Oyonnax stun Clermont with second-half fightback, La Rochelle thump Pau

Top 14’s bottom club, Oyonnax, pulled off a stunning fightback to rescue a 32-32 draw against defending champions Clermont Auvergne.

Oyonnax, who have won only once all season, looked to be heading for a thumping defeat when they trailed 29-10 at the interval at Stade Charles-Mathon on Saturday.

However, five second-half penalties from Ben Botica got the hosts right back into the game and the fly-half held his nerve to earn Oyonnax a share of the spoils, adding the extras following Axel Muller’s 76th-minute try.

Botica could even have snatched victory for Oyonnax in the sixth minute of additional time, only to come up short with a drop-goal attempt.

86′ Botica tente le drop mais c’est trop court ! Match nul 32-32 les #Oyomen reviennent de très loin pour arracher le match nul #USOASM pic.twitter.com/hoepnpJLoo

— US Oyonnax Rugby (@OyonnaxRugby) November 25, 2017

Bordeaux-Begles and Brive also played out a draw at Stade Chaban-Delmas. Their game finished 27-27, with 40 points scored in the first half alone.

Elsewhere, La Rochelle thumped Pau 44-14 and Filipo Nakosi crossed twice in the second half as Agen ran in 26 unanswered points to beat Stade Francais 29-13.

Castres edged out Toulon 20-19 to leapfrog their opponents in the table, despite being out-scored three tries to two.