La Rochelle strains Toulouse
The Maritimes also cut the momentum of the Rouge et Noire, which nevertheless remained on five consecutive successes, all competitions combined. The absences of Dupont, Jelonch or Marchand, left to rest, or those of Cros, Capuozzo or Flament, injured, do not explain everything. Especially since the Rochelais were deprived of Skelton, Tanga, Danty or Seuteni.
You can’t play rugby if you don’t have a conquest. It’s a match to forget, a booster shot. We have to move on.
The Toulouse, swept away in conquest, clearly had their minds elsewhere and had to wait for the 72e to score their first points, thanks to a try by Arthur Retière against his former teammates, following the temporary exclusion of Grégory Alldritt (71e). Outnumbered three times (yellow cards for Faumuina 29eNtamack 31e and Mauvaka 55e), the leaders never seemed able to stop the Rochelais, authors of three tries.
“You can’t play rugby if you don’t have a conquest, lamented Toulouse manager Ugo Mola. It’s a match to forget, a booster shot. We have to move on.”
“It had to happen one day (to beat Toulouse), it happened tonight. It was necessary, but I had confidence,” commented his La Rochelle counterpart Ronan O’Gara for whom “we are going to have bigger challenges in the future”.
Laïrle: “We are not going to be choosy”
The French Stadium had enhanced its three previous successes (against La Rochelle, Racing 92 and Pau) with an offensive bonus point. The fourth was not improved against Castres (26-17) but the Parisian club will be satisfied with it.
The Pink Soldiers consolidate their second place and fall back to three points behind the leader. The CO, only 11e three points from the penultimate place, knows perfectly well what he has to do to hope for better: finally win away from his fortress of Pierre-Fabre.
After having flirted with the relegation zone for a while, UBB has risen four to four in the standings in recent weeks. His fourth victory in a row, against Bayonne (23-15), in a sold-out Chaban-Delmas stadium (32,413 spectators), was not the most flamboyant.
It still allows him to temporarily climb on the podium. Who would have believed it when manager Christophe Urios was pushed out in November?
“We are not going to be choosy”commented the new strongman of the UBB and former manager of SA XV Julien Laïrle. “Winning matches like that, when we’re not at our best level, is very important for the group and makes an impression. It’s a sign of progress, of confidence, we doubt a little less”.
Clermont still sick
Between the announced departure of Damian Penaud, the impotence displayed against Toulouse (32-13), the insults and threats falling from the stands of Michelin and the resignation of the three-quarter coach Xavier Sadourny, the context was volcanic in Auvergne before Perpignan reception.
Pushed to their limits by an opportunistic and playful Usap, like this superb collective movement concluded by Genesis Mamea Lemalu, ASM stopped the eruption thanks to two tries at the end of the match (31-20). The Clermontois breathe a little better and sink the Catalans, more last than ever, now six points behind Brive.
The new Corréziens manager Patrice Collazo has indeed played a bad trick on his former club Toulon (26-17), which he had not left on good terms.
The Black and Whites, transformed in recent weeks, have won a third consecutive victory in a match that has long been a duel of scorers between their opener Enzo Hervé (seven penalized) and his Toulon counterpart Dan Biggar.
Brive rest 13ebut is just two points behind Pau, beaten at the same time at home by Lyon (21-12), which thus puts an end to a series of three straight losses.
Parra will hang up at the end of the season
Canal + has revealed that Stade Français scrum half Morgan Parra (34, 71 caps) will end his long and rich career at the end of the season, after spending thirteen years in Clermont. He should logically join the staff of the Parisian club alongside Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal, current co-coaches of the XV of France, after the next World Cup (September 8-October 28).