Clermont is relaunching, not Toulon

Clermont did not give a gift to his former coach. While Franck Azéma officially lived his first match at the head of Toulon, ASM won on his lawn at the Marcel-Michelin Stadium at the end of the 10th day of the Top 14. A meeting whose keyword, side Var, will undoubtedly have “indiscipline”. Penalized 19 times by referee Vivien Praderie, the RCT players did not necessarily give themselves all the weapons to hope to bring back a result of their trip to Auvergne. It only took three minutes for the Jaunards to play against the Toulouse defense. Indeed, present at the reception of a game at the foot of Marvin O’Connor, George Moala took the best on Aymeric Luc before forcing the passage to flatten the first try of the meeting. If Louis Carbonel reduced the gap in the wake of a penalty, Morgan Parra was forgiven for the failed transformation by giving ASM five steps ahead after eleven minutes … then missed a kick from 40 meters to a quarter of an hour of play. Louis Carbonel, meanwhile, was not in bad luck to bring Toulon to two points. It was then that the Var indiscipline manifested itself in the most significant way.

Toulon too unruly

In six minutes, Toulon lost two players on yellow card. First, Florian Fresia paid in the 28th minute the excess of fouls of his team then, in the 34th minute, Swan Rebbadj also left ten minutes for the same reason. A double numerical superiority which will have brought before the break only three points in Clermont, Morgan Parra succeeding only one of his two attempts against the posts. The result was an advantage of only five lengths for the Auvergnats when they returned to their locker room. However, the opening of the second act was very similar to that of the first. Indeed, three minutes after the break, Jean-Pascal Barraque added a second try for ASM. On a clever kicking game from JJ Hanrahan, Jean-Pascal Barraque took advantage of Louis Carbonel’s inattention to throw himself on the ball and flatten it under the nose of the RCT opening half. A test that the video refereeing has come confirmed… and which has not been transformed by Morgan Parra. In the process, Toulon replied with a third penalty from Louis Carbonel. However, it was not long before the gap grew again thanks to the mastery of Cheikh Tiberghien. Shifted by George Moala on the edge of 22 meters from the Var, the Clermont back has reviewed no less than five defenders to force the entry of the in-goal and temporarily offer the offensive bonus to the Jaunards.

Beheregaray freed Clermont

But, despite their discipline concerns, Franck Azéma’s players never gave up and their efforts were rewarded nine minutes from the end of the match. Trapped on the first Clermont try, Aymeric Luc made amends by recovering a ball released by the Auvergnats and then by making his burst of speed speak to flatten between the posts. Returning to five points, the Toulonnais sent a thrill through the spans of Marcel-Michelin but the epilogue of this meeting turned in favor of ASM. After a fourth success at the foot of Morgan Parra, Yohan Beheregaray released his teammates three minutes from the siren. On a perfectly played touch, the ball carried Auvergne went to the Toulon goal to allow the hooker to flatten the offensive bonus test. At the end of the 80 minutes during which they were able to scare each other, Clermont won by fifteen points (31-16) and climbed back to eighth, tied on points with Casres and three lengths off the podium. Toulon, beaten for the sixth time in ten days, remains out of the red zone and will be able to take advantage of the break linked to the international break to rebuild their health under the orders of Franck Azéma.

TOP 14 / 10TH DAY
Friday, November 5, 2021
La Rochelle – Bordeaux-Bègles: 26-3

Saturday, November 6, 2021
Lyon – Castres : 30-23
Pau – Biarritz : 33-21
Stade Français Paris – Montpellier : 27-31
Toulouse – Perpignan : 37-15
Brive – Racing 92 : 12-10

Sunday November 7, 2021
Clermont – Toulon : 31-16