Clermont beat Toulon to join rivals at top

Clermont joined Toulon at the Top 14 summit with a 22-19 win over the reigning champions at the Stade Marcel Michelin on Sunday.

But Toulon earned a controversial losing bonus point after Morgan Parra's last-gasp try was ruled out.

The livewire replacement scrum-half had picked up and gone from the back of a ruck and, as he was brought down just shy of the line, he reached out his arms and touched the ball on the line.

It seemed a perfectly valid try that would deny Toulon the losing bonus and leave them level with Stade Francais, a point behind Clermont, yet after referring the action to the TMO, referee Patrick Pechambert incredibly chalked off the score, deeming Parra's stretch to be a second action once he was already grounded.

Nevertheless, the win was a measure of revenge for the Jaunards, having lost 24-18 to their bitter rivals in the European Champions Cup final two weeks ago -- Toulon's record third straight title in that competition.

It means Clermont and Toulon are in pole position to secure a bye to the play-off semi-finals, needing only to match Stade Francais's result next week in the final matches of the regular season.

Clermont visit Montpellier in their final game, Stade Francais are at Brive, who are battling for their top flight survival, while Toulon host Oyonnax, who are in with a chance of a surprise play-off quarter-final place.
Toulouse could also gatecrash the party but would need a bonus-point win at home to Bordeaux-Begles and for two of the three sides above them to lose without a bonus.

Sunday's match was a drab affair dominated by the boot until a crazy last 10 minutes that saw Parra and Toulon's Fijian wing Josua Tuisova score tries before the dramatic finale.

Clermont scrum-half Ludovic Radosavljevic missed an early penalty, hitting the upright, before Toulon could have scored a try when they worked quick ball through the phases and created a two-man overlap on the right, but centre Jimmy Yobo cut inside the last defender and although Toulon kept the move going, Mamuka Gorgodze knocked on with the line begging.

Even so, scrum-half Eric Escande kicked the visitors into the lead soon after.

- Fumbled -

Toulon looked to have scored the first try of the match with a rapier counter-attack after Clermont fumbled the ball in midfield following Gerhard Vosloo's crunching tackle on Camille Lopez, who was forced off with an injury.

Maxime Mermoz picked up the loose ball before a Tuisova offload freed Australian fly-half Ulupano Seuteni -- making his first start in the Top 14 -- to go over in the corner.

Pechambert asked for the video referee's help and then deemed that final pass to have gone forward.
Clermont may have had a reprieve but former All Black Benson Stanley was sin-binned for tackling Bryan Habana off the ball and Escande kicked his second penalty on the half-hour mark.

Yet almost immediately Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni was penalised in the scrum and Mike Delany, the New Zealander who had replaced Lopez at No.10, kicked Clermont's first points of the match.

Delany levelled things up at 6-6 as the hooter sounded for half-time and, back to full strength, Clermont started the second half in the ascendancy with Delany's third kick from the tee.

He and Escande exchanged two more penalties each as the match descended into a dull struggle.

Parra's quick-thinking 10 minutes from time, though, resulted in a try as he took a quick tap-penalty from five yards with Toulon switched off, expecting yet another kick at goal, and he wriggled over the line despite the attentions of four men in red.

Toulon replied with a score of their own three minutes from time as they spun the ball wide from the back of a close-range scrum for Tuisova to dot down in the corner.
Source: AFP