Top 14, round 15: Biarritz win at last;
Catalan concern for crocked Carter
10 January 2009
|
Dax
9 |
Toulouse 25 |
|
Perpignan 40 |
Bourgoin 14 |
|
Montauban 15 |
Bayonne 13 |
|
Castres 9 |
Biarritz 10 |
|
Mont-de-Marsan 6 |
Stade Francais 13 |
|
Montpellier 3 |
Clermont 30 |
|
Brive 19 |
Toulon 9 |
Struggling Biarritz won their first game since
October 25th as they overcame Castres 10-9 at the
Stade Pierre Antoine – ending en eight-match losing streak
in the process.
Their
narrow win – reversing last week’s one-point heartache away
to Bourgoin – lifted them 12 points clear of the relegation
zone and handed the 2006 champions a welcome boost after
weeks of rancour, player fallout and threats of wage cuts.
But it
tested their nerves yet again, with the home side fighting
back from an early 10-0 deficit after Takudzwa Ngwenya’s
eighth try of the season had set the visitors on their way.
Dimitri
Yachvili added the conversion and a later penalty to put Les
Biarrots 10-0 up after 22 minutes, but Romain Teulet slowly
hauled Castres back into contention with three penalties of
his own.
Just one
point separated the sides with eight minutes to go but
Teulet missed with two subsequent attempts as Biarritz
somehow held out.
And
while the win was a welcome fillip for the former European
Champions it could prove a hammer blow for Castres, who have
now lost six league matches at home – the worst record in
Top 14 this season.
They are
now just two points clear of basement club Mont-de-Marsan,
who emerged with much credit (and a crucial bonus point)
after losing narrowly 13-6 at home to Stade Francais.
The
Paris club have been the league’s highest scorers so far
this season, but Les Montois refused to back down and again
showed the resilient form that had seen them win three on
the spin at home prior to this encounter.
It took
half an hour for Stade to open the scoring, via a Lionel
Beauxis penalty, but they were 10-0 up at the break thanks
to a charge-down try from fly-half Brian Liebenberg –
starting in place of Juan-Martin Hernandez.
At that
point it appeared the capital club were poised to exert
their superiority, but Mont-de-Marsan have displayed renewed
confidence of late and they deservedly fought back after the
interval.
Damien
Cler landed two penalties to reduce the arrears – after two
earlier misses in the first half – and they briefly
threatened a real upset before substitute Hernandez secured
the win with his own penalty four minutes from time.
The
victory kept Stade three points behind leaders Toulouse,
who beat Dax 25-9 on Friday evening for a
record-breaking 11th straight league win (see
report), but Mont-de-Marsan will be just as
happy at having secured yet another vital point.
Third-placed Perpignan maintained their championship
aspirations with a five-try demolition of Bourgoin,
but their victory was marred by an injury for All Black
fly-half Dan Carter.
The
Catalan No 10 was forced off at half-time with a recurrence
of the inflamed Achilles injury that has hampered his
training over the past fortnight.
“The
pain was getting worse after about half an hour of the match
and as a precaution I came off at half-time,” said Carter.
“It was
frustrating because I really wanted to play and the team had
a really good match. I’ll get tests on Monday and will
decide with the staff if it would be better to take several
days off from training.”
Perpignan will be desperate for Carter to
play in next week’s Heineken Cup clash with the Ospreys, but
they coped well enough without him on Saturday as they swept
aside lowly Bourgoin.
The
visitors looked game for a contest when prop Pascal Peyron
went over to cancel out Phil Burger’s fourth-minute try, but
it was all downhill from there for Bourgoin.
South
African Gerrie Britz scored Perpignan’s second try on the
half hour and the match was effectively ended as a contest
when Bourgoin captain Julien Frier was handed his marching
orders two minutes before the interval for back-chatting
(somewhat colourfully) to the referee.
Carter,
who had missed three of his four kicks, was replaced by
Steve Meyer at half-time and the substitute was soon called
into action, successfully converting Britz’s second try just
60 seconds after the restart.
Meyer
added a penalty five minutes later and was back on
conversion duty when Romanian hooker Marius Tincu –
controversially playing despite his ERC ban – went over with
25 minutes to go.
Burger
got his second, and Perpignan’s fifth, shortly after but
Meyer blotted his copybook when he was yellow carded soon
after successfully landing yet another conversion.
Bourgoin
utilised the temporary player parity to score their second
try through international scrum-half Morgan Parra, but it
wasn’t enough to deny Perpignan only their fourth bonus
point of the season.
Clermont were also in positive
mood as they ran in three first-half tries en route to a
convincing 30-3 win at Montpellier.
Captain
Aurélien Rougerie, playing at full-back, began the rout when
he went over for a fifth-minute try, converted by the
dependable Brock James.
Six
minutes later Napolioni Nalaga, last week’s four-try hero,
grabbed Clermont’s second, with James adding the extras and
two subsequent penalties as the visitors stormed 20-3 ahead.
South
African centre Marius Joubert also got in on the act before
the interval as Clermont – who had only won twice on their
travels previously this season – went to the break with a
27-3 lead.
James
added a further penalty five minutes after the restart, but
the game disintegrated after that as Clermont preserved
their resources for next week’s Heineken Cup.
All that
remained was to ensure that Montpellier didn’t score to
erase their attacking bonus point, a goal they achieved with
some ease against the disappointing home side.
Montpellier have now lost 34-0 (to Toulouse) and 30-3 on
successive weekends and find themselves struggling with
squad unity in light of ex-All Black Justin Marshall’s
suspension.
There
are no such problems for Les Jaunards however, who followed
up on a week of contract extensions and new signings with
yet another impressive performance as they seek momentum
towards the business end of the season.
They
have now consolidated fourth spot, especially with
Bayonne, their nearest challengers, slipping up again –
this time 15-13 at Montauban.
It was
all Montauban in the first-half as Cedric Rosalen kicked
five penalties to put them 15-0 ahead, but the visitors
fought back after the interval thanks to Sam Gerber’s 55th-minute
try.
Cedric
Garcia added the conversion and two penalties but it wasn’t
enough and Bayonne now have to go back to November 22nd
for their last Top 14 victory. Their cause wasn’t helped by
having three players yellow-carded and manager Richard
Dourthe is bound to have plenty to say to his charges this
week as they continue to fade from a surprise play-off spot
that seemed theirs for the taking barely two months ago.
In the
day's final match Brive beat relegation-threatened
Toulon 19-9 with Andy Goode kicking 14 points to add to
South African Gerhard Vosloo's second-half try.
Toulon
defended well and were only 6-3 down after a hard-fought
first half played in -4C. But Brive's willingness to attack
eventually paid dividends after the break, with Goode adding
two penalties and a conversion to his earlier successful
brace.
For
Toulon the season continues to go from bad to worse. They
have now lost eight of their last nine league games and
long-time basement club Mont-de-Marsan have caught up with
them after their recent revival.
To add
to their woes former All Black back row Jerry Collins went
off early in the match with a worrying knee injury.
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