cyRil
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http://cyrilsplace.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/marvellous-montpellier-biarritz-beached-lyon-lifted
Round 16 of the Top 14 provided another compelling weekend of rugby in Europe's premier domestic league as Toulon trounced Bayonne, Perpignan succumbed to Brive and Toulouse maintained their relentless march towards another ***le.
Montpellier HRC 38-6 Stade Francais Paris
Montpellier provided arguably the performance of the weekend as they disposed of league rivals Stade Francais in style on Friday night; in the process dragging themselves right back in the hunt for the Bouclier de Brennus.
The bonus point victory was the third consecutive league win for Fabien Galthie's men, which hauls them up to 5th in the overall standings, with their opponents completing the top 6 roster.
Home-side winger Martin Bustos Moyano was the undoubted star of the show, contributing 26 points (2 tries, 2 conversions and 4 penalties) - including an incredible length-of-the-field team score - whilst centre Paul Bosch and fellow wing Timoci Nagusa also crossed the whitewash.
Stunned Stade were left with two paltry Julien Dupuy penalties as scant reward from a dark night down south.
Racing Metro 92 13-19 Stade Toulousain
After the blip at Kingsholm in Round 6 of the Heineken Cup, Toulouse continued their fine domestic form with a dramatic win over Racing Metro at a vibrant Stade de France on Saturday afternoon.
Leading 6-0 at half-time through the boot of Lionel Beauxis, the discarded French fly-half, landed his second successful drop goal of the day early in the second period to extend the visitors' lead in familiar Parisian surroundings before Racing scrum-half Sebastien Descons got his team off the mark with a penalty.
The hosts had found a way back into the game and it was not long before they were ahead - with Italian prop Andrea Lo Cicero barging over the line in the 51st minute; Descons adding the extras.
The lead changed hands again in the 64th minute as Luke McAlister - on as a replacement for Beauxis who suffered a suspected broken nose - was on target with a penalty shot at goal.
Descons replied in turn moments later to edge Racing ahead by a solitary point with time running out and the partisan crowd - in true French style - scenting aristocratic blood.
But there is a reason Toulouse have won as many ***les as they have however, and their never-say-die spirit shone through in the dying stages, with Gillian Gaitan crashing over with 4 minutes left for the pivotal score to win it for France's premier team.
RC Toulon 50-10 Aviron Bayonnais
The Stade Felix Mayol was a House of Pain for Mike Phillips and his Bayonne teammates on Saturday afternoon as a ruthless Toulon outfit recorded their biggest win of the Top 14 season to date.
The five-try performance gave Toulon an all-important bonus point as they attempt to chase down runaway leaders Toulouse and Clermont; but another heavy defeat leaves Bayonne winless in six and rooted to the foot of the table.
The first-half on the south coast had been dominated by the boot - with five Jonny Wilkinson penalties offsetting the one from Benjamin Boyet - but the second forty was one-way traffic after the visitors' France international, Yoann Huget, received a harsh red card for a tussle with Mathieu Bastareud, who was sent to the sin bin.
Forgotten England openside Steffon Armitage bustled his way over fifteen minutes into the second-half, but Bayonne replied swiftly as Boyet sidled his way under the posts soon after to give his side hope.
However, tiring bodies told in the final quarter as RCT ran away with the fixture - Armitage's second score of the afternoon accompanied by five-pointers from Geoffroy Messina, Luke Rooney and Alexis Palisson to send the natives home happy and consign Bayonne to the basement.
Union Bordeaux-Begles 10-17 ASM Clermont Auvergne
Second-placed Clermont had to dig deep at Stade Chaban-Delmas to overcome a stubborn Bordeaux side who are certainly making a fist of their time in the Top 14.
Visiting full-back Jean-Marcel Buttin dotted down in the first quarter to add to Brock James's earlier penalty to hand ASM an eight-point lead after 20 minutes, but the home side stormed back with a penalty through Bruce Reihana and a try from Kiwi prop Hikairo Forbes, duly converted by former Northampton Saint Reihana.
The lead was short-lived though as James kicked Clermont back in front before veteran pivot David Skrela came on and held his nerve to record a penalty, a drop goal and secure victory for Les Jaunards; Bordeaux stay 9th.
CA Brive Correze 17-9 USA Perpignan
USAP gave up a nine-point advantage at Stade Amedee Domenech to plunge the club into further trouble as they went down to fellow strugglers Brive - who leapfrog the Catalonians in the table as a result of their win.
Full-back Jerome Porical had set the visitors up well with three successful kicks in the first 20 minutes, only for their hosts to fight back with seventeen unanswered points of their own - seven in kicks from Julien Caminati and tries from full-back Scott Spedding and back-row Simon Azoulai in the 65th minutes that wrapped the game up.
Castres Olympique 29-23 Biarritz Olympique
Despite their annihilation of the Ospreys a week previously, Biarritz's woeful league form continued as they could do little to deny high-flying Castres on Saturday as the hosts remained in the top four for another week.
