The European Cup of rugby will make its return to the top of a French club ? From Toulon in 2015, no more club habs only won it : Clermont and Racing, twice, have failed in the final. In the past year, the Irish of Leinster, who had dominated the ile-de-france.
Saturday 13 October, the entry in respect of the French rugby union had been very encouraging with the success of Toulouse, Montpellier and Racing. Today, the balance sheet is exactly opposite with three defeats in three matches. Toulon, Lyon and Castres are inclined, respectively, against Newcastle, Cardiff and Gloucester.
Toulon-Newcastle : 25-26
This is not the Champions cup, which will restore the smile to supporters of the var. Twelfth of the Top 14 with five defeats in seven encounters, Toulon suffered a new disappointment in his first european match of the year. At the stade Mayol, the Toulonnais are inclined on the wire, a point, facing the last of the premier league, Newcastle. The penalty has decisively been registered in the 71st minute by Hogdson, very effective with a five-on-five at the foot. Prior to this, the club varois had a glimpse of the victory thanks to a penalty from Francois Trinh-Duc.
Lyon-Cardiff : 21-30
Unbeaten so far at home, Lyon have not been able to contain the assaults of the Welsh. For their debut in the Champions cup, the players of Pierre Mignoni have been beaten 30-21 by a team that they had dominated two times in the past year in the european Challenge.
Read also : Rugby : Pierre Mignoni, the coach of Lyon, grew up at the same time as his club
The French, who led 16-14 at half-time, collapsed in the second period, leaving them spinning their opponents to victory. A test of Barassi at the end of the game has restored a little hope to the LOU, returned to 27-21 with two minutes to play, but Cardiff has not cracked and has even deprived the French club’s bonus-point defensive passing a penalty in the dying seconds.
Gloucester-Castres : 19-14
The discipline has made all the difference. The Castrais have conceded too many errors to hope to win in England. Gloucester has been able to rely on the boot of Cipriani, the author of four penalties and a conversion. The two teams have each scored a try. The French club has been registered by Martin Laveau a little before the time of the game.
Bath-Toulouse : 20-22
He took a kick missed and a lack of attention. Toulouse can thank the clumsiness of the rear English, Freddie Burns. The latter, who had already left six points on the road in the first period, missed a penalty inevitable in the face of the posts in the 74th minute of the game. As if that wasn’t enough, he also missed a test (almost) all done in not paying the guard at the back in extremis and in his back on the Toulouse’s Maxime Medard.
Toulouse, france, record-holder of victories in this competition (4 times with the Irish of Leinster), begins ideally its european season. The Stadium has established itself, thanks in particular to two trials Sofiane Guitoune. In the pool 1, are the defending champions of Leinster who took the lead in crushing the English Wasps.
Montpellier-Edinburgh : 21-15
No bonus offensive, but a victory hard won for the Héraultais home. Dominating in the first period, Montpellier was detached with two achievements of Benjamin Fall (32nd) and Gabriel Ngandebe (36th).
But in the second period, the Scots have dearly sold their skin. They would have even been able to take if a try from Jaco van der Walt had not been denied by the referee for an obstruction on the French defence. So much the better for the men of the captain Louis Picamoles, who moved top of the group 5 pending meeting between Toulon and Newcastle.
Llanelli-Racing : 13-14
The Racing, two-time finalist of the European Cup in three years, has pulled out of a funny trap welsh in Llanelli. The Scarlets have, however, thoroughly dominated a good part of the game. It is thanks to a maul collapsed voluntarily by the scrum half Gareth Davies as the ile-de-france were awarded a penalty try beneficial.
Apart from this result unexpected, the evening was not pink at all levels. Three players are injured : Xavier Chauveau, Joe Rokocoko and Virimi Vakatawa. The Racing is sharing the top of pool 4 with the Irish of Ulster, winners of the English Leicester (24-10).
