French Top 8: Lille march on

Try for Caen v Bobigny

Even Lille’s win was far from convincing as, despite leading all the way, they were nearly overturned in the final minutes. At home to Rennes, who have been struggling with only one win so far this season, the game turned out to be a scrappy affair packed with errors.

Lille dominated the first half, but it took nearly half an hour before Miléna Soloch, with the help of the pack finaly broke the deadlock, Alexandra Pertus added a penalty a few minutes later, but Liile went in at half-time only 8-0 ahead – a small reward for the chances they had had.

Rennes fought back early in the second half with a try from Morgane Audren, but with 15 minutes to go Lille still seemed comfortable at 18-5. However, a second Rennes try from Lenaïg Corson followed by a third after an interception by Céline Allainmat resulted in an anxious final few minutes, and a narrow 21-19 win.

While Lille are unbeaten, at the other end of the table La Valette are still looking for a win, and this continues after their seven-try 45-0 defeat at Perpignan. The home team actually took a while to get going, and were only 12-0 (tries from Rousseau and Guiglion) ahead at half time. Although a third try (Billes) was added soon after the start of the second half, La Valette were still very much in the game, but this was to change following a small contretemps on the hour. This resulted in two red cards, one for each team, but it was an outcome which clearly affected La Valette far more than Perpignan. The Catalans rattled in four more tries in just ten minutes, with Victoria Bobo turning the knife by faultlessly taking over the kicking duties. The result – a comprehensive 47-0 win that leaps Perpignan into second place.

Caen began the day second bottom, and entertained Bobigny who started second top. The result was a very entertaining game – with an unexpected result. The first half saw ebbed and flowed, but ended with the home team 12-8 ahead. However Caen’s major problem so far this season has been poor second half performances but, although Bobigny took an early lead (inevitably from Marion Lievre who is in remarkable form this season) this was soon overturned with a score from Ophelia Gincourt before a fourth try, this time from Julie Duval finally sealed the game 30-22.

Finally the apparently irresistible home form of Blagnac St Orens (BSORF) hit the rock that is Montpellier. All seemed to be going to plan for BSORF for much of the game as they lead 13-8 at one point before the visitors came roaring back with three late tries to not only win 27-16, but also take the bonus point as well.

P

W

L

PD

Pts

Lille

5

5

0

65

22

Perpignan

5

3

2

67

16

Bobigny

5

3

2

14

14

Montpellier

4

3

1

11

13

Blagnac St Orens

5

2

3

1

10

Caen

5

2

3

-38

9

Rennes

5

1

4

-20

7

La Valette

4

0

4

-100

1