Toulouse is doing, Biarritz, Perpignan and Toulon are fighting back
The bad students of the Top 14 are waking up: Perpignan, Toulon and Biarritz, the last three in the standings at kick-off, have won, respectively against Clermont, Lyon and the French Stadium, Saturday, on the 11th day.
Toulouse trembles, not Ramos
Pulsive, literate in touch (eleven lost balloons!), The Toulouse stadium ended up having courageous Brivists (18-11).
Barely, of course, but this victory allows the Rouge et Noir to pass on their leadership position, while waiting for the clash between the two unfortunate semi-finalists of last season, scheduled for the evening (9:05 p.m.), between Racing 92-Bègles- Bordeaux .
Largely deprived of their international winners of the All Blacks, apart from the second row Thibaud Flament, the Toulouse have not shown much. And it is Thomas Ramos, placed at the opening in the absence of Romain Ntamack, who had the head of his teammates out of the water, with six penalties.
Perpignan has come a long way
Largely led to the break, Usap scored points of seizure in the second half, including three penalties from Melvyn and a try from Alan Brazo in the 80th, to overthrow the ASM (26-24).
Remake of the 2009 and 2010 championship finals, the poster between Perpignan and Clermont turned in favor of the promoted, winner for the second time in a row at home after dropping La Rochelle (22-13) at the end of October.
Paris to the carpet
Yet they had prepared well.
Despite Basque songs in training and sewage to wet the balloons, the Parisians fell into the Biarritz trap (17-14).
Winner four times (in six matches) at home, Biarritz Olympique had to fight to win thanks to a try from hooker Bastien Soury four minutes from time.
A precious success in the race to maintain, even if the Basques remain good last.
La Rochelle in demonstration
Five tries and a fourth place. All in control, La Rochelle made short work of Pau (36-9) to continue its rise in the standings: the Maritimes have lost only once in their last six games and here they are at the foot from the podium.
The Section, largely exceeded in all sectors, only held Ronan O’Gara’s men about twenty minutes, enough time for Pau to make the powder speak (test 10th, penalty 22nd). Then, the Rochelais evolved, carried by a successful Ihaia West (sixteen points, including a test).
Montpellier, power 4
Castres almost ruined the “Fufu party”. But the MHR, despite the yellow card from Paul Willemse, narrowly won (25-24) to offer a nice gift to Fulgence Ouedraogo, who was playing his 332nd match under the colors of Montpellier, a record.
Long jostled, the Héraultais clinched their fourth success in a row, after triumphing over Racing 92 (32-21), Lou (30-8) and Stade Français (31-27). The victory was achieved thanks to a converted try from South African center Jan Serfontein in the dying minutes. Enough for the MHR to consolidate its place on the podium.
Azéma first!
Toulon got out of the red zone. With forceps, in pain but the RCT is (a little) better. This complicated victory in front of Lyon (19-13) is also the first of Franck Azéma on the Var bench, after having fallen against his club of always, Clermont (31-16), a few weeks ago.
Good news for Toulon who climbed to eleventh place. Very bad for Lou, who also lost Mathieu Bastareaud: the third row came out, on a stretcher and in tears, after four minutes of play, “hit in both knees”, according to Pierre Mignoni. A blow for the former international who, at 33, had just returned from long months of absence.