Perpignan lose 11th straight Top 14 match

Castres stunned 16-13 at home by lowly Agen

PARIS, Dec 2, (AFP): Perpignan lost 22-11 to Bordeaux-Begles on Sunday in a record 11th straight league defeat in one season for a Top 14 club.

The Catalans take over from Mont de Marsan who failed to win on 10 occasions in the top-flight in 201213.

The newly promoted southerners who failed to make significant recruitment after joining the Top 14, were determined to make a fight of it.

“We can’t throw in the towel in December. It’s infuriating to enjoy so much possession but then throw away tries on a quick counter,” explained Perpignan full-back Julien Farnoux.

“We didn’t fight to get into the Top 14 for four years to give up after 11 matches either,” he added despite his side’s meagre four-point total.

Bordeaux-Begles move up to sixth in the table with their second victory in a row and remain unbeaten under interim coach, former England back-rower Joe Worsley.

Winger Romain Buros scored twice and France scrum-half Baptiste Serin dotted down for the visitors at Stade Aime Giral.

Captain Karl Chateau crossed before Enzo Selponi kicked two penalty goals in a dismal display by Perpignan, whose coach Christian Lanta and his assistants were awarded contract extensions last week.

Prop Jefferson Poirot said Bordeaux needed to focus on getting a run together.

“We haven’t won away for a while, we kept it simple and took our opportunities well thanks to our defensive wall, that worked really well,” he said.

“But we need to keep it going because we are often in the top six but rarely when it counts.”

Later, second-placed Toulouse welcome Stade Francais looking to close the gap on leaders Clermont who claimed a hard-fought 28-23 win at Montpellier on Saturday, moving eight points clear at the top of the league.

Elsewhere, champions Castres were stunned 16-13 at home by lowly Agen, Lyon thumped Pau 30-10, La Rochelle won their fifth straight game as they edged Racing 92 16-11 in incessant rain and Toulon rose to 10th place beating fellow strugglers Grenoble 22-3. Perpignan’s New Zealand lock Shahn Eru is tackled by Bordeaux-Begles’ French centre Jean-Baptiste Dubie during the French Top 14 Rugby Union match between Perpignan and Bordeaux-Begles on Dec 2 at the Aime

Giral Stadium in Perpignan, southern France. (AFP) have won eight straight games. All five Raptors starters scored in double figures. Cleveland, which lost by 33 points on Friday to Boston, was led by Tristan Thompson and Jordan Clarkson, who each scored 18. Clarkson’s points came off the bench.

Thompson also had 19 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season and his sixth in the past seven games.

Kings 111, Pacers 110 In Sacramento, California, Willie Cauley-Stein followed a De’Aaron Fox miss with a dunk with 16.1 seconds remaining to give hosts Sacramento a one-point lead and the win over Indiana111-110. A 3-pointer by Darren Collison had given Indiana a 110-107 advantage with 1:12 to go before Cauley-Stein stole the ball and Fox made a layup with 35.1 left to get the Kings within one.

Bogdan Bogdanovic had a team-high 20 points and Cauley-Stein recorded a double-double with 17 points to go with his game-high 13 rebounds for the Kings, who had lost three in a row. Bojan Bogdanovic led all scorers with 27 points for the Pacers.

Wizards 102, Nets 88 In Washington, John Wall scored a game-high 30 points while Bradley Beal got 22, and Markieff Morris added 20 off the bench as host Washington defeated Brooklyn102-88.

Both teams were coming off of tough losses Friday. The 76ers handed Washington a 123-98 loss in Philadelphia, while the Nets suffered a 131-125 defeat against Memphis – in double overtime – at home. Brooklyn has dropped six consecutive games, while the Wizards snapped a two-game losing streak.

Wall also finished with nine assists and five rebounds. Beal and Morris complemented him as the Washington offense scored 60 points in the second half. Allen Crabbe led Brooklyn with 14 points.