Racing 92 carried out the good operation of the 22nd day of the Top 14 on Saturday by winning over Bordeaux-Bègles, while La Rochelle disposed of Bayonne, Stade Français consolidated its third place by dominating Brive and Toulon, winner of Usap, is now fourth.
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Yesterday at 11:35 | updated at 23:35
Racing 92 relaunches in Lens
Winner in stoppage time and on a penalty try from Bordeaux-Bègles (31-28), at the Bollaert stadium in Lens, Racing 92 (5e56 points) has a second victory in a row in the league, an “feat” for Ile-de-France residents entangled in a bad patch for several months.
The teammates of the ghost Gaël Fickou, who are thus relaunching themselves in the race for the Top 6, stammered, as often, their rugby before raising the bar in extremis.
Conversely, UBB (7e, 54 pts) may have regrets, this second setback in a row putting him in a complicated position for the future. Especially since the Gironde team will receive Lyon then the Toulouse leader in quick succession.
La Rochelle makes its mastery speak
Stade Rochelais, which had rested Grégory Alldritt and Will Skelton, suffered on Saturday evening in its Marcel-Deflandre stadium against Bayonne (26-6), which held up well in the first period before giving in to mastery and power. of the Yellow and Black, authors of a seventh victory in a row in all competitions.
The young opening half from La Rochelle Hugo Reus, for his first tenure in the Top 14, was almost perfect: effective in front of the poles (100%), clever in his kicks, skilful in transmissions… Hats off to only 19 years old!
Comfortably installed in second place in the standings, the Maritimes (65 points) will host Clermont on the next day, before switching back to Champions Cup mode for their semi-final against Exeter, while Bayonne (8th, 50 pts) will host the reigning French champion
Castres takes revenge on Montpellier
Castres, for its part, took its revenge in Montpellier in the “remake” from last year’s Top 14 final, relatively easily dominating the MHR in their garden (28-19), for their first away victory of the season.
The Tarn club (11e44 pts), will have to confirm in his den of Pierre-Fabre during the next day against Toulon, while the Héraultais (9e48 pts) will have a perilous trip to Bayonne.
Anyway, four games from the end of the regular phase, this 2022-2023 season will have been that of all disappointments for the last two finalists, authors each on their side of a very disappointing year.
Toulon pleases its former stars
In front of its former “legends” Bryan Habana, Matt Giteau or even Sonny Bill Williams, Toulon took place in Mayol against Perpignan (37-15), which recorded the return of its captain Mathieu Acebes, three and a half months after having suffered from a red card on December 31, 2022. But the visitors were reduced to fourteen from the 38e minute.
It is also thanks to one of its “former”, the 39-year-old Italian No. 8 Sergio Parisse, that the RCT scored the offensive bonus point try in additional time which allows it to climb provisionally at the 4e place (57 pts).
In the other matches of the day, Stade Français (3e60 pts) logically won on the lawn of the red lantern Brive (27-22), while the Pau Section (12e41 pts) gave himself some air by dominating Clermont (23-18), despite a good second period for the men of Christophe Uriostenths (46 pts).
