Paris (AFP)

Stade Toulousain gave themselves air against Castres with a victory (36-15), Saturday at the 7th day of Top 14, still dominated by Lyon, which strengthened its position as leader by easily winning in Pau (27-8).

Toulouse, thanks to this victory against the Tarnese neighbors largely due to the boot of the New Zealander Zack Holmes and his 21 points, leaves the 13th place in the standings and is 7th before moving to Toulon at the Stade Français Sunday.

If the appointment of Thomas Ramos was already a surprise for this match against Castres, he who had been declared unfit for the rest of the World Cup with the Blues ten days earlier, the international back has not let anything appear from his ankle injury, to the point of staying on the ground for the 80 minutes.

"He had a lot of desire, a lot of frustration and he had a good match," said Toulouse coach Clément Poitrenaud.

For the manager Ugo Mola, it is above all for the player that the decision to start it has been taken. "He did not see himself leaving even on vacation because living a France-England (...) and a Toulouse-Castres without him, he had the impression that he was stealing something," he said. he told Canal Plus.

In the other meeting of the afternoon, Bayonne continued its momentum with a 28-24 win against Montpellier. The promoted, today 3rd, can not really be considered a surprise as the positive results are linked. The Basques have won five of their first seven games this season.

The Lyon leader has meanwhile continued his perfect course against Pau (27-8). The Lou can feed the regret of not having been able to get the point of offensive bonus, even if the match really decided in the second half.

For its part, the Racing has decidedly home trouble: with this time a draw (27-27) against valiant Agen, the men of Laurent Travers have recorded only one win in four matches at home. The Arena Defense. However, they had a match point after the gong, but the penalty nearly 50 m from the Scottish Sam Hidalgo-Clyne finally passed.

With a perfect record at Marcel-Deflandre, Stade Rochelais does not experience the same setbacks at home, and has made a mouthful of the Brivistes (41-17) in a boosted success.

role / dep

Results of the 7th day of the Top 14:

Saturday

Bayonne - Montpellier (bd) 28 - 24

Toulouse (bo) - Castres 36 - 15

La Rochelle (bo) - Brive 41 - 17

Lyon - Pau 27 - 8

Racing 92 - Agen 27 - 27

Sunday

(16h50) Stade Français - Toulon

(9 pm) Bordeaux-Bègles - Clermont

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