Perpignan fall at home

Stade Français came down from Paris to play Perpignan at their Stade Aimé Giral stronghold in a Top 14 match and won 35-16, thanks partly to 15 points while Perpignan had a scrumhalf in the sin bin.

Perpignan had suddenly found energy and had come back to 20-16, within winning distance, when they came apart.

First their fragile centre defence let Martín Rodriguez on a break that threatened their line. While Rodriguez was running with the ball, replacement scrumhalf David Mélé anticipated an inside pass to Felipe Contepomi who did not get the ball. What he got was a heavy tackle by Mélé. The referee penalised Mélé and sent him to the tin bin, Julien Dupuy's kicked the penalty goal and Stade Français went on to score another twelve points, including two tries which gave them a bonus point.

Poor Perpignan stayed at home with nothing. There had been a lot of interest in their performance in the wake of the sacking of coach Jacques Delmas and the promotion of Christophe Manas and unemotional Bernard Goutta. Their phoenix act did not materialise.

The Catalans started badly, looking apologetic and suffered when, from a maul, Paul Williams cut clean between the two centres and got past to covering defenders who tackled each other to score after a run of well over 30 metres. 7-0 after 4 minutes.

When Stade Français were penalised at a scrum James Hook goaled. 7-3 aszft4er 6 minutes. Sadly for the home side Hook's goal-kicking was poor after this. By way of contrast Dupuy's was good.

Perpignan regularly went through dull phases, repeating the same fruitless charging after the other. Stade Français were much quicker and sharper and more varied. Dupuy goaled a penalty and then the Pink Lilies had a bit of luck.

Hooker Dimitri Szarzewski had a poor game except for one excellent moment. Just inside the Perpignan half with Perpignan in possession, he got a loose ball, stood up, broke away from two feeble tacklers and ran 48 metres to score in the right corner. 17-3 after 18 minutes.

Hook kicked two penalties and Perpignan were perhaps unfortunate to have a try disallowed. At half-time the score was 17-9.

Early in the second half Williams was sent to the sin bin for a tackle infringement near his line, but Hook missed his third penalty attempt and then Dupuy got one to make the score 20-9 after 56 minutes.

As Williams had cut through for his try, so Gavin Hume cut clean through but this time Paul Warwick was there to bring him down. Hume lost the ball and Szarzewski broke away but he in turn lost the ball to Hook who snapped up the chance and sent Julien Candelon racing over in the left corner. Hook converted. 20-16 with 20 minutes to play.

Perpignan got their dander up but then came the Rodriguez run and the Mélé yellow card.

A brilliant diagonal kick to the right by Contepomi gave Sergio Parisse an easy try. 28-16. Then Contepomi chipped, caught on the full and gave to Rodriguez who scored near the posts. Two genius kicks by the veteran Puma.

* In other Round 11 matches on Friday night, Racing-Métro beat Biarritz 28-9 and Bayonne beat Lyon 15-9.

The scorers:

For Stade Français:
Tries: Williams, Szarzewski, Parisse, Rodriguez
Cons: Dupuy 2, Contepomi
Pens: Dupuy 3

For Perpignan:
Try: Candelon
Con: Hook
Pens: Hook 3

The teams:

Perpignan: 15 Joffrey Michel, 14 Farid Sid, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12 Gavin Hume, 11 Julien Candelon, 10 James Hook, 9 Florian Cazenave, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Jean Pierre Perez, 6 Gregory Le Corvec, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Jerome Schuster.
Replacements: 16 Marius Tincu, 17 Perry Freshwater, 18 Romain Taofifenua, 19 Gerrie Britz, 20 Henri Tuilagi, 21 David Mélé, 22 Rudolf Coetzee, 23 Kisi Pulu.

Stade Français: 15 Paul Warwick, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Paul Williams, 12 Martín Rodriguez, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Pierre Rabadan, 6 David Lyons, 5 Pascal Papé, 4 Gerhard Mostert, 3 David Attoub, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Aled De Malmanche, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Antoine Burban, 20 Jerome Fillol, 21 Morgan Turinui, 22 Francis Fainifo, 23 Stanley Wright.

Referee: Jean-Luc Rebollal
Assistant referees: Frank Maciello, Christophe Graviou
TMO: Jean-Claude Levrier

Bayonne vs Lyon at Stade Jean Dauger

A penalty in injury-time gave Lyon a bonus point as they went down 9-15.

The scorers:

For Bayonne:
Pens: Boyet 5

For Lyon:
Pens: Tomamichel 2, Loursac

The teams:

Bayonne: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Sam Gerber, 13 Thibault Lacroix, 12 Lionel Mazars, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Benjamin Boyet, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Marc Baget, 7 Julien Puricelli, 6 Dwayne Haare, 5 Troy Flavell, 4 Abdellatif Boutaty, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 David Roumieu, 1 Pierre Lafond.
Replacements: 16 François Da Ros, 17 Aretz Iguiniz, 18 Rob Linde, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 Jean Joseph Marmouyet, 21 Cédric Garcia, 22 Marvin O'Connor, 23 Renaud Boyoud.

Lyon: 15 Eric Tomamichel, 14 Mosese Ratuvou, 13 Latu Fatafehi, 12 Waisale Sukanaveita, 11 Rémy Grosso, 10 Xavier Sadourny, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Sisaro Koyamaibole, 7 Vincent Clement, 6 Juan Leguizamón, 5 Pierre Vigouroux, 4 Arnaud Marchois, 3 Philemon Toleafoa, 2 Antonio Testa, 1 Xavier Fiard.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Philippe Bonrepaux, 17 Julien Facundo, 18 Arnaud Dorier, 19 Alexandru Manta, 20 Romain Veniat, 21 Régis Lespinas, 22 Romain Loursac, 23 Antoine Guillamon.

Referee: Sébastien Cloute
Assistant referees: Arnaud Blondel, Christophe Clavere
TMO: Jean-Luc Pellaprat

Racing Métro vs Biarritz at Stade Yves Du Manoir (Colombes)

Racing-Métro got a bonus point as they triumphed 28-9.

The scorers:

For Racing-Métro:
Tries: Saubade 2, Nallet
Cons: Wisniewski 2
Pens: Wisniewski 3

For Biarritz:
Pens: Barraque 2, Baby

Biarritz: 15 Benoît Baby, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Ilikena Bolakoro, 12 Seremaia Burotu, 11 Charles Gimenez, 10 Jean-Pascal Barraque, 9 Yann Lesgougues, 8 Romain Faure, 7 Benoît Guyot, 6 Talalelei Gray, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Erik Lund, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Arnaud Héguy (captain), 1 Yvan Watremez.
Replacements: 16 Romain Terrain, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Jérôme Thion, 19 Jean-Baptiste Roidot, 20 Tanguy Molcard, 21 Roussarie, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Campbell Johnstone.

Racing-Métro: 15 Jonathan Wisniewski, 14 Sireli Bobo, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Virimi Vakatawa, 11 Julien Saubade, 10 Juan Martin Hernández, 9 Nicolas Durand, 8 Sébastien Chabal, 7 Bernard Le roux, 6 John Leo'o, 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Karim Ghezal, 3 Johannes Coetzee, 2 Benjamin Noirot, 1 Mikaele Tu'ugahala.
Replacements: 16 Thomas Bianchin, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Jone Qovu, 19 Antoine Battut, 20 Sébastien Descons, 21 Joshua Matavesi, 22 Rémi Vaquin, 23 Juan Pablo Orlandi.

Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant referees: Jérôme Lamirand, René Bordeneuve
TMO: Laurent Valin