Clermont-Ferrand (AFP)

Three weeks after his defeat on the wire in Bayonne, Clermont returned to success by having on his land Agen (31-12), a poorly classified, but without taking the offensive bonus that stretched out his arms, Saturday during of the 3rd day of the Top 14.

Thanks to this second success in three matches, the finalist of the 2019 edition temporarily climbs to second place tied on points (9) with Brive, third, and Racing 92, first with one game less.

The Racingmen's trip, scheduled for Saturday in La Rochelle, was postponed to a later date after the detection of 9 positive cases for Covid-19 in their workforce.

ASM, deprived of two of its best players, the Japanese back Kotaro Matsushima and the three-quarter of the XV of France Damian Penaud, demonstrated offensive quality against Agen, by scoring four tries, including one penalty.

But the Jaunards, who conceded two tries, lacked defensive discipline to be able to win with a larger score against the Agenais who, after this third defeat, appear in last place in the standings.

They also failed to take advantage of the double inferiority of the Agenais in the last twenty minutes.

However, from the first minutes, Clermont imposed his game under the leadership of Alivereti Raka, omnipresent on the first action.

After a great collective streak, Tavite Veredamu scored the first try of the match.

The ASM doubled the bet on a penalty: pushed by his entire pack, Fritz Lee allowed Clermont to take off (14-0).

- Yellow card for Raka -

In the 32nd minute, Camille Lopez gave a little kick behind the Lot-et-Garonnaise defense recovered by Jean-Pascal Barraque, French international at VII, who only had to score between the posts to celebrate his first released in its new colors.

Franck Azéma's men had the offensive bonus for only a few minutes since they were surprised on a penalty kick just before half-time.

Jeremy Jordaan caught his hooker's throw in the air to reduce the mark (39).

After the break, Raka, very good so far, was sanctioned with a yellow card (45) for a high tackle.

It was not until the 55th minute to review points with a try from Taulagi who took advantage of Clermont's apathy to sneak into the opposing endpoint.

The Clermontois then whipped to try to take back the offensive bonus, well helped by the Agenais who conceded two temporary exclusions in quick succession (Verdu and Phillips) and a penalty try (61).

In vain.

The third day continues on Sunday (9 p.m.) with the Toulouse-Toulon poster.

© 2020 AFP