News on old Force boy, Brock James
Seems Brock James is doing good with his move from Super14 to Top14...
Source:PlanetRugby
Biarritz up and running again
Top 14 champions start title defence with a win
Biarritz got the new Top 14 season off to a winning start on Friday, beating Clermont 29-24 at the Parc des Sports Aguilera.
It was not the most fluid of starts by the reigning champions, who trailed 10-14 at the break somewhat against the run of play, but Dimitri Yachvili kept his cool to take Biarritz back into the lead, and Mohammed Dridi's try with twenty minutes still remaining sealed the win despite a late fightback by the visitors.
Ex-Western Force fly-half Brock James gave the visitors the lead with barely a minute on the clock; his first place-kick in French rugby a simple one from the 22 after a Biarritz player was caught going over the top.
Indeed, Clermont should possibly have had more from an opening ten minutes in which they used the fresh breeze at their backs mightily effectively.
Yachvili equalised after five minutes with a penalty against the wind after five minutes, but James was determined to make his mark on the match, and after a scintillating run and kick across field, Julien Malzieu thought he had touched down in the corner for the first try of the season.
Sadly for Clermont, it was ruled out by the in-goal judge, who claimed that Malzieu had knocked the ball on in the touch down.
The game ebbed and flowed, with James and Yachvili largely using the boot to gain territory. Once Biarritz threatened with a break from Jerome Thion, but Tony Marsh covered well to push Serge Betsen into touch.
James gave Clermont their lead back after 20 minutes with another penalty, but it could not disguise the slow momentum that Biarritz's pack was building up on their adversaries.
A Biarritz try was also ruined by a knock-on - this one a little more obvious than Malzieu's - but eventually Biarritz got the rewards for their travails, with Jean-Baptiste Gobelet capitalising on excellent work by Philippe Bidabé for the opening score.
Yachvili converted for a 10-6 lead, but then James was spot on with a penalty once again, with Biarritz's players guilty of killing the ball.
James, who was the outstanding player by some distance, also had a hand in the Tony Marsh try seconds before the break that gave Clermont an ill-deserved lead.
Elvis Vermeulen made the initial break, and James was on hand to take the offload, draw his man, and then release Marsh on a clear run-in to the line.
But in the second half, Biarritz had the wind at their backs, and Clermont's scrum, which had been under pressure all match, finally began to crumble.
Petru Vladimir Balan and Benoit Lecouls scrummed superbly, and the forwards squeezed four penalties out of their opposite numbers for Yachvili to kick Biarritz into a 22-14 lead - the third of which also saw Marsh sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.
Another penalty had Biarritz further in the lead when they finally elected to tap and go, and Mohammed Dridi dived over for a competitive debut try for his new club, under the posts.
Clermont rallied at 29-17 down - James had kicked his fourth just before Dridi's try - but they rarely troubled the renowned Biarritz defence, with Nicolas Brusque punishing the frequent Clermont handling errors with some enormous clearing kicks.
Alex Audebert gave the home team a tense final two minutes and his own team a defensive bonus point with a late try after James and Chanal orchestrated a thrilling counter-attack from 80 metres, with James converting to make it 29-24, but any further match-clinching score by Clermont would have been ill-deserved.
Both teams have started this season as they ended the last: Biarritz defending grittily and scoring just enough, and Clermont still searching for the right blend.
The scorers:
For Biarritz:
Tries: Gobelet, Dridi
Cons: Yachvili 2
Pens: Yachvili 5
For Clermont:
Try: Marsh, Audebert
Con: James
Pens: James 4
Yellow card: Marsh (Clermont, 53, dangerous tackle)
Biarritz: 15 Nicolas Brusque, 14 Philippe Bidabé, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Jean-Baptiste Gobelet, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Manuel Carizza, 7 Mohammed Dridi, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 David Couzinet, 4 Jerome Thion (c), 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 Benjamin Noirot, 1 Petru Vladimir
Balan.
Replacements: 16 Benoit Denoyelle, 17 Kas Lealamanua, 18 Gonzalo Pardo, 19 Imañol Harinordoquy, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Benjamin Dambielle, 22 Martin Gaitan.
Clermont: 15 Anthony Floch, 14 Aurelien Rougerie (c), 13 Piere-Emmanuel Garcia, 12 Tony Marsh, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Brock James, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Alex Audebert, 7 Elvis Vermeulen, 6 Michel Dieudé, 5 Thibault Privat, 4 Loic Jacquet, 3 Goderzo Shvelidze, 2 Adrien Falières, 1 Laurent Emmanuelli.
Replacements: 16 Brice Miguel, 17 Davit Zirakashvili, 18 Jamie Cudmore, 19 Gonzalo Longo, 20 Alessandro Troncon, 21 Alex Péclier, 22 Raphael Chanal.
Referee: Romain Poite
Touch judges: Jean-Paul Vermande, Jacques Laplace
Assessor: Bernard Perez
Goal judges: Cédric Marchat, Stéphane Boyer
