Delon Armitage in the dock over a robust hand-off playing for Lyon
“Delon was yellow-carded for a robust gesture which left Bordeaux scrum-half Baptiste Serin clutching his face in pain”
The Bernard Laporte revolution gathers speed in the French Rugby Federation’s corridors of power. And, amid a Top 14 programme reduced yesterday to just two matches by a frozen pitch and a fixture pile-up, Laporte’s activities commanded the most attention.
He had promised the almost 2,000 amateur clubs who voted him in as president that he would look after their interests.
Their main complaint was that a second Top 14 game scheduled by broadcaster Canal Plus for a Sunday afternoon clashed directly with their own matches.
And that screening it at 4.15 pm deprived them of the revenue from attendance figures that was desperately needed for their survival.
Laporte went into battle on their behalf against a deal done by the League to secure a rocketing income for themselves and elite clubs.
In the end, he persuaded everyone that a change had to be made. Now the controversial game will be screened at 5pm, allowing the amateurs to complete their own before it starts.
And, just to make sure fans and players do not need to dash off home to see the Top 14 attraction, the League have agreed to present 1,895 clubs with a TV set (size unspecified) and a subscription to Canal Plus.
Now that is out of the way and, taking into account his scrapping of a £600 million Twickenham-style national rugby stadium, he will get on with trying to tie French internationals to the Federation by contract.
Phew, more action really than was seen on the pitches yesterday. Particularly the frozen one that prevented a family reunion for the Armitage brothers, Steffon and Delon.
Their appearance for Pau and Lyon respectively was abandoned just an hour before kick-off. A pity, especially for Delon who may find himself on the sidelines soon for entirely different reasons.
He has been hauled up before the beaks a week next Wednesday after being cited for a controversial handoff in his previous appearance against Bordeaux-Begles.
His Twitter pals are convinced the game is going soft since Delon was yellow-carded for a robust gesture which left Bordeaux scrum-half Baptiste Serin, a major hope for France’s opening Six Nations match against England at Twickenham, clutching his face in pain.
If disciplinary officials take a different view, Delon could be adding another suspension to a well-garnished record.
Pau, incidentally, who already have All-Blacks Conrad Smith and Colin Slade in their side, believe they will secure the services of full-back Ben Smith, their brillant compatriot, for next season
Meanwhile, Montpellier beat Bordeaux-Begles 31-26 on Friday night in a fascinating clash of styles.
A fourth defeat in a row for the latter whose boss Raphael Ibanez is not too unhappy with a bonus salvaged in the final seconds. He “There was not much in it. My players were committed and combative.”
Which, given the fact Montpellier resemble a steamroller at times with their bulky forwards, they had to be.
Bordeaux showed enough spark to suggest they will reverse the trend with winger Jean-Baptiste Dubie, lost to concussion after an early try, and Serin going over. Massive Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo, Vincent Martin and his Aussie co-centre Joe Tomane scored the Montpellier tries, the last one two minutes from time looking likely to leave Bordeaux pointless.
However, Kiwi fly-half Simon Hickey, two minutes into added time, took his own total to 16. Just like his South African counterpart Francois Steyn for Montpellier.
What more can Grenoble, looking increasingly doomed to relegation, do to obtain the away victories they require to survive? They outgunned Brive three tries to one and still led until five minutes from time before going down 23-22.
Largely for giving away too many penalties when Gaetan Germain, by far the Top 14’s most prolific kicker, is among the opposition. Germain, who has already scored almost two thirds of Brive points this season, helped himself to six penalties. Tries from winger Xavier Mignot, Arnaud Heguy and South African sub scrum-half Charl McLeod had Grenoble leading by seven points short of the hour.
But Brive back-rower Fabien Sanconnie who, like McLeod, came on to cross the line almost instantly, helped set Germain up for the win.
Clermont and Toulon have had some titanic encounters in the past, but a gulf has appeared between them in recent times. And it seems to have persuaded Toulon boss Mike Ford to keep his powder dry with their visit to leaders Clermont today.
On his bench: Bryan Habana, Mathieu Bastareaud, Juan-Martin Fernandez-Lobbe and Guilhelm Guirado.
Clermont are lining up their most powerful side apart from English fullback Nick Abendanon, who reported an injury worry yesterday. Toulon scrum-half Sebastien Tillous-Borde warned: “If we are not on our game, we will ship 40 points.”