France Top 14 2013/14 season Round Nine and a couple of unexpected results. Grenoble beating Racing Metro and in Paris as well. Stade Francais Paris being away was no surprise though
So how did the weekend pan out? First we had Biarritz hosting Perpignan on Friday night and suffering their ninth loss, it was a tight affair which Perpignan won 12-16. Coming from 6-6 at the break.
The rest of the fixtures were played on Saturday, starting with the big clash Toulon Clermont. We tipped Clermont to overcome the away loss curse. It was not to be however, so they went down 25-19. The score at least giving them the bonus point. Half-time here and the home side was already edging it 16-13. Brive Castres was a real turnaround as the home side walked all over Castres 34-0. We thought Castres would have too much strength in depth but obviously not. Half-time here and they were out of sight at 24-0. With four tries they got all the bonus points going as well, moving them up to ninth in the table.
Bordeaux Bayonne was another comfortable home win as Begles ran in three tries to nil in a win of 34-6. From 17-6 at the break. So to Montpellier where yet again the home side had it easy running in six tries to two and gaining the try bonus with it. Half-time here was 24-13 and for Oyonnax it showed the top sides are hard to live with. We go to Paris next and Racing Metro going down to Grenoble. This was a real surprise given Grenoble is not one of the best travelling sides and Racing should have been strong enough. Last up Toulouse Stade Francais and the home side took the try bonus point with four tries to one and the win 28-10. The score at the break was 14-3 so Toulouse took fourteen points from each half.
Three wrong calls Clermont which was tongue in cheek, Castres and Racing Metro so all tough ones. Here are all the results.
Results Round Nine
Fri 04 Oct 19:45 Biarritz 12-16 Perpignan Parc des Sports d’Aguilera
Sat 05 Oct 13:55 Toulon 25-19 Clermont Allianz Riviera
Sat 05 Oct 17:30 Brive 34-0 Castres Stade Amédée Domenech
Sat 05 Oct 17:30 Bordeaux 34-6 Bayonne Stade André Moga
Sat 05 Oct 17:30 Montpellier 45-20 Oyonnax Stade Yves Du Manoir
Sat 05 Oct 17:30 Racing Metro 20-22 Grenoble Stade Yves Du Manoir
Sat 05 Oct 19:40 Toulouse 28-10 Paris Stade Ernest Wallon
Round Ten is a couple of weeks away given the European Cups. But we will still go for educated picks and here are ours as usual in Bold:
Fixtures Round Ten
All Times UK
Sat 26 Oct Bayonne v Montpellier Stade Jean Dauger
Sat 26 Oct Castres v Biarritz Stade Pierre Antoine
Sat 26 Oct Clermont v Brive Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin
Sat 26 Oct Grenoble v Oyonnax Stade Lesdiguières
Sat 26 Oct Perpignan v Bordeaux Stade Aimé Giral
Sat 26 Oct Racing Metro v Paris Stade Yves Du Manoir
Sat 26 Oct Toulouse v Toulon Stade Ernest Wallon