Heineken Cup: Toulouse edge Bath 18-16 in thriller
Welcome back!
Toulouse produced a come from behind last gasp victory to defeat Bath 18-16 after a David Skrela penalty at the Stade Municipal. Toulouse were far from their usual expansive self being out-enthused by Bath and also taking a back seat to the expansive play of Bath.
Bath had their chances to secure victory, even scoring two tries to nil but were unable to secure victory mostly due to the wayward kicking of Buth James.
In other matches Leinster scored a 27-16 win over Edinburgh at their hoodoo ground Murrayfield to secure full points in the first round of the Heineken Cup. Leinster scored four tries to one with tries going to Rocky Elsom, Brian O’Driscoll, Shane Horgan and Felipe Contemponi.
Results from the first round of the Heineken Cup;
Sale 32 Clermont 15
Munster 19 Montauban 17
Wasps 25 Castres 11
Perpignan 29 Treviso 16
Leicester 12 Ospreys 6
Stade Francais 26 Ulster 10
Harlequins 29 Scarlets 22
Newport-Gwent 32 Glasgow 22
Cardiff Blues 56 Calvisano 20
Gloucester 22 Biarritz 10
French Rugby Top 14: Round 2 Results
Round 2 of French Rugby Top 14 compeition saw some spirited matches and some near major upsets on a day when France was sweltering.
Little fancied Mont-de-Marsan came within a whiskers length of defeating the highly fancied Paris side Stade Francais. Stade Francais were lucky to get away with the win at home as the minnows of the Top 14 game them a real fright.
Toulon and Brive played a dour and uninspiring 3-3 draw. Neither side delivered in the warm conditions and both kickers had chances to win but neither could claim victory. Clermont and Toulouse both bounced back to win but Toulouse did it tough against another minnow in Dax. Clermont were showing signs of returning to their form of last year with a convincing 43-20 win over Montpellier.
The full results from Round 2 are below;
Toulon 3 Brive 3
Toulouse 32 Dax 25
Bayonne 22 Montauban 20
Stade Francais 27 Mont-de-Marsan 22
Clermont 43 Montpellier 20
Biarritz 32 Castres 17
Bourgoin 16 Perpignan 22
French Top 14 Round One Wrap-up
The French Rugby Top 14 competition kicked off in France yesterday and several surprise results had the season off to an interesting start. The champions Toulouse were stunned in their loss to Montpellier 16-11 and Toulon the new boys to the competition came from behind in the second half by winning 22-16 against Clermont.
Montpellier who could be a surprise packet after their win against the highly fancied Toulouse side. Toulouse will be analysing this missed chances, particularly focusing on the vital 10 minutes that Byron Kelleher spent in the bin.
Toulon were dead and buried at half-time but managed to win 22-16 after trailing 13-0. Sonny Bill Williams got Toulon back into the clash right after half-time and Toulon were able to power away with a first up victory after being promoted to the French Top 14. In other match results Stade Francais had a convincing win under new coach Ewen McKenzie. Stade Francais top the ladder after Round 1.
Results
Perpignan 34 Brive 18
Castres 26 Bayonne 27
Dax 9 Stade Français 31
Montpellier 16 Toulouse 11
Montauban 37 Mont-de-Marsan 19
Biarritz 29 Bourgoin 22
Toulon 22 Clermont 16
French Top 14 to Kick-Off on 25th August
The French Top 14 Rugby competition kicks off today in France with all fourteen sides facing off in a what looks to be a ripper start to the competition.
Many questions will be asked in the early weeks of the competition with the new ELVs in place how will sides adapt and will all the big name foreign signing’s deliver for their respective teams?
France have gone through a massive increase in foreign players and with this increase will come a greater attention and focus on the sides in action from the foreign media.
So will Toulouse reclaim the trophy? Has Toulon bought the trophy? We will include a wrap-up tomorrow of the results and give you all a brief update on how week one went.
Who do you think will win the Top 14?
The first week fixtures are;
Perpignan vs Brive
Castres vs Bayonne
Dax vs Stade Francais
Montpellier vs Toulouse
Montauban vs Mont de Marsan
Biarritz vs Bourgoin
Toulon vs Clermont
Mark Gasnier signs with Stade Francais
It has been reported that Mark Gasnier has signed a lucrative two year deal to join new Stade Francais coach Ewen McKenzie in Paris. Gasnier currently playing with the St George Illawarra will cross codes from Rugby League to Rugby Union in what is a major coup for McKenzie. Gasnier has been eyeing a move to Rugby for a while and the offer was clearly too good to refuse.
Gasnier has been one of the key stars of the NRL over the last 5 years and is a major loss for the code. While only a few stars have moved across to Rugby they have all been huge signings such as Lote Tuqiri. It will be interesting to see if Ewen McKenzie looks to recruit any more Rugby League players as he is an astute judge of talent and the dollars in Europe are mindblowing.
Argentina vs Italy Preview
Argentina and Italy will be primed for a big one off test at the Estadio Olimpico in Argentina. Italian coach Nick Mallett has recalled three stars from Stade Francois who were unavailable due to team commitments last weekend. Star Sergio Parisse will return and captain the side that lost to South Africa 26-0 in a brave performance last week. He is joined by teammates Mirco and Mauro Bergamasco who will give the Italian side more experience and impact. Luke McLean has retained his spot after a strong performance against the Springboks.
Argentina have also been strengthened by the addition of their stars from Stade Francois and Biarritz who both lost their semi final matches last weekend. Argentina have dropped a number of players from their shock loss to Scotland 26-14 at home. Gonzalo Tiesi, captain Felipe Contempomi, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Santiago Gonzales Bonorino, Marcos Ayerza and Federico Serra have all been dropped from the side that lost 26-14 to Scotland last week
Argentina should be too strong in front of their home crowd and with a number of stars back they should have to much firepower. Argentina by 12.
Argentina
Horacio Agulla, Miguel Avramovic, Lucas Borges, Marcelo Bosch, Alejandro Tomas Campos, Manuel Carizza, Martin Durant, Pablo Gambarini, Alvaro Galindo, Juan Francisco Gomez, Juan Martin Hernandez, Alfredo Lalanne, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Pedro Ledesma, Esteban Lozada, Federico Aramburu, Rodrigo Roncero, James Stuart, Bernardo Stortoni, Hernan Senillosa, Alvaro Tejeda, Nicolas Vergallo.
Italy
Andrea Marcato, Kaine Robertson, Mirco Bergamasco, Gonzalo Garcia, Matteo Pratichetti, Luke McLean, Simon Picone, Sergio Parisse, Mauro Bergamasco, Josh Sole, Carlo Antonio Del Fava, Santiago Dellape, Carlos Nieto, Fabio Ongaro, Ignacio Rouyet.
Reserves: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Alex Moreno, Tommaso Reato, Alessandro Zanni, Pablo Canavosio, Enrico Patrizio, Riccardo Pavan/Jaco Erasmus.
Stade Francais sign McKenzie
Ewen McKenzie has signed to coach Stade Francais on a 3 year contract. McKenzie, who was dumped by the NSW Waratahs after a poor start to the season will be keen to advance his chances with the French side in a hope of being a future Wallabies coach.
McKenzie who was a member of the 1991 World Cup winning Wallabies side was told his contract would not be extended at after the 2008 Super 14 after the NSW Waratahs started poorly. The Waratahs went on to make the final of the Super 14 only to lose to the Canterbury Crusaders 20-12.