Top 14 record-breaker sees Castres past Montpellier
TOP 14 SATURDAY WRAP: Argentina flyhalf Benjamin Urdapilleta set a new individual points record for the Top 14 on Saturday, scoring 33 in Castres’ 48-17 win over Montpellier.
Noa Nakaitaci scored a hat-trick of tries for Lyon but ended up on the losing side against Racing 92 while former New Zealand sevens international Ben Lam scored his first try since December as Bordeaux-Begles hammered Stade Francais 44-6.
Urdapilleta scored a try in each half and kicked four out of five conversions and five penalties to eclipse the 32 points scored by Cedric Rosalen for Narbonne in 2006-2007 and Bayonne’s Benjamin Boyet in 2012-2013.
“For the record, I didn’t know,” he joked after the game. “I knew I had scored 10 points with my two tries, but penalties, conversions, I don’t keep count. Thirty-three points is good for confidence, but I’ll remember the victory above all else.
“In the warm-up, I missed a few penalty kicks, but on the first kick in the match, I had a good feeling, the second one was the same, I asked myself: ‘will I kick 100 percent today?’ But I put the last one against the post, maybe I put a little pressure on myself.”
Filipo Nakosi, Rory Kockott and Bastien Guillemin also crossed for Castres who clocked up their eighth win of the season. Montpellier remain 12th in the table.
Two-time Rugby World Cup winner Victor Vito’s La Rochelle ended Toulon’s 21-match unbeaten run at home with a 29-11 victory at Stade Mayol. La Rochelle reclaimed second and moved back to within three points of top-of-the table Toulouse.
Racing 92 are level on points with La Rochelle as Teddy Baubigny, former Ireland wing Simon Zebo and former France flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc scored tries in a 34-26 home win over Lyon.
The man of the match though, was undoubtedly the Fijian-born France centre Nakaitaci who crossed twice in the first half and again just after the hour.
Lam, who joined Bordeaux from the Hurricanes this season, crossed as did lock Cyril Cazeaux, wing Romain Buros and Kiwi flyhalf Ben Botica, who also kicked 22 points.
The home team, without France Six Nations squad members Cameron Woki and Matthieu Jalibert, dominated the opening quarter and led 16-3 after Cazeaux crashed over.
Bordeaux-Begles led 22-6 at the break as Botica added two penalties after two Joris Segonds efforts for the visitors.
Ten minutes into the second half Botica crossed in style.
Then substitute Jean-Baptiste Dubie off-loaded to Lam who crashed over in the left-hand corner with less than 20 minutes to go. It was his fourth try this term.
Buros added a fourth try to rubber stamp the bonus point win.
On Friday, South Africa’s World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe added a seventh try for the campaign in Toulouse’s 31-9 win over Pau.
Collated French Top 14 results on Saturday:
Bordeaux-Begles 44-6 Stade Francais 6
Racing92 34-26 Lyon 26
Castres 48-17 Montpellier 17
Toulon 11-29 La Rochelle 29
Playing Sunday
Bayonne v Brive (18,05 GMT)
Played Friday
Toulouse 31-9 Pau 9
*Agen v Clermont postponed due to coronavirus cases
