La Rochelle survive scare, Montpelllier off the mark

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La Rochelle survived a late scare to edge Lyon 23-21 and take pole position in the Top 14 on Saturday with champions Montpellier bouncing back from their opening round defeat to beat Bordeaux-Begles.

European champions La Rochelle were the only team on Saturday to follow on from their opening victory having beaten Montpellier last weekend.

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But the Top 14 titleholders got back to winning ways in their second game with a 29-19 victory at home against Bordeaux built on a fiery first half.

Paris clubs Racing 92 and Stade Francais both suffered defeats on the road, losing to promoted Bayonne 31-25 and Castres 30-20 respectively with Toulouse playing Toulon on Sunday.

In Lyon, after dominating for nearly an hour and touching down twice, Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle endured a nervy finish with Lyon scoring three tries to earn a bonus defensive point.

A well-structured gameplan and their opponent’s blunders had allowed La Rochelle take control in Lyon. New Zealand scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow touched down their first try after 12 minutes.

Fly-half Antoine Hastoy punished the opposition with two penalities as the visitors surged to a 13-0 lead after 43 minutes. France international Hastoy kicked 13 points to ensure victory even though Lyon scored one more try.

Lyon dug deep with Georgian Davit Niniashvili touching down the first of his side’s tries after 57 minutes.

La Rochelle’s South African winger Dillyn Leyds responded with a second try for his side, before late tries from international scrum half Baptiste Couilloud and New Zealand centre Josiah Maraku ensured a tense finish.

Elsewhere Clermont got their campaign going with a 33-24 win at home against Pau.

Alivereti Raka scored two of Clermont’s four tries with Damian Penaud and Arthur Iturria also touching down.

Brive beat Perpignan 17-6.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE/AFP via Getty Images

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Dylan Jack