Jeremy Ward's double steers Stade Francais to the top
WRAP: Stade Francais moved to the summit of the Top 14 table after a 28-11 win over Perpignan.
South African centre Jeremy Ward crossed twice for the French side on Saturday.
Bordeaux-Begles centre Nicolas Depoortere put his hand up for a place in France’s side for their November Tests with an impressive performance in an otherwise sluggish 32-20 French Top 14 win over Lyon on Saturday.
Depoortere scored a try and set-up another at Stade Chaban-Delmas with his club team-mate and first-choice Test centre Yoram Moefana out injured, opening a berth in the Les Bleus’ midfield for games against South Africa, Fiji and Australia next month.
The 22-year-old’s performance and late efforts from France winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Fiji flyer Salesi Rayasi moved the Champions Cup holders to fourth in the standings despite a slow start to the season which included losses at Racing 92 and Stade Francais seven days ago.
“It does us a lot of good,” Depoortere told Canal+.
“There was some good stuff and some bad stuff in there.
“It was reassuring after last weekend’s performance,” he added, in reference to the sorry 28-7 reverse against Stade Francais.
Lyon lost for just the second time in five games this campaign despite a double from 19-year-old scrum-half Esteban Gonzalez on his first Top 14 start.
Earlier, former New Zealand centre Ma’a Nonu scored his second try in a week aged 43 as Toulon eased past Pau 33-17.
The 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup winner crashed over as one of five try-scorers to move Toulon up to second place in the table.
Last Sunday, Nonu became the oldest ever try-scorer in the league, crossing in the loss at Bayonne, having come out of a brief retirement initially as medical cover with Toulon last season.
He is in his third stint at Toulon, having originally joined in 2015, just after the club won the Champions Cup for the third year in a row in the most glorious era in its history.
Ollivon return
Pau dropped down to fifth in the standings despite efforts from Argentina No.8 Facundo Isa and Samoa centre Tumua Manu.
Former France captain Charles Ollivon returned to action for the first time in nine months for Toulon after recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury.
The 32-year-old is likely to be a part of Fabien Galthie’s France set-up later this year.
“We’re all very happy about Charles Ollivon’s return,” Toulon head coach Pierre Mignoni said.
“He’ll play games and will rediscover his usual standards quickly. I’m not worried for him,” Mignoni added.
Elsewhere, one-time New Zealand flyhalf Harry Plummer scored 23 points to help Clermont hammer promoted Montauban 84-31 in a 16-try spectacle.
The result broke the record for the most points scored in a Top 14 match, which had been the 102 when Les Jaunards smashed Dax 95-7 in 2008.
Clermont’s 12 tries came from 11 different players, with winger Joris Jurand the only one to score twice.
On Sunday, there is a re-run of last season’s Top 14 semifinal as Bayonne host Toulouse but livewire Fiji centre Sireli Maqala is sidelined for the Basques with concussion.
Maqala has been nominated for the Top 14 player of the season prize for 2024/2025, alongside Toulouse pair Thomas Ramos and Jack Willis, with the awards’ ceremony taking place on Monday.
