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Stade end miserable losing run, Toulouse collapse
By Ben Spratt
Olivier Azam and Julien Dupuy finally tasted victory as Stade Francais head coaches at the fourth time of asking, while Toulouse were beaten after a second-half collapse.
South Africa international Morne Steyn eased Stade's relegation fears as he kicked the Paris club to a 23-17 home win over Castres.
A five-match losing run to start 2018, including two games under Greg Cooper, had put Stade's top-flight status in peril - just a point clear of 13th-placed Brive - and there was little relief in a first half that saw Castres' Maama Vaipulu cancel out an opener from Hugh Pyle.
But Steyn crucially dispatched a penalty - his second of the game - and a drop goal following the restart to secure a lead that was extended by Waisea Nayacalevu's try, Rory Kockott's response counting for little.
Stade's next test comes against rivals Racing 92, who remain in second place after Toulouse missed their opportunity to climb the table in a 27-20 home defeat to Lyon.
Toulouse led 14-3 at half-time, with Lyon's only points coming from a Frederic Michalak penalty seconds before the whistle following home tries for Yoann Huget and Cyril Baille.
But Toby Arnold brought the visitors back into contention with 20 minutes remaining, before a Delon Armitage brace - the second score coming three minutes from time - turned the game on its head, both teams also dispatching penalties through Thomas Ramos and Mike Harris.
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Latest Comments
Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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