Stade Francais back to winning ways
TOP 14 WRAP: After three straight defeats in the Top 14, Stade Francais returned to winning ways on Saturday with a 19-6 win at struggling Agen.
Stade, who have been in mourning following the recent death of their young player Nicolas Chauvin, managed just a single try through Kylan Hamdaoui but Argentina fly-half Nicolas Sanchez marked his first start for the club with 14 points from the boot.
“It is a win that will do everyone at the club some good,” said full-back Hamdaoui.
“It was very important for us to win today. It has been a very emotional week and we came into the game on the back of three defeats in the Top 14.
“We had to win, it didn’t matter how,”
Sanchez had put over two penalties before his perfectly-weighted through kick set up Hamdaoui for the try four minutes before half-time.
Sanchez converted and added two more penalties in the second half to put the game beyond Agen who remain in the bottom three.
“The Christmas dinner isn’t going to taste as good, we can do better,” said Agen coach Mauricio Reggiardo.
The win lifts Stade Francais from eighth in the table into the top six.
Elsewhere, Toulon secured their biggest win of the season, beating Lyon 40-7 at Stade Mayol.
Internationals Rhys Webb and Facundo Isa made their long-awaited returns from injuries as Fijian winger Filipo Nakosi scored a hat-trick of tries to clinch only their fifth league victory of a surprisingly poor campaign.
Patrice Collazo’s side moved seven points clear of the relegation zone after a second consecutive win.
The home side raced into a 28-0 lead by half-time, with Liam Messam and Josua Tuisova also crossing the whitewash.
Daniel Ikpefan rounded off a great day for Toulon by adding their sixth try in the 74th minute.
“It’s our best match, but we must not get excited, we’re very good but inconsistently. Now we have to continue at the same level,” said backs coach Sebastien Tillous-Borde.
Later on Saturday, Racing 92 climbed into fourth in the table after running in 10 tries in a 64-28 thrashing of bottom club Perpignan.
Virimi Vakatawa, Leone Nakarawa, Simon Zebo and Juan Imhoff all scored for the hosts, who bounced back from their loss at La Rochelle lasttime out.
La Rochelle stayed in third, though, as a second-half comeback earned them a 28-23 win at Pau.
Gregory Alldritt and Marc Andreu touched down as La Rochelle extended their winning streak in the Top 14 to six matches.
But last season’s runners-up Montpellier’s disappointing start to the season continued with a 17-16 loss at lowly Grenoble.
Saturday’s results:
Agen 6 Stade Francais 19
Toulon 40 Lyon 7
Grenoble 17 Montpellier 16
Racing92 64 Perpignan 28
Pau 23 La Rochelle 28
Agence France-Presse
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