Sexton back as Clermont go top

Fijian wing Noa Nakaitaci produced a late try to help earn Clermont a 13-all draw against a Racing-Metro side starring Ireland's returning flyhalf Jonathan Sexton on Saturday.

Back after a three-month break to recover from a spate of concussions Sexton had produced a show-stopping display in Ireland's 18-11 defeat of France in the Six Nations last Saturday.

And the 29-year-old made his presence felt on his return to the Top 14, his two penalties and the conversion of wing Marc Andreu's 55th minute try lifting the hosts to within seven minutes of victory.

But Nakaitaci, in France's Six Nations squad, went over in the 72nd minute after good work from Jonathan Davies, with Australian flyhalf Brock James converting from the touchline, after a brace of penalties from the boot of Les Bleus' scrum-half Morgan Parra.

Sexton was timed out for going over his allowed 90 seconds for an early penalty, allowing Parra to open the scoring.

The gutsy stalemate lifted Clermont top of the table by one point from Toulon.

Clermont coach Franck Azema reflected: "We should have won this evening, we were in a position to do so, but we didn't manage it.

"But despite that we put up a decent performance. And now we're top. What pleased me here is we made quite a few chances."

Racing's backs coach Laurent Labit said: "The result's logical, we saw two sides playing at the same level. We are still aiming to be among the top four."

Champions Toulon were undone in Saturday's early game by a super brace of second-half tries by Fijian Metuisela Talebula which saw Bordeaux-Begles come from 11 points adrift to snatch a 28-23 win.

Stade Francais, a further point back in third, had their own chance of claiming the Top 14 summit. But Stade, missing banned France lock Pascal Pape, fell 23-6 at strugglers Bayonne.

Bordeaux's victory, which saw the 23-year-old Fijian take his tally to seven tries for the season, consolidated their place in the top six, which guarantees a berth in the end of season play-offs.

It also strengthened the case for those who believe coach Raphael Ibanez would be the best candidate to replace Philippe Saint-Andre at the helm of the national side after the World Cup.

The hosts' joy was diluted however by the sight of Pierre Bernard limping off with a minute remaining with a knee injury which rules him out of France's Six Nations match with Wales next weekend.  

The sides were locked at 3-3 until Toulon's Fijian youngster Josua Tuisova produced a moment of sheer magic in the 13th minute.

The 21-year-old wing looked trapped on the touchline but spun out of three tackles before cutting inside and totally burning former France fly-half Lionel Beauxis for pace to touch down.

Nicolas Sanchez converted for 10-3 but Bernard reduced the gap to four points with a penalty.

Sanchez slotted over another penalty in the 23rd minute as the referee warned both sides they risked a yellow card if they continued to commit infringements.

The referee carried through with his threat by sin-binning Toulon's Argentinean veteran back Juan Martin Hernández and Bernard converted the penalty for 13-9.

However, Toulon it was who scored a try despite being a man down as Maxime Mermoz went over and Sanchez converted.

It was the hosts, though, who had the last laugh of the first-half thanks to a brilliant piece of work by Hugh Chalmers.

The New Zealander flanker tackled Delon Armitage -- making his first appearance since serving a two month suspension -- on the visitors tryline and the Englishman's desperate pass to Sebastien Tillous-Borde fell short with the Bordeaux flanker reacting quickest to touch down -- Bernard converted to make it just 20-16.

Bordeaux regained the lead for the first time since the fifth minute as a superb long pass by hooker Ole Avei found their own Fijian star Talebula, who went over in the corner for his sixth try of the season and made it 21-20.

He doubled his tally soon afterwards and Bernard converted for 28-20.

Bordeaux looked to be easing to a memorable victory until Chalmers was yellow-carded with just under two minutes remaining -- Sanchez kicking the penalty to make it 28-23.

Elsewhere, Toulouse remained fifth after an unconvincing 23-20 win over one-from-bottom of the table Lyon.

Castres continue to prop up the table after a 23-13 loss at Oyonnax.

Top 14 results:

Bordeaux-Begles 28 Toulon 23

Bayonne 23 Stade Francais 6

Toulouse 23 Lyon 20

Grenoble 20 Montpellier 18

Oyonnax 23 Castres 13

Racing-Metro 13 Clermont 13

La Rochelle 19 Brive 12

Top 14 table (played, won, drawn, lost, points for, points against, bonus points, total points):

Clermont       18 11 1  6 437 290 7 53

Toulon         18 11 0  7 494 350 8 52

Stade Francais 18 11 0  7 413 391 7 51

Racing-Metro   18 10 1  7 363 325 5 47

Toulouse       18 10 0  8 376 356 5 45

Bordeaux       18  9 0  9 492 392 8 44

Grenoble       18  9 0  9 425 510 6 42

Oyonnax        18  9 0  9 361 358 5 41

Montpellier    18  9 0  9 359 347 4 40

Bayonne        18  7 1 10 339 353 7 37

Brive          18  8 0 10 357 420 3 35

La Rochelle    18  7 1 10 351 476 4 34

Lyon           18  7 0 11 321 413 5 33

Castres        18  6 0 12 335 442 5 29

 

Agence France-Presse