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Clermont defeat opens door for La Rochelle, Barba debuts in Toulon loss
By Christopher Devine
La Rochelle will have the chance to open up a gap at the Top 14 summit when they visit Toulouse on Sunday, after leaders Clermont Auvergne went down 26-16 to Castres.
Anthony Jelonch's 68th-minute try proved decisive at Stade Pierre-Antoine, with impressive replacement Benjamin Urdapilleta converting and then adding a late drop-goal.
Clermont's failure to claim even a losing bonus point means they remain level on points with La Rochelle at the top of the table.
Ben Barba made his rugby union debut in a losing cause as Toulon were beaten 15-5 at Brive.
However, the former Cronulla Sharks full-back could hardly be blamed for Toulon's defeat, given he only entered the fray with four minutes remaining, shortly after Bryan Habana had scored a consolation try.
Thomas Laranjeira landed four penalties for Brive, after Gaetan Germain's three-pointer had opened the scoring.
The two sides at the foot of the table each claimed notable results on Saturday.
Bayonne claimed a 25-25 draw against a Pau side that had won their previous five matches, both sides managing a converted try and six penalties apiece.
Grenoble went one better, capitalising on the fifth-minute sending-off of Chris Masoe to beat Racing 92 19-10. Masoe was dismissed for a dangerous tackle on Arnaud Heguy.
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Latest Comments
I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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