Saturday 20 September 2014 22:00, UK
Clermont returned to the summit of the Top 14 standings in style on Saturday while Castres climbed out of the relegation zone thanks to a hard-fought win over Oyonnax.
Two second-half tries saw Racing Métro claim an important 27-16 victory over Toulouse in the Top 14 at Stade Yves du Manoir on Saturday.
Former France wing Vicent Clerc scored early in the second period - the 86th try of his career - to give Toulouse the lead but tries from Racing centre Henry Chavancy and replacement hooker Virgile Lacombe handed the hosts a well-deserved victory.
The result is Toulouse's fourth defeat in six games this season as they were unable to match Racing up front.
A precious win for Castres as they climb out of the drop zone, but it wasn't easy going against an ambitious Oyonnax side.
It wasn't pretty in a match between a home side desperate not to lose and a visiting team that was happy to disrupt the locals.
Castres led 13-6 at the interval thanks to a try from hooker Brice Mach off the back of a maul and a yellow card to Oyonnax lock Leon Power, who paid the price for pulling jumpers down in the line-out.
Castres started the second half badly as Jannie Bornman was sin-binned for a tackling Pedrie Wannenburg in the air but Rory Kockott scored a great try as he collected his own chip ahead to give his team a nine-point lead going into the final half-hour.
Oyonnax kept fighting however. Fly-half Regis Lespinas took his successful penalty count to five to keep the visitors in touch. Lespinas then landed a drop to cut the gap to just three and CO looked in danger when Ibrahim Diarra saw yellow for not rolling away.
Man-of-the-match Kockott slotted two late penalties however as Castres held on for the win that sees them climb to 11th in the standings.
Another masterclass from Clermont, who scored 27 unaswered points after break to cruise to a bonus-point win. New fly-half Camille Lopez was outstanding once again.
At try on the half-hour mark from Aurelien Rougerie and four Lopez penalties saw Clermont lead 16-12 at the interval.
Kiwi fly-half Stephen Brett kicked three penalties and a drop goal for Lyon in the first half to keep the visitors in the hunt but it was one-way traffic in the second period.
Clermont stretched their lead after the break via a wonderful try as Lopez found Rougerie on the switch before the centre offloaded to Benson Stanley, who finished in the corner.
Hooker John Ulugia added the third try on the hour mark after a great offload from lock Sebastien Vahaamahina. Fritz Lee scored number four from Uwa Tawalo's break and offload as Clermont turned up the heat against a LOU outfit that had no reply.
After a strong start, Grenoble let Bayonne back into the game but managed a final push to secure the win. Bayonne will be disappointed to leave empty handed after playing some attractive rugby.
Grenoble led 13-6 at half time thanks to an early try from prop Richard Choirat and couple of penalties from fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski.
Grenoble number eight Rory Grice powered over from short range on the hour mark to put the hosts 18-12 up but Bayonne fly-half Blair Stewart kept the scoreboard ticking and his team in touch with a flawless kicking effort from the tee.
Indeed, the teams were separated by just three points with ten minutes to play but Wisniewski's fifth penalty ensured les Isérois remain unbeaten on home soil.
Lionel Beauxis kicked the winning penalty in the 79th minutes as Bordeaux-Bègles ended La Rochelle's winning streak at home and provisionally jumped up to third!
La Rochelle will be kicking themselves after blowing a ten-point lead in the dying minutes.
UBB wing Blair Connor scored after just five minutes to give the visitors the early lead but a Penalty try and a handful of penalties from scrum-half Julien Audy saw La Rochelle hit half time in front at 16-13.
The kickers continued to exchange penalties to leave the game on a knife edge heading into the final quarter.
The match swung in La Rochelle's favour when South Africans Jandre Marais and Heini Adams were yellow carded within two minutes of each other.
Against 13 men, the hosts didn't take long to strike as full-back Kini Murimurivalu used a huge overlap to score in the corner.
UBB were thrown a lifeline when Alofa Alofa saw yellow for preventing the visitors from taking a penalty quickly and Beauxis cut the gap to seven.
Marais made amends for his earlier indiscretion by scoring a vital try as he broke off a maul. Beauxis bounced the conversion in off the post to level the scores before landing the winner from the tee with just seconds left on the clock.
Montpellier moved up to third in the Top 14 standings on Saturday thanks to a 23-3 victory over Stade Français at Altrad Stadium.
Montpellier led 16-0 at the interval after cashing in on every scoring opportunity, in contrast to their visitors who played some decent rugby but failed to capitalise on a handful of chances.
Former Wallaby lock Sitaleki Timani score the only try of the first half for the hosts, who finished with a penalty try after the final hooter following a series of powerful scrums.
