Delon is eyeing one last hurrah with Lyon
“We have the team to win something. It will be hard, but we are not far away”
Delon Armitage
One-time England winger Delon Armitage, who won four major trophies with Toulon, is now geared up to depriving them of another. And, by helping beat them 15-6 yesterday, he maintained Lyon’s hopes of grabbing a piece of silverware for themselves.
For the win delivered by five Mike Harris penalties against two from his fly-half counterpart Anthony Belleau left his team just one point behind Toulon in the scrap to reach the playoffs.
At the age of 34, Armitage would love to crown a career often bedevilled by controversy on and off the field with a last hurrah. One thing is for sure. He doesn’t regret the decision to leave London Irish for French rugby not long before England placed a ban on those moving abroad.
He emerged from a self-imposed silence on the eve of the game to say: “It was a good choice. I’d say that playing in six finals and winning four trophies is finer even than the World Cup.”
Armitage has been in his shell – “it felt like I was alone against everyone” – since becoming a pariah for mocking Clermont’s Brock James while winning the Champions Cup five years ago.
He identified Lyon boss Pierre Mignoni, who was with him at Toulon, as the vital person who persuaded him to leave Toulon despite having a year on his contract still to run.
Armitage added: “Pierre is the only one who knows how to handle me and motivate me for matches and training, but it is not just by shouting at guys. He explains what he wants.”
An admission that may well explain Toulon’s readiness to off-load Armitage, who returned from a twoweek break to start his tenth game of the season.
He was no doubt pumped up for this special occasion but, like the other outside backs, he finished pointless. Even Chris Ashton, who followed him from the Premiership to Toulon, could not add to his total from fullback.
JP Pietersen thought he had scored a first-half try for Toulon until it was ruled out for a knock-on. Even worse, he damaged his wrist and had to be replaced.
In the end, though, sloppy handling and indiscipline gave too many openings to Harris, the New Zealand-born star who, thanks to an Aussie grandmother, was capped for that country while playing for Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels.
Eleven of Armitage’s club-mates in Lyon, including Mignoni, used to operate in Toulon colours.
Their chance of a title for themselves? Armitage said: “We have the team to win something. It will be hard, but we are not far away.”
Toulon, whose 12 bonus points have kept them in touch this season, will feel they have lost the momentum they gained by winning at La Rochelle.
Delon was not the only Armitage to be piling into the top six bunfight. So is Steffon with Pau who won a thriller at play-off rivals Castres 29-27.
Steffon, the most effective turnover player in the Top 14, has a superb team around him. They now have seven wins in a row and look virtually unstoppable. Thanks largely to Kiwi Colin Slade who, with his former All- Black team-mate Conrad Smith at centre, helped put Castres to the sword with 17 points.
Slade opened the try-scoring after ten minutes only to see it levelled by Castres winger Armande Battle and then surpassed by hooker MarcAntoine Rallier. Slade created a try for Fijian winger Watisoni Votu, his tenth of the season, before inspiring a third for back rower Baptiste Pesenti.
Battling Castres struck back for the lead with a try from centre Thomas Combazou. Pau sub scrum-half Julien Tomas scored a third try in six minutes to leave Slade with a conversion to win the match. It was never in doubt.
Leaders Montpellier look sure to be in the shake-up come the end of the season, but, after scraping through 11-10 at home to Bordeaux-Begles, they went down in a thriller by 31-29 at relegation-threatened Agen.
A fabulous result for Agen, especially as Brive, close rivals, lost 17-13 at Racing. They must admit, however, that a Montpellier red card in the sixth minute gave them a huge advantage. Kiwi lock Jarrad Hoeata, who has played for Cardiff, was sent off for a dangerous lunge at an opponent.
Amazingly, Montpellier took a 14-0 lead within eight minutes of the incident with tries from Louis Picamoles and Aussie full-back Jessie Mogg.
But Agen were ahead at the break through tries from centres Tamaz Mchledlidze and Johan Sadie and Aussie fly-half Jake McIntyre.
Despite Fijian winger Filipo Nakosi extending the lead just after the break, Montpellier struck back with tries from Aussie winger Joe Tomane and sub hooker Romain Ruffenach to land a courageous bonus.
Racing confirmed their second placing, but not before conceding a defensive bonus to Brive.
All the scoring came early with fullback Brice Dulin and winger Marc Andreu going over within 13 minutes, but the expected deluge never arrived with Brive lock Damien Lagrange securing a point six minutes later.