Top 8: Champions well placed for final
Montpellier are strong favourites to reach the final again after a strong performance against Toulouse, but last year’s runners up, and for most of the season league leaders, Lille have a lot of work to do.
Published by John Birch, May 3rd, 2016
3 minute read
Montpellier with one foot in the final (rugbyamateur.fr/Pasisire)
All eyes in French women’s rugby were on the city of Toulouse which staged the first leg of both Top 8 semi-finals on Sunday.
Champions and regular season table toppers Montpellier took on fourth placed Toulouse, who are only in their first season in the top division.
To reach the play-offs is therefore quite an achievement for the Toulousaines , but their wonderful run seems to have come to an end.
After a balanced first half hour, Montpellier made the decisive strike before the break with two tries. The first when Banet first showed her speed (32ndminute) followed by Poublan piercing the Toulouse defence seven minutes later
The coup de grâce came midway through the second half, with Gaëlle Mignot scoring a typical forward-based try as the visitors finished with a 22-0 win.
"It as frustrating,” said Pierre Marty (coach of Toulouse), “because we were on a par with Montpellier until the first try. We paid for our lack of experience today but we will still go to Montpellier next weekend to win and try to turn things around, - we have nothing to lose.”
Meanwhile, barely a mile away on the other side of the river Blagnac St Orens were hosting Lille.
Despite losing to BSROF two weeks before, Lille began as favourites. With the most dominant pack, the “northerners” were first on the scoreboard after 14th minutes, their pack driving over for an unconverted try.
With the wind behind the visitors backs were also a continual threat, and only some desperate defence kept them out, but the pressure told in the end with a penalty try. With the addition of three penalties – two for the home team – the halftime score was 15-6 to Lille.
Lille kept up the pressure, but a yellow card turned the game. With the crowd behind them BSORF scored two tries in quick succession, first from a maul and then from Audrey Abadie, taking the lead 20-15. With their tails up, and time running out, BSORF’s Manon André added a third try near the end giving her team a 27-15 win.
The game – and perhaps the fate of a place in the final – had been totally turned round in just 25 minutes. 14 points will be big advantage to take north next weekend.