LEADERS Carcassonne were humbled by sixth-placed Villeneuve despite the Leopards’ being reduced to twelve men in only the tenth minute and having another player sinbinned early in the second half.
Carcassonne had chosen to rest several key players ahead of Saturday’s cup semi-final against Albi and paid the price, dropping to third in the table behind Albi and St Estève-XIII Catalan.
Villeneuve moved up to fifth thanks to a heroic effort in which they led 18-6 at the break and finished with a 30-18 victory.
Halfbacks Hamza Bachoukh and Jackson Moule had a big hand in the win, Bachoukh scoring a try and making one for Quentin Malbec, while Australian halfback Moule also scored a try, made another and landed five goals.
Carcassonne, whose lack of cohesion resulted in many dropped passes, trailed for most of the game, though Alexis Escamilla’s try from hooker Diego Bérail’s deft kick gave a glimmer of hope at 18-12 midway through the second half. In the end, Clément Herrero’s penalty-goal scraped a bonus point.
Albi proved too good for ninth-placed Lézignan, whose play-off hopes are fading.
Halfback Brad Wall scored two second-half tries in five minutes to add to his opening effort as Albi, already 22-14 up at the break, stretched their lead for a 38-18 victory.
Despite the promptings of ex-Leeds star Paul Momirovski, Lézignan could not match their opponents’ attacking prowess.
Albi fullback Maxime Rostang touched down soon after half-time before Wall’s two quickfire tries settled the issue, the second coming after Tony Gigot had intercepted close to his own line.
Lézignan secondrow Paul Reverdy went over in the 76th minute following a breakaway involving prop Stuart Mason and winger Loris Zammut but it came far too late.
St Estève-XIII Catalan followed up their excellent win over Albi with a 44-4 victory over Toulouse.
This clash between the two Reserve sides clearly showed the Catalans’ superiority in very windy conditions as they ran in four tries in the last 16 minutes, centre Lenny Marc adding his second and forwards Lucas Tignol and Léo Llong and fullback Tanguy Zenon all crossing.
These two sides will meet again in the other cup semi-final on Sunday.
St Gaudens showed they have no intention of giving up on the prospect of a top-six place, overwhelming rivals Villefranche 46-22, with whom they change places in the table. Villefranche, handicapped by injury, trailed just 20-16 at half-time but were outpaced in the second half.
Avignon have found some of their best form too late. It was neck and neck at the Parc des Sports as the SOA, next to bottom, saw off fifth-placed Pia.
With winger Maxime Grosson running in three tries for Avignon and fullback David Nofoaluma two for Pia, it was 22-22 with 25 minutes remaining.
With five minutes left, Eloi Pelissier’s ambitious pass was intercepted by Australian fullback Ashton Galea, who raced 80 metres for the winner. Stand-in goal-kicker Baptiste Pourchi converted from wide out for a 28-22 victory.
Results
Albi 38 Lézignan 18
Avignon 28 Pia 22
St Estève-XIII Catalan 44 Toulouse 4
St Gaudens 46 Villefranche 22
Villeneuve 30 Carcassonne 18
Bye: Limoux
Fixtures
Coupe de France semi-finals
Saturday, March 22
Albi v Carcassonne (at Stade Ernest Wallon, Toulouse)
Sunday, March 23
St Estève-XIII Catalan v Toulouse (at Stade du Moulin, Lézignan)
Table
Albi 39 pts
St Estève-XIII Catalan 39 pts
Carcassonne 38 pts
Limoux 33 pts
Villeneuve 32 pts
Pia 30 pts
St Gaudens 28 pts
Villefranche 27 pts
Lézignan 23 pts
Avignon 23 pts
Toulouse 4 pts
