Castres closed in to three points off leaders Clermont after an uninspiring 15-9 win over struggling Bordeaux-Begles on Friday night.
Ahead of the weekend games, the champions overtook Stade Francais to go second, but they did little on this evidence to suggest they might retain their title in May.
Even so, it was a welcome return to winning ways, having seen a five-match unbeaten run ended at Grenoble last weekend.
Photo: AFP
“It wasn’t easy, but that’s what we expected,” Castres coach David Darricarrere said.
“We got the win, we managed to win a match that wasn’t easy. You don’t always get games with great moves and an attacking bonus,” he added.
For Bordeaux, the defensive bonus moved them to seven points above the relegation zone.
Photo: AFP
“A defensive bonus point against the champions of France is good, especially given the matches they had before and the scores they put on the teams who preceded us in this stadium,” Bordeaux coach Vincent Etcheto said.
The first half offered little to warm hearts on a chilly evening in Languedoc Province in the south of France, despite three yellow cards.
Argentine flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez gave the visitors a second-minute lead with a penalty, but two replies from left-wing Geoffrey Palis had the champions in front just past the halfway point of the half.
Castres spent large portions of the half camped down in Bordeaux territory, but rarely threatened to breach the whitewash.
Just past the half-hour mark Bordeaux lost the first player to the sin-bin as hooker Clement Maynardier was sent to cool down for 10 minutes.
However, when he rejoined the fray, Castres had themselves two men in the bin as both flanker Yannick Caballero and Palis had seen yellow.
That allowed replacement No. 10 Romain Lonca to level matters before the players headed into the changing rooms for half-time.
Castres avoided being penalized further while in numerical inferiority, while Scotland lock Richie Gray was proving a weapon in disrupting Bordeaux’s lineout, stealing two.
Once back on the field, Palis added two more penalties to Castres’ score before replacement Spain scrumhalf Cedric Garcia took over kicking duties and notched his own three-pointer.
Lonca had missed a pair of kicks at goal, so replacement scrumhalf Baptiste Serin took over and landed one from 45m out.
However, he was guilty of a curious piece of game management as Bordeaux kicked a penalty to touch deep inside Castres territory with time running out.
The final hooter had gone as Bordeaux’s forwards bashed away at the Castres defense, only for Serin to decide to settle for the defensive bonus and kick the ball out, much to the bemusement of many of his teammates.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was