what to remember from the Bretons’ crazy victory over Montauban (40-37)?

This Friday evening, RC Vannes put an end to its bad series by overcoming Montauban with difficulty (40-37) after a match full of twists and turns. Despite the victory, the Morbihannais remain five points from the Top 5.

Even Quentin Tarantino couldn’t have written such a screenplay! Jean-Noël Spitzer’s men had five consecutive defeats before hosting US Montauban at La Rabine. An opponent who seemed well within reach of the Vannetais since the Occitans were in 13th place in the championship. Yes, but here you go, you should never sell the skin of the bear before you have killed it, and Paga Tafili’s teammates almost paid the price.

An offensive festival on both sidess

Spectators in the stands quickly understood that this meeting was going to be spectacular since after only five minutes of play, Jo Edwards went to score the first try to open the way for RC Vannes (5-0, 5th). And the visitors reacted immediately to take the lead through the young Kyllian Ringuet (5-7, 9th). The boxing match between the two teams was then fully launched. The points never ceased to be linked in this part so that the two teams scored their highest point total this season.

Advantage for RC Vannes at the break

If the match was very open with play on both sides of the field, it was nevertheless the locals who dominated the first half. With well-oiled collective movements, the Vannetais managed to take the advantage and detach themselves slightly from their opponents. Nathanaël Hulleu notably flattened in the in-goal for the ninth time this season (12-7, 20th) before captain Andres Vilaseca scored twice (19-10, 30th then 26-13, 34th). RC Vannes therefore had a nice mattress before returning to the locker room to the applause of the public. However, nothing was yet definitively decided and the Montalbanais had understood it well.

Breton hopes are shattered…

At the start of the second half, Maxime Lafage’s partners continued their march forward to give themselves a fifth try (33-13, 47th). By resting on their lead, Jean-Noël Spitzer’s men then fell back into their bad habit against over-motivated visitors to reverse the physiognomy of the meeting.

In a fragile defense of RC Vannes, the players of Montauban initially revived on the hour mark (33-23, 61st), before completely reversing the steam. Like Andres Vilaseca earlier in the game, Semesa Rokoduguni also scored twice in the space of a few minutes (33-30, 72nd then 33-37, 75th). Montauban was then surprisingly heading for a victory but the Bretons had resources.

…before deliverance in the last moments

Encouraged by their supporters who came in large numbers, the Vannetais pushed harder and harder as the minutes passed. And as the siren sounded, they were able to negotiate one last ball possession to hopefully create the feat. Following a succession of pick and go, Ximun Bessonart who had entered the game in place of Andy Bordelai, offered victory to RC Vannes at the end of the suspense (40-37, 82nd). Thanks to this result, the Bretons climb two places in Pro D2 and now occupy 8th position.