Potgieter saves Bayonne's bacon
Five-time champions Biarritz remained in a French Top 14 relegation dog-fight at the weekend, after fellow strugglers Bayonne clinched a 24-19 victory.
Bayonne remain second-bottom of the table on 38 points with three games left, eight ahead of Lyon while Biarritz are fifth bottom.
South African utility back Jacques-Louis Potgieter kicked 21 points for Bayonne with seven penalties, six of them coming in the first period with Cedric Garcia booting a second-half drop-goal.
Biarritz’s Fijian wing Ilikena Bolakoro grabbed the only try of the game in the 51st minute while Dmitri Yachvili kicked the conversion as well as four penalties.
At the top of the table, Clermont replaced Toulouse on points difference after a 25-9 home win over Stade Francais had followed champions Toulouse’s shock 25-10 loss at Perpignan on Friday.
Benoit Cabello scored the only try of the game for Clermont with Australian flyhalf Brock James kicking 20 points.
The win was Clermont’s 41st in succession at home, with coach Vern Cotter saying: “I am very happy with the spirit in our team.
“The players don’t want to disappoint the fans at Marcel-Michelin Stadium and these four points for victory are very important.”
Stade’s Australian coach Michael Cheika insisted his team can still make the end of season play-offs.
“I am not even thinking about not qualifying, there are still three matches to go, so we will see,” he said.
Toulouse’s surprise defeat to Perpignan piled on the misery for the French giants, who had also crashed out of the European Cup last weekend.
Defending champions Toulouse had been 7-6 ahead at the break at the Aime-Giral stadium after Argentine lock Patricio Albacete had crossed for a 35th-minute try.
But Welsh star James Hook then kicked four successive penalties to add to the two he had booted in the first period as Perpignan took control.
A last-minute try from fullback Joffrey Michel was the icing on the cake for the home side while Hook finished with 20 points thanks to his successful conversion.
Toulouse had been knocked out of the European Cup quarterfinals last week, losing 19-14 to Edinburgh.
Friday’s loss marked the first time that Toulouse had lost consecutive European Cup and Top 14 matches since December 2009.
Round 23 results:
Clermont 25 Stade Francais 9
Agen 22 Toulon 13
Racing-Metro 40 Brive 19
Montpellier 43 Lyon 12
Bayonne 24 Biarritz 19
Castres 44 Bordeaux 20
Perpignan 25 Toulouse 10
Top 14 standings:
(under headings played, won, drawn, lost, points for, points against, bonus points, points)
Toulouse 23 17 1 5 557 389 8 78
Clermont 23 17 2 4 546 311 6 78
Toulon 23 12 4 7 502 341 7 63
Montpellier 23 13 1 9 558 447 8 62
Racing-Métro 23 12 1 10 515 478 9 59
Castres 23 12 3 8 499 449 5 59
Stade Français 23 10 2 11 515 522 9 53
Agen 23 11 1 11 429 491 2 48
Perpignan 23 8 2 13 421 484 8 44
Biarritz 23 8 2 13 370 479 7 43
Brive 23 7 1 15 364 378 12 42
Bordeaux 23 9 0 14 404 566 5 41
Bayonne 23 7 3 13 399 559 4 38
Lyon 23 5 3 15 323 508 4 30
AFP
