Fumat, 12 Florian Nicot, 11 Watisoni Votu, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Thibault Daubagna, 8 Paddy Butler, 7 Sean Dougall, 6 Martin Puech, 5 Daniel Ramsay, 4 Baptiste Pesenti, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Lucas Rey, 1 Geoffrey Moise
Replacements: 16 Laurent Bouchet, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Fabrice Metz, 19 Antoine Erbani, 20 Julien Blanc, 21 Benson Stanley, 22 Atila Septar, 23 Nicolas Corato
Perpignan: 15 Julien Farnoux, 14 Jonathan Bousquet, 13 Mathieu Acebes, 12 Afusipa Taumoepeau, 11 Eroni Sau, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Tom Ecochard, 8 Karl Chateau, 7 Mike Faleafa, 6 Lucas Bachelier, 5 Masalosalo Tutaia, 4 Tristan Labouteley, 3 Gert Muller, 2 Seilala Lam, 1 Enzo Forletta
Replacements: 16 Raphael Carbou, 17 Yassine Boutemane, 18 Shahn Eru, 19 Genesis Mamea, 20 Sadek Deghmache, 21 Enzo Selponi, 22 Pierre Lucas, 23 Sylvain Charlet
Referee: Cyril Lafon
Assistant referees: Cedric Clave, Jacques De Lemos
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure
Racing 92 13-19 Lyon
Paris La Defense Arena
On a day of upsets, Lyon came back from Paris with four crucial points as the early race for play-off places hotted up on Saturday, leaving Racing regretting a blunt edge to their attack which repeatedly foundered on Lyon’s defence.
Liam Gill’s 29th minute try gave Lyon a commanding position at half-time, with three penalties from Lionel Beauxis and the conversion of Gill’s try opening up a 16-6 lead, with Finn Russell kicking two goals for the hosts.
Beauxis extended the lead to 19-6 on 53 minutes, but Simon Zebo’s try and Russell’s conversion brought Racing back into it at 13-19.
The kitchen sink followed, but Lyon were as resolute as they were disciplined and held on to move to second in the provisional standings, while Racing drop to fourth.
Stade Francais could take over at the top with a heavy bonus point win at Castres on Sunday, while if results don’t go their way, Racing could drop out of the top six altogether.
The scorers:
For Racing 92:
Try: Zebo
Con: Russell
Pens: Russell, Iribaren
For Lyon:
Try: Gill
Con: Beauxis
Pens: Beauxis 4
Racing 92: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Teddy Iribaren, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 6 Boris Palu, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Cedate Gomes Sa, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Fabien Sanconnie, 20 Xavier Chauveau, 21 Ben Volavola, 22 Olivier Klemenczak, 23 Census Johnston
Lyon: 15 Charlie Ngatai, 14 Toby Arnold, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Thibault Regard, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Jonathan Pélissié, 8 Loann Goujon, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Julien Puricelli, 5 Etienne Oosthuizen, 4 Felix Lambey, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Virgile Lacombe, 1 Raphael Chaume
Replacements: 16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Patrick Sobela, 20 Jean-Marc Doussain, 21 Deon Fourie, 22 Rudi Wulf, 23 Richard Choirat
Referee: Thomas Charabas
Assistant referees: Vivien Praderie, Richard Duhau
TMO: Cedric Marchat
Toulouse 10-0 Agen
Stade Ernest-Wallon
Agen are back in the relegation zone after being nilled in Toulouse in the late game on Saturday.
Many years ago, this might have been a game at the right end of the table. But pre-game, Toulouse were 10th, Agen 13th. Victory for the Toulousains took them improbably up to fourth, but the performance was distinctly 10th rate – although it’s a little unfair to say all that without paying respect to the weather, which was a first-rate downpour from start top finish.
Sebastian Bezy was the sole try-scorer on the night, his score coming on 24 minutes. It was converted by Zack Holmes, who had kicked the home team into the lead after 15 minutes.
The scoreboard operators were able to sit back and relax thereafter, while even discipline failed to deliver much in the way of things to talk about: only a yellow card shown to Jake McIntyre for a lift in the tackle after 17 minutes was any hint of talkworthy action. It did make the difference though, Bezy’s try was scored during his time in the bin.
The match was also noteworthy for the return of scrum-half Antoine Dupont, back from eight months out with injury.
The scorers:
For Toulouse:
Try: Bezy
Con: Holmes
Pen: Holmes
For Agen:
Yellow Card: McIntyre
Toulouse: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Sofiane Guitoune, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Arthur Bonneval, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Sébastien Bézy, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Rynhard Elstadt, 6 François Cros, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Clement Castets
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 David Ainu’u, 18 Pierre Gayraud, 19 Louis-Benoit Madaule, 20 Antoine Dupont, 21 Pita Ahki, 22 Thomas Ramos, 23 Maks van Dyk
Agen: 15 Clement Laporte, 14 Timilai Rokoduru, 13 Julien Heriteau, 12 Mathieu Lamoulie, 11 Benito Masilevu, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 Paul Abadie, 8 Yoan Tanga, 7 Vincent Farre, 6 Loic Hocquet, 5 Denis Marchois, 4 Tom Murday, 3 Dave Ryan, 2 Paula Ngauamo, 1 Quentin Bethune
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Adrian Motoc, 19 Romain Briatte, 20 Hugo Verdu, 21 Johann Sadie, 22 Sam Vaka, 23 Yohann Montes
Referee: Julien Castaignede
Assistant referees: Tual Trainini, Frederic Chazal
TMO: Eric Gauzins