Toulouse bounce back with 29-9 win over Montpellier
Toulouse bounced back from last week’s European Cup with an ample 29 – 9 victory over Montpellier on Thursday in the Top 14. The victory has given Stade Toulousian a safe side and kept it in the tournament lead, with Biarritz and Castres in lethal pursuit
following their wins over (23-21) Perpignan and (34-12) Stade Francais respectively. Touloun had to struggle against humble La Rochelle, while Bourgin lost to Agen by 26-9 and gifted Agen a victory in the battle of basement occupants.
Fallout:
Toulouse 29-9 Montpellier Brive 18-26 Bayonne Agen 26-9 Bourgoin Biarritz 23-21 Perpignan Toulon 12-9 La Rochelle Castres 34-12 Stade Francais
Top 14 ‘cream of the crop’ and defending Heineken Cup champions Toulouse had a hard day against Wasps last week and they took out the frustration on Montpellier last night. Census Johnston and Maxime Medrad crossed the line for the touchdown twice, which
gave them a deserving bonus point. David Skrela, the fly half kicked three different conversions and a penalty. Montpellier had a bad day, as the only points that came for them were through the Martin Bustos Moyano’s boot.
European Cup quarter finalist Biarritz won over their fellow last eight Perpignan via a penalty scored by Dimitri Yachvili in the 78th minute. Perpignan was looking forward to end the 66 year winless record in Basque after earning a huge 21-0 lead in the
first half. But Biarritz had a plan in second half and clawed their way back in the game with two back to back tries. To add fuel to this ignition Yachvili scored two penalties to confirm their victory. Biarritz have moved up to the fourth position after this
win with 48 points in their bag, while Perpignan stand at tenth position with only 36 points.
Toulon came from all the way back to cross La Rochelle 12-9, after almost losing the match in the first half. It was observed that all the French quarter finalists of Heineken Cup didn’t score their first try till 60th minute at least. Saimone Taumoepeau
was the one to break the ice and powered his way through La Rochelle’s defense. Fontunuupule Auelua the center pierced through the heart of La Rochelle’s defense to score another five points with Tom May. Tom May who showed up for Jonny Wilkinson, added a
few extras. Fly half Felipe Contpomi left the field after 14 minutes into the game due to a back injury. Toulon now stands at 7th position with 45 points, while La Rochelle have kept the 12th spot with no more than 27 points.
Seems like, Castres have cemented their sixth position after beating Stade Francais 31-12 yesterday. Romain Teulet, the full back alone scored 24 points at home with the help of a try, five penalties and three conversions. Wing Mark Andreu and prop Yannick
Forestier also scored one try each for Castres. From Stade Francais it was Lionel Beauxis who scored three penalties and kept his team in range with Castres till the half time, where score was concluded to 16-9. He was only able to score three points in the
second half to Stade’s total. Castres have earned 46 points this season, while Stade Francais have points in pocket and are currently standing 9thposition.
Bayonne thrashed Brive by 26-18 after an interesting match. At half time both teams were locked at 6-6, but the away team crossed it first after three consecutive tries from Yoann Huget, Abdellatif Boutaty and Cedric Garcia. From the home side it was only
Julien Caminati and David Khinchagahvili who scored and induced some momentum, but apparently it was too late to make a difference. Bayonne remain at their number eight spot with 44 points, while Brive have been basemented at 13th position with nothing but
26 points after losing their eleventh match of the season out of the seventeen they played.
Next fixtures will start from 11th February on Friday when La Rochelle will be facing Toulouse and will go on till Saturday 12th February.
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