A bright first forty saw BOPB take a 14-10 lead into the break after Benoit Guyot and Pelu Taele-Payihi tries - both converted by scrum-half maestro Dimitri Yachvili.
But Castres flyer Romain Martial added a second try to his earlier score, with sixteen points from Romain 'Robocop' Teulet and a final penalty from former Shark Rory Kockott sealing the win and putting paid to Yachvili's best efforts from the tee.
Defeat leaves Biarritz foundering in the relegation zone; whilst the Stade Pierre-Antoine club look set for a third successful domestic season in succession under Laurent Labit.
Lyon Olympique 19-11 SU Agen
Lyon secured a huge win at Stade Matmut on Saturday as they bested Agen to rise out of the Top 14 drop zone - above Biarritz on points difference.
Despite trailing 6-3 early on to a brace of kicks from Agen scrum-half Maxime Machenaud, Lyon took control of the encounter as first former Sale Number 8 Sisa Koyamibole dived over on 30 minutes, before full-back Romain Loursac provided three second half penalties to ensure four valuable league points.
Agen had a late chance to grab a losing bonus point but Silvere Tian's try went unconverted.
TOP 14
[TABLE="class: mceItemTable, width: 100%"]
<tbody>[TR]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1.[/TD]
[TD]Toulouse[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]187[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]60[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2.[/TD]
[TD]Clermont Auvergne[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]157[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]54[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3.[/TD]
[TD]Toulon[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]73[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]40[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4.[/TD]
[TD]Castres[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5.[/TD]
[TD]Montpellier[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]50[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]40[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6.[/TD]
[TD]Stade Francais[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]-12[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]39[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7.[/TD]
[TD]Racing Metro Paris[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8.[/TD]
[TD]Agen[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]-15[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]9.[/TD]
[TD]Bordeaux-Begles[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]-74[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10.[/TD]
[TD]Brive[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]-3[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]11.[/TD]
[TD]Perpignan[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]-113[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]12.[/TD]
[TD]Lyon[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]-82[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13.[/TD]
[TD]Biarritz[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]-138[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]14.[/TD]
[TD]Bayonne[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]-128[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
Round 16 of the Top 14 provided another compelling weekend of rugby in Europe's premier domestic league as Toulon trounced Bayonne, Perpignan succumbed to Brive and Toulouse maintained their relentless march towards another ***le.
Montpellier HRC 38-6 Stade Francais Paris
Montpellier provided arguably the performance of the weekend as they disposed of league rivals Stade Francais in style on Friday night; in the process dragging themselves right back in the hunt for the Bouclier de Brennus.
The bonus point victory was the third consecutive league win for Fabien Galthie's men, which hauls them up to 5th in the overall standings, with their opponents completing the top 6 roster.
Home-side winger Martin Bustos Moyano was the undoubted star of the show, contributing 26 points (2 tries, 2 conversions and 4 penalties) - including an incredible length-of-the-field team score - whilst centre Paul Bosch and fellow wing Timoci Nagusa also crossed the whitewash.
Stunned Stade were left with two paltry Julien Dupuy penalties as scant reward from a dark night down south.
Racing Metro 92 13-19 Stade Toulousain
After the blip at Kingsholm in Round 6 of the Heineken Cup, Toulouse continued their fine domestic form with a dramatic win over Racing Metro at a vibrant Stade de France on Saturday afternoon.
Leading 6-0 at half-time through the boot of Lionel Beauxis, the discarded French fly-half, landed his second successful drop goal of the day early in the second period to extend the visitors' lead in familiar Parisian surroundings before Racing scrum-half Sebastien Descons got his team off the mark with a penalty.
The hosts had found a way back into the game and it was not long before they were ahead - with Italian prop Andrea Lo Cicero barging over the line in the 51st minute; Descons adding the extras.
The lead changed hands again in the 64th minute as Luke McAlister - on as a replacement for Beauxis who suffered a suspected broken nose - was on target with a penalty shot at goal.
Descons replied in turn moments later to edge Racing ahead by a solitary point with time running out and the partisan crowd - in true French style - scenting aristocratic blood.
But there is a reason Toulouse have won as many ***les as they have however, and their never-say-die spirit shone through in the dying stages, with Gillian Gaitan crashing over with 4 minutes left for the pivotal score to win it for France's premier team.
RC Toulon 50-10 Aviron Bayonnais
The Stade Felix Mayol was a House of Pain for Mike Phillips and his Bayonne teammates on Saturday afternoon as a ruthless Toulon outfit recorded their biggest win of the Top 14 season to date.
The five-try performance gave Toulon an all-important bonus point as they attempt to chase down runaway leaders Toulouse and Clermont; but another heavy defeat leaves Bayonne winless in six and rooted to the foot of the table.
