Perpignan win bore

Desperate Perpignan beat desperate Biarritz 25-6 in a desperate Top 14 match in Perpignan on Friday night.

There were five minutes of rugby of the 80 minutes the players pent in a rugby-related exercise of kick and bicker.

Half-time came at 9-6. Three kicks to two with a kiss each. Perpignan seemed a bit livelier in the second half and certainly better organised than the uninterested Biarritz brigade whom the great Serge Blanco gave up watching.

Kevin Boulogne kicked a fourth penalty to make it 12-3 and Gavin Hume put over a drop-goal from in front to make it 15-6 after 52 minutes.

On 59 minutes Argentinian prop Francisco Gomez Kodela was sent to the sin bin for a team's repeated infringement in a 24-penalty match. While Gomez Kodela was in the sin bin Boulogne scored both of the match's tries.

The first was not from a long and flowing movement. In the first case a penalty gave Perpignan a five-metre line-out. They mauled and bashed and then Boulogne darted less than a metre to score.

A break by Boulogne, the only lively player on the field, set Perpignan attacking and from just under a metre Boulogne darted over in the corner. 25-6 after 64 minutes.

Now Perpignan wanted a third try for a bonus point which Biarritz were keen to deny them. Biarritz used penalties to have a close attack of four successive five-metre line-outs, punctuated with a yellow card for Romain Taofifenua. They could have had a fifth but bored-looking Damien Trialle kicked the penalty dead. Perpignan kept them out three times and then stole the fourth.

Biarritz tapped a penalty and looked threatening just before the siren's mournful sound ended the mournful match.

The scorers:

For Perpignan:
Tries: Boulogne 2
Pens: Boulogne 4
DG: Hume

For Briattitz:
Pens: Barraque 2

The teams:

Perpignan: 15 Joffrey Michel, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Rudi Coetzee, 11 Adrien Planté, 10 Gavin Hume, 9 Kevin Boulogne, 8 Henri Tuilagi, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Grégory Le Corvec, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Romain Taofifenua, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Florian Cazenave, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Nicolas Laharrague, 23 Danie Theart.

Biarritz: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Jean-Pascal Barraque, 12 Seremaia Burotu, 11 Dane Haylett-Petty, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Yann Lesgougues, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Talalelei Gray, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Benoît August, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Raphaël Lakafia, 20 Benoît Guyot, 21 Luix Roussarie, 22 Ilikena Bolakoro, 23 Campbell Johnstone.

Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: David Rosich, Pascal Ubeda
TMO: Jean-Claude Levrier