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Agen humiliated by Lyon, La Rochelle go top

Lyon celebrate victory over Agen

Agen’s return to the Top 14 plumbed new depths on Saturday as they were thrashed 71-17 by Lyon, leaving coach Mauricio Reggiardo humiliated.

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The south-west side have only won five of their 16 matches since promotion from the second tier, their latest clash an 11th reverse of the campaign as they remain in the bottom two.

Lyon were rampant at Stade Gerland as they ran in four tries in the opening 40 minutes, and they refused to let up with another 43 points after the break.

Across the 80 minutes Lyon touched down 10 times, with Baptiste Couilloud scoring a hat-trick and Lionel Beauxis finishing with 20 points.

That left Reggiardo in apologetic mood after full-time, he told reporters: “I feel humiliated, Lyon humiliated us, I apologise to the supporters, volunteers and families who support us.”

La Rochelle moved above Montpellier at the top of the table with a 33-24 victory over struggling Brive, tries from Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Eliott Roudil and Jason Eaton sealing the win.

Brive threatened a comeback in the second half but La Rochelle were able to hang on and get back to winning ways after a draw with bottom side Oyonnax in their previous Top 14 outing.

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Racing 92 are level on points with La Rochelle after an 18-13 victory over Castres.

There was nothing to split the teams after 40 minutes, but a second-half try from Juan Imhoff – back from a five-week suspension – and a penalty from Teddy Iribaren secured a narrow win for Racing.

Toulon ended a run of three successive league defeats with a six-try triumph over Bordeaux-Begles, Semi Radradra with a brace.

Even the dismissal of Josua Tuisova for a high tackle on Blair Connor in the 33rd minute could not stop Toulon getting the win.

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Meanwhile, last-place Oyonnax’s winless streak stretched to 13 league matches as they were beaten 37-15 by Toulouse.

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Soliloquin 24 minutes ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

I doubt that.

The Junior Springboks, as well as the English youngters last year, seem to be a level above.

The back 3 is phenomenal, really outstanding with Pead, and the rest of the team seems very solid on the fundamentals.

And it’s not like they haven’t been tested at a higher level: they played the 6 Nations second team and they’ve won it with a good margin, while England struggled to defeat Australia, smashed by SA 10 days back.

Of course, it can all be relative as usually in sports, especially in rugby.


U20 France seems more balanced than last year, but they lack the experience of a few Top14 seasoned players like Reus or Castro-Ferreira.

On the other hand, they’re probably more fresh.

The issue seems to be the same as last year - less talent than the 2003 team, less leaders and less experience. The defense is more frail, but yesterday, they might have wanted the Argentinians to get the bonus point in order to have the Red Roses out of the competition.


And yet, they’re still a very good team, that can score from anywhere.

They’ve lost a few key players to injuries like Akrab (crown player of the U20 Nations) or Leveque yesterday, I hope it’s not too serious, with other guys out of the tournament in the previous games.

Against NZ, I think they can go past. But against SA, I can’t see them containing the supertalents from behind.


Last year, the English pack was out of this earth, with a very solid backline. And in the atrocious weather conditions of the final, they marched on the French pack with their sheer power, with no options for the creative players in the back to express themselves.

We’ll see this year!


But honestly, for now, the Junior Springboks seem to be the very exciting and deserving team they’re displaying in the competition.

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