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Lyon lead Top 14 after clinging on for victory at Racing
By Tom Webber
Lyon finished with 14 men but clung on for a 20-17 victory over Racing 92 at Stade Yves Du Manoir that sent them to the Top 14 summit on Saturday.
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Deon Fourie was sent to the sin bin with seven minutes remaining in Paris, but Lyon dug in for a first away win against Racing since November 2005 to move above Toulouse and Montpellier, though Vern Cotter’s side face winless Brive on Sunday.
Wenceslas Lauret crossed for the opening try in the ninth minute but scores from Alexis Palisson and Toby Arnold, as well as a pair of penalties from the experienced Frederic Michalak, gave the visitors a 10-point lead.
Juan Imhoff burst through the line to close the gap with 20 minutes remaining, but Teddy Iribaren missed a penalty to tie the game as Lyon staved off attacks down their left – despite the loss of Fourie to the sinbin – for an impressive triumph.
#TOP14, J6 | #R92LOU
? @LeLOURugby s'impose sur la pelouse du @racing92, 17 – 20 ?? pic.twitter.com/sE9InpeqmX— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) September 30, 2017
Toulouse had already displaced Montpellier, who led going into this weekend’s fixtures, courtesy of a comfortable 30-10 win over Agen.
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Gael Fickou and Cheslin Kolbe crossed for the hosts in a performance that was far more convincing than their 22-19 victory over Brive last weekend.
La Rochelle’s three-match winning streak was ended by Toulon, who ran out 26-20 winners at Stade Mayol with Anthony Belleau the chief protagonist once again.
Fly-half Belleau produced a late drop-goal to eliminate La Rochelle at the semi-final stage last season and he kicked for 14 points, with second-half tries from Victor Vito and Brock James coming too late for the visitors to salvage a result.
Second-half tries from Waisea Nayacalevu and Sekou Macalou inspired Stade Francais to come from behind and beat Pau 25-23 away.
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Bordeaux-Begles scored 26 unanswered points after Maxime Veau was shown a red card for a tip tackle on Marco Tauleigne early in the second half as they defeated Oyonnax 39-9.
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Ultimately it is the entire NZR board who should be sacked. Foster wants to be the ABs coach, you can't blame him for that. NZR appointed him in what was a terrible process for actually finding the right candidate, more of a coronation based on the false assumption of "continuity" - it was clear from the BIL tour in 2017 which direction the ABs were heading, continuing that seemed crazy by they decided to do it anyway. They then reappointed him before he had faced a true test before the NH tour of 2021 which was a disaster. They could have sacked him then. They could have sacked him after the Ireland series where it was clear the ABs were well of the pace. They could have done it after the tests in SA which despite being 1-1 were not in the least bit convincing. Basically they have backed the guy every year, but now in the lead up to the world cup they have decided he's definitely not the right guy, yet he remains the coach.
Go to comments"taking the land they felt had been stolen from them during the colonial era" the land had been stolen, and the requisitions were entirely justified. I'm very sorry that Negri's family were hurt but this article is basically just propaganda for apartheid.
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