Cruden fails with last-gasp kick to hand Castres win

Seventy days after Toulouse lifted the Boucliers de Brennus for the first time in nine years, the new Top 14 season kicked off with high drama at Stade PierreFabre, where Castres edged Montpellier by the narrowest of margins, 26-25.

Former All Blacks flyhalf Aaron Cruden squandered an after-thehooter conversion effort after wing Timoci Nagusa had given them a bright start.

The powerhouse Fijian crossed after only seven minutes to give Montpellier the lead. Cruden, now in the final year of his contract, stepped up for the conversion and found his range.

Montpellier were lucky not to be reduced to 14-men after repeat infringements saw Geoffrey Palis and Rory Kockott share kicking duties to score four penalty kicks – but time would tell on the referee’s leniency come the second half.

Before the half-time whistle, a Cruden penalty and a try for new recruit Caleb Timu put Montpellier 17-12 ahead.

Bad habits crept in to their game when prop Mohamed Haouas was show a yellow card on 47 minutes, with Castres taking little more than 60 seconds to work the ball to blindside flanker Jody Janneker to bring scores level.

Shortly after a Cruden penalty made the score 20-17 to the visitors and with three minutes remaining on Haouas returning to the pitch, former Springboks tighthead Jannie du Plessis was sent to the bin.

Thirteen man Montpellier managed to weather the storm until they were back to their full complement. Yet when they were they conceded an additional three penalties, which replacement Julien Dumoura converted to put Castres in front, 26-20.

In the dying moments of the match wing Gabriel Ngandebe looked to be the matchwinner as he crossed over, only for Cruden to falter under the pressure kick to leave Montpellier clutching just a losing bonuspoint.

The day was not short of shocks as Toulouse began their title defence with a 30-25 defeat on the road to BordeauxBegles.

Holding on dearly to their lead, the hosts’ mettle was evident in two try-saving interventions by scrum-half Maxime Lucu to thwart Toulouse.

It was Lucu who had a hand in setting up the decisive try for UBB, scored by one of France’s contingent of emerging fly-halves in Matthieu Jalibert. The 20-year-old reminded Les Bleus fans Louis Carbonel isn’t the heir apparent to the national team’s fly-half woes.

Australian back Blair Connor scored Bordeaux’s first try of the match on 50 minutes as they closed out the match in the second half.

Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola will be left to regroup his squad for their visit to Lyon next week, with Sebastien Bezy and Theo Belan heading their contributions on the trysheet.

Bayonne defied the odds to stun Racing 92, 24-17. Michael Ruru kicked off his career at the promoted ProD2 side with one of the team’s team tries as they went on to score 17 unanswered points in the second half.

Lyon hit Stade Francais for six in their 43-9 thumping of the Parisien club, Fiji-born wing Noa Nakaitaci on hand with two tries for the club featuring former England back row Carl Fearns among their ranks.

Elsewhere, Pau eased past Brive 35-14 and Mamuka Gorgodze scored twice for Toulon in their 44-25 win over Agen.