1
Toulouse extend lead at the top, Stade down La Rochelle
By Peter Thompson
Top 14 leaders Toulouse moved six points clear with a 27-14 defeat of Montpellier and Stade Francais halted La Rochelle's four-match winning run on Saturday.
Clinical Toulouse stretched their run of victories to four at Stade Ernest-Wallon, where Zack Holmes helped himself to 15 points.
Holmes and Francois Cros went over in the second half following a penalty try for the home side in the first, with Jacques du Plessis claiming the only Montpellier try to open the scoring 15 minutes in.
Three penalties from Benoit Paillaugue was all ninth-placed Montpellier could add in the second half as they slumped to a fourth defeat in a row.
Stade boosted their play-off hopes with a 27-14 success at Stade Marcel-Deflandre.
The Paris side laid the foundations in the first half, Siegfried Fisi'ihoi and Hendre Stassen crossing the whitewash and Nicolas Sanchez scoring 12 points from the tee.
Piet van Zyl added a third Stade try following a couple of Ihaia West penalties and the damage had already been done by the time Jeremy Sinzelle came up with third-placed La Rochelle's only try.
Bordeaux-Begles are just three points adrift of La Rochelle following their 47-31 defeat of Grenoble, while Toulon saw off Pau 38-11 without the axed Julian Savea and Agen beat bottom side Perpignan 20-13.
Rugby World Cup City Guides - Oita:
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
Go to comments