After the defeat away, the comfort at home. Three of the multiplex’s four games on Saturday, September 10, allowed a team beaten on the first day to open their win counter this season. This is the case of Castres, finalist last season, or even Clermont. The first of the “fear matches” between relegation candidates Perpignan and Brive turned in favor of the Brive visitors. Before Montpellier-Bordeaux-Bègles (9:05 p.m.) and Toulouse-Toulon on Sunday evening, La Rochelle is the only team with two victories.
#TOP14 – J2
End of a multiplex rich in emotions marked by the return of the Peña Baiona and the improved victory of the @CABCLRUGBY outside pic.twitter.com/5fqSpOzOte— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) September 10, 2022
2/2 for Stade Rochelais
Winner against Montpellier on the first day, La Rochelle also knows how to travel. The Maritimes won on the field of Lyon (21-23). The reduced gap allows LOU to save the defensive bonus, but Xavier Garbajosa’s men were well and truly dominated by the European champion, before saving their honor in the last moments by scoring two tries. They were not yet great Rochelais, more in control than really exceptional. But that’s enough to earn a second success and take the lead in the Top 14 ranking.
️ “We all tightened our buttocks!”
Quentin Lespiaucq and his family were very hot at the end of the match, but the Rochelais won well 21-23 in Lyon #LOUSR pic.twitter.com/wW4IBkKHMW
– CANAL + Rugby (@CanalplusRugby) September 10, 2022
Bayonne overthrows Racing, Clermont and Castres put on a show
It was believed that the triumphant youth of Racing 92 was going to take everything in Bayonne. But Aviron got their head back on the way back from the locker room, to finally win 31-25, with a scathing 23-7 in the second half. The duo Enzo Benmegal (18 years old, winger), author of an 80-meter test – Nolann Le Garrec (20 years old, scrum half), decisive on the second test of the Racingmen, had however launched the visitors well. But their indiscipline and reinvigorated Bayonne promoters completely upset the scenario of this match.
Like Bayonne, Clermont and Castres won their first success of this 2022-2023 financial year, respectively against Pau (33-24) and Stade Français (30-20). ASM shattered the Pau defense with four tries from its internationals Alivereti Raka, Damian Penaud (doubled) and Arthur Iturria. But the Clermontois did not fully reassure, and let their offensive bonus slip away by conceding a penalty try after the siren. Castres was more convincing, with thirty points scored in the first period, before resisting the return of the Parisians. Last season’s finalist gets his first points.
#TOP14 #ABR92 – J2
Let’s all go together for the return of the Peña Baiona! ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/vrnM7kViny— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) September 10, 2022
Brive takes out the barbed wire to pick Perpignan
Brive and Perpignan are among the main candidates for the red zone. So this USAP-CA was already worth double or almost, from the second day. And this decisive match allowed Brive to sign their first success of the season, the first ever for the Corréziens in their history on Catalan lands (6-17). The Brivistes spent most of their time cornered in their camp but they were able to seize their opportunities perfectly, scoring three tries while Perpignan collected blunders. After the frustrating defeat of the first day in Pau (14-16), Perpignan skates.