cyRil's TOP 14 Round-up

[cyRil]

Top 14 wrap; Clermont clatter champs, Lyon hit rock bottom

Toulouse's lead at the summit of the Top 14 was cut on Saturday after a heavy defeat at Stade Marcel Michelin at the hands of a ruthless Clermont XV.

Elsewhere, Agen all but sealed their survival with another impressive win - this time over faltering Perpignan, Brive compounded Stade Francais's poor away form with a solid win, Toulon saw off Montpellier, Biarritz battered Bordeaux, Racing ensured Bayonne's hapless record continues and despite a commendable draw away at high-flying Castres, Lyon dropped to the foot of the table.


RC TOULON 19-6 MONTPELLIER HRC

Bernard Laporte's men consolidated their place in 3rd on Friday night as a strong second-half showing proved enough to dispose of a dogged Montpellier outfit.

With the game tied 3-3 at Stade Felix Mayol and the hosts down to 14 men going into the break - with lock Christophe Samson binned for a tackle in the air - many would have expected in-form Montpellier to push on for an important away win.

But it was a Jonny Wilkinson-inspired Toulon who took the victory with a late penalty try complementing 14 points from the boot of the former England and Lions fly-half.

A penalty a-piece for scrum-half Benoit Paillague and replacement Martin Bustos Moyano was all MHRC had to show for their efforts and halt their mid-season revival.


SU AGEN 22-17 USA PERPIGNAN

In a feisty confrontation, Agen held on to grind out another vital win at Stade Armandie on Saturday to bolster their league standing but plunge Perpignan back into the relegation maelstrom.

An early converted try from Aussie centre Junior Pelesasa set the home side up for a half-time lead, with the visitors' only response being two James Hook penalties.

The second half proved to be the Conrad Barnard show - with the league's top points scorer contributing five penalties and keeping the Catalans at bay.

A Damien Chouly try brought the away side back into contention, but in the end all they could muster was a second Hook penalty to ensure a losing bonus point; leaving a precarious 2-point gap between themselves and the drop zone.


RACING-METRO 92 22-21 AVIRONS BAYONNAIS

A tight affair in Paris went the way of the hosts as they eventually saw off battling Bayonne on Saturday.

The visitors had led 12-9 at the break, courtesy of four penalties from former Bulls stand-off Jacques-Louis Potgieter.

The battle of the boots continued in the second forty - with both sides converting monster efforts - until Racing speedster Sireli Bobo displayed pace, power and agility to beat defender after defender and hare away for the game's defining score.


ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE 35-5 STADE TOULOUSAIN

What had been billed as a clash of French ***ans on Saturday proved to be more akin to the storming of the Bastille, as les Jaunards closed to within 4 league points of their ***le rivals.

Ill-discipline and a lack of composure (and the ball) cost Guy Noves's side throughout the tie, with David Skrela's accuracy from the tee more than accounting for Aurelien Imperial's opening score for the visitors and putting paid to his old side.

France fly-half Skrela notched up seven penalties in all and, with Gonzalo Canale's try and Brent Russell's last-minute intercept, the hosts put a gloss on a highly satisfactory day's work in Clermont Ferrand.


CASTRES OLYMPIQUE 6-6 LYON OLYMPIQUE

Unsurprisingly there is very little to report back from Stade Pierre Antoine.

The scoring was done by the 25th minute - after full-backs Romain Teulet (Castres) and Regis Lespinas (Lyon) shared four shots at goal.

Despite the well-earned 2 points Lyon sink to the bottom of the league standings, whilst Castres climb to 4th thanks to Montpellier's mishap in Toulon.


CA BRIVE CORREZE 25-9 STADE FRANCAIS PARIS

A promising start to the season seems to be petering out fast for Stade as they drop to 8th in the Top 14 with seven rounds to go.

A strong Stade XV will wonder how they performed so poorly, but Brive will care little and be more than confident of survival after chalking up their second win in a row.

Stade took the lead through Felipe Contepomi's early penalty but a five-pointer from wing-forward Thibault Dubarry ensured the hosts led 11-9 at the interval.

The visitors were done on the scoreboard, but further penalties from winger Julien Caminati and half-back Mathieu Belie plus a late Iuri Natriashvili try gave the final standings a comprehensive look.


BIARRITZ OLYMPIQUE PB 35-13 BORDEAUX-BEGLES

Dimitri Yachvili's 25-point haul - which included two tries and three penalties - gave BOPB an invaluable bonus point win on Saturday, with Arnaud Heguy and Tadzuka Ngwenya also providing touchdowns.

The fixture - moved to Stade Maurice Boyau in Dax thanks to the antics of a certain Monsieur Harinordoquy Snr. - had been in danger of being postponed due to worries that Biarritz would not be able to field a competitive team with their French internationals.

But in the end fears were allayed and it was a comfortable victory for the Basques, due in no small part to the presence of their petit general Yachvili, with Patrice Lagisquet's side rising out of the relegation places on account of their win over Bayoone earlier in the campaign.


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