Bayonne (AFP)
Clermont suffered but finally won through his power and experience in front of a Bayonne Prom (34-30) full of will, Saturday opening the second day of Top 14.
With this second success in a week after that obtained against La Rochelle (28-10), the vice-champions of France demonstrate the importance of their reserve despite the absence of ten international (Slimani, Vahaamahina, Iturria, Lopez, Penaud, Fofana , Raka, Yato, Laidlaw, Nanai-Williams) and weight-injured (Lapandry, Parra).
"We confirm our first game.We see the strength of character of our group.I liked the impact of the bench and the energy brought," welcomed the Clermont manager Franck Azéma, recognizing the difficulty of his team face in the game of the promoted at the beginning of the meeting, in a stadium where there is always fervor.
The French champion of Pro D2, a week after having created the surprise by winning an unexpected success in Paris at Racing 92 (24-17), takes the defensive bonus point that comes to reward his ability to often manage to thwart the Clermont.
"I'm glad we managed to recover this bonus point defensively," said the Bayonne captain Antoine Battut, disappointed to have let slip a victory in which he believed but "still proud of (s) teammates because we fought until the end. "
For their reunion with the Top 14, the men of Yannick Bru ignited the stadium in a little more than fifteen minutes. First with hooker Maxime Lamothe (7-0, 3rd), then with three-quarter center Peyo Muscarditz (14-3, 13th).
The Clermont were first held by the foot of their striker Jake McIntyre (8th, 18th, 23rd, 27th). But the Basques did not give up and stayed at the break on a counter exploited by Julien Tisseron (24-19, 37th) with, perhaps, at the beginning, a forward forgotten to Matthew Luamanu.
Physical wear ended up paying for Clermont. Certainly, Bayonne managed to get out without cost of a numerical inferiority. But he cracked under the force of the Jaunards with a test of Charlie Cassang, a former blue and white house, the third Clermont (27-31, 70th).
© 2019 AFP