The first-half on the south coast had been dominated by the boot - with five Jonny Wilkinson penalties offsetting the one from Benjamin Boyet - but the second forty was one-way traffic after the visitors' France international, Yoann Huget, received a harsh red card for a tussle with Mathieu Bastareud, who was sent to the sin bin.
Forgotten England openside Steffon Armitage bustled his way over fifteen minutes into the second-half, but Bayonne replied swiftly as Boyet sidled his way under the posts soon after to give his side hope.
However, tiring bodies told in the final quarter as RCT ran away with the fixture - Armitage's second score of the afternoon accompanied by five-pointers from Geoffroy Messina, Luke Rooney and Alexis Palisson to send the natives home happy and consign Bayonne to the basement.
Union Bordeaux-Begles 10-17 ASM Clermont Auvergne
Second-placed Clermont had to dig deep at Stade Chaban-Delmas to overcome a stubborn Bordeaux side who are certainly making a fist of their time in the Top 14.
Visiting full-back Jean-Marcel Buttin dotted down in the first quarter to add to Brock James's earlier penalty to hand ASM an eight-point lead after 20 minutes, but the home side stormed back with a penalty through Bruce Reihana and a try from Kiwi prop Hikairo Forbes, duly converted by former Northampton Saint Reihana.
The lead was short-lived though as James kicked Clermont back in front before veteran pivot David Skrela came on and held his nerve to record a penalty, a drop goal and secure victory for Les Jaunards; Bordeaux stay 9th.
<dl id="attachment_431" class="wp-caption aligncenter" data-mce-style="width: 210px;" style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-size: 12px; margin-top: 6px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: auto; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-image: initial; background-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); padding-top: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; clear: both; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; width: 210px; "><dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 1.4; font-weight: bold; ">
</dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 11px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">After a slow start, Montpellier are displaying some irrepressible form (Image courtesy of www.fijisun.com.fj)</dd></dl>
</dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 11px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">After a slow start, Montpellier are displaying some irrepressible form (Image courtesy of www.fijisun.com.fj)</dd></dl>CA Brive Correze 17-9 USA Perpignan
USAP gave up a nine-point advantage at Stade Amedee Domenech to plunge the club into further trouble as they went down to fellow strugglers Brive - who leapfrog the Catalonians in the table as a result of their win.
Full-back Jerome Porical had set the visitors up well with three successful kicks in the first 20 minutes, only for their hosts to fight back with seventeen unanswered points of their own - seven in kicks from Julien Caminati and tries from full-back Scott Spedding and back-row Simon Azoulai in the 65th minutes that wrapped the game up.
Castres Olympique 29-23 Biarritz Olympique
Despite their annihilation of the Ospreys a week previously, Biarritz's woeful league form continued as they could do little to deny high-flying Castres on Saturday as the hosts remained in the top four for another week.
A bright first forty saw BOPB take a 14-10 lead into the break after Benoit Guyot and Pelu Taele-Payihi tries - both converted by scrum-half maestro Dimitri Yachvili.
But Castres flyer Romain Martial added a second try to his earlier score, with sixteen points from Romain 'Robocop' Teulet and a final penalty from former Shark Rory Kockott sealing the win and putting paid to Yachvili's best efforts from the tee.
Defeat leaves Biarritz foundering in the relegation zone; whilst the Stade Pierre-Antoine club look set for a third successful domestic season in succession under Laurent Labit.
Lyon Olympique 19-11 SU Agen
Lyon secured a huge win at Stade Matmut on Saturday as they bested Agen to rise out of the Top 14 drop zone - above Biarritz on points difference.
Despite trailing 6-3 early on to a brace of kicks from Agen scrum-half Maxime Machenaud, Lyon took control of the encounter as first former Sale Number 8 Sisa Koyamibole dived over on 30 minutes, before full-back Romain Loursac provided three second half penalties to ensure four valuable league points.
Agen had a late chance to grab a losing bonus point but Silvere Tian's try went unconverted.
TOP 14
[TABLE="class: mceItemTable, width: 100%"]
<tbody>[TR]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1.[/TD]
[TD]Toulouse[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]187[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]60[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2.[/TD]
[TD]Clermont Auvergne[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]157[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]54[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3.[/TD]
[TD]Toulon[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]73[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]40[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4.[/TD]
[TD]Castres[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5.[/TD]
[TD]Montpellier[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]50[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]40[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6.[/TD]
[TD]Stade Francais[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]-12[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]39[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7.[/TD]
[TD]Racing Metro Paris[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8.[/TD]
[TD]Agen[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]-15[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]9.[/TD]
[TD]Bordeaux-Begles[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]-74[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10.[/TD]
[TD]Brive[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]-3[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]11.[/TD]
[TD]Perpignan[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]-113[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]12.[/TD]
[TD]Lyon[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]-82[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13.[/TD]
[TD]Biarritz[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]-138[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]14.[/TD]
[TD]Bayonne[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]-128[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
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