Yato, Raka score for Clermont
Fiery Fijian flanker Peceli Yato and winger Alivereti Raka scored a try each for Clermont as they thrashed Castres 41-6 at Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin in Saturday’s opening Top 14 game. Tries from Damian Penaud, Peter Betham, Raka, Judicael Cancoriet and Yato proved far too much for Castres, who had only a pair of Rory Kockott penalties to show for their efforts.
After Castres had opened the scoring moments before with a Rory Kockott penalty, Clermont scored the game’s first try in the 10th minute when Penaud did well to latch on to a well-weighted grubber through.
Clermont scrum-half Greg Laidlaw made no mistake with the conversion.
Ten minutes later, Castres loosehead Tudor Stroe and Clermont tighthead Rabah Slimani were given yellow cards as both sides went down to 14 men for 10 minutes. Clermont capitalised from the scrum penalty when Betham went over from the resulting set-piece move as Laidlaw added the extras for a 14-3 lead.
Soon afterwards, it was 21-3 when Penaud intercepted and fed the ball to Raka who dived in to the corner as the home side took a resounding lead into the interval. The beginning of the second half was largely uneventful, with two Laidlaw penalties and a yellow card handed out to Camille Gerondeau of Castres in the 63rd minute not helping the away side’s cause.
Seven minutes later, the hosts capitalised on their numerical advantage when Judicael Cancoriet powered over after a series of powerful carries from the forwards.
Yato put the cherry on the top with a try after the hooter to put the cherry on the top of a comprehensive 41-6 victory in the end.