Bordeaux beat La Rochelle and move up to second in the Top 14

Reus gives Bordeaux an away win

Bordeaux-Begles beat La Rochelle 25:19 in the seventh round of the French Top 14 rugby championship and climbed to second place in the table, AFP reports. The decisive contribution came from fly-half Matthieu Jalibert's teammate Hugo Reus, who scored 20 points: he kicked six penalties and converted a try by South African prop Carlu Sadie.

How the match unfolded

The visitors dominated the first half, but for a long time their pressure produced only Reus penalties. Then Sadie powered over from close range — the first try of the match. Reus converted it and added two more penalties, making it 13:0 shortly after the half-hour mark. La Rochelle launched their first serious attack five minutes before the break: a long pass from Springboks lock Salmann Moerat, making his first start for the Atlantic side, led to a try by Samoan forward Theofana Macfarland. Reus's fourth penalty made it 19:7 at half-time. In the second half, Simeