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Montpellier go top as La Rochelle held on day of shocks
By Nicholas McGee
Montpellier took advantage of an unexpected slip-up by La Rochelle at bottom club Oyonnax to go first in the Top 14 with a 28-16 win over Stade Francais on Saturday.
La Rochelle were held to a thrilling 38-38 draw by Oyonnax, as an 87th-minute Ben Botica penalty sealed a share of the spoils.
The strugglers led 18-17 at the break and Axel Muller's 44th-minute converted try stretched the advantage to eight points.
But La Rochelle scored three unanswered tries to seemingly put the contest beyond doubt, only for a late flurry to clinch two points for Oyonnax as Maxime Veau crossed before the boot of Botica denied the visitors in a shock outcome.
Montpellier, beaten by Brive last time out, returned to winning ways and the summit of the table as Aaron Cruden, Louis Picamoles, Mohammed Haouas and Nemani Nadolo scored tries in a bonus-point win over Stade Francais.
Third-placed Castres could have leapfrogged La Rochelle into second with a win at second-bottom Agen, but instead they slumped to a stunning 30-3 defeat.
They trailed 6-3 at the break but Agen stretched that lead to 20-3 by the time Maama Vaipulu was sent off on a miserable day for Castres.
Third-bottom Brive followed up their heroics against Montpellier by overcoming fifth-placed Toulon, who were undone by a last-minute try from their former back Benjamin Lapeyre in a 13-12 defeat.
Elsewhere, Bordeaux Begles beat Lyon 19-10 to move level on points with both them and sixth-placed Toulouse in the fight for a play-off spot.
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The match experience still sucks at SR games, irrespective of the game being a little quicker. Rugby has to compete with so much in the modern world, if you’re going to get people to leave their houses and pay to watch a game in winter then the experience has to be worthwhile.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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