Stade Francais back to winning ways as Toulon trounce Lyon
Kylan Hamdaoui scored the only try of the game as Stade Francais ended a run of three straight Top 14 defeats with a 19-6 triumph at Agen on Saturday.
Argentine fly-half Nicolas Sanchez was successful with his solitary conversion attempt and also slotted over four penalties for Heyneke Meyer's side, who move up to fifth place in the table after the win on the road.
Toulon belied their lowly league position by tearing Lyon apart, Filipo Nakosi crossing for a hat-trick of tries to help the hosts run out comfortable 40-7 winners.
Liam Messam, Josua Tuisova and Daniel Ikpefan also touched down for Toulon, who had lost seven of their previous 11 league outings but scored 28 unanswered points before the break at Stade Mayol.
Lyon put up more of a fight in the second half but have now lost three on the spin in all competitions following back-to-back defeats against Glasgow Warriors in the European Champions Cup.
Grenoble climbed out of the bottom two after a hard-fought 17-16 result against Montpellier, the home team retaining their lead during a tense finale to claim just their third league win of the season.
When you beat Montpellier! pic.twitter.com/72Y0w2TUqq
— FC Grenoble Rugby (@FCGrugby_en) December 22, 2018
The result sees Grenoble move level on points with 11th-placed Pau, who went down to a 28-23 defeat at home to La Rochelle in a game that saw both teams have a player sin-binned.
Meanwhile, bottom club Perpignan remain without a victory through round 12 of the campaign after they were put to the sword in Paris, Racing 92 running in 10 tries to record a crushing 64-28 victory.
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I’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
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