French Top 14 round 5: Agen settles for tie with Perpignan
Agen settled for a tie with Perpignan at home in Stade Armandie over the weekend.
Agen managed to get over the try line but could not curtail their success into a victory, eventually settling for a tie. Perpignan got off to an incredible start taking an astonishing 20-point lead into the half. After the break Agen seemed to find their form as they barged over the line for three straight tries. Nevertheless, in the end it was not enough as they were only able to claim one point in a 23-23 tie.
Recap
Perpignan started the scoring off in the fourth minute with a penalty from full-back Jerome Porical, to give the visitors a quick 3-0 lead.
Portical struck again in the 17th minute notching another three points for his side, to extend their lead to 6-0.
The match finally got its first try courtesy of Perpignan’s centre Maxime Mermoz who was able to work his way over the whitewash in the 20th minute, moving the lead out to 11-0.
The guests continued to pressure as fly-half Gilles Bosch converted a drop-goal in the 30th minute to extend the advantage to 14-0.
Porical then added to his already impressive day by hitting two penalties in the 36th and 38th minutes respectively, allowing his side to take a dominant 20-0 lead into half-time.
After the break the Agen team finally found its form as winger Romain Edmond Samuel pushed his way over the try line in the 44th minute to cut the lead to 20-5.
The home side kept the pressure on, and only five minutes later scrum-half Sylvain Dupuy was able to muscle his way across the whitewash, reducing the lead to 20-10.
Valentin Courrent then hit a drop-goal in the 54th minute to cut the advantage to 20-13.
Agen refused to let up. Fuelled by the home fans, centre Junior Pelesasa forced his way over the try-line in the 59th minute and Courrent hammered home the conversion to lock the game up at 20.
Courrent added to his impressive day by kicking a penalty in the 65th minute to give the home side their first lead of the game.
However, five minutes later, Porical put through his fifth penalty of the game to tie it up late and force a tie.
Analysis
Even though Agen worked hard to take the lead late, they will be happy with the point considering their poor play in the opening half.
Perpignan continues to struggle to find their form after an impressive first round. Although they did not lose to Agen, they should have won in this game where they were heavily favoured.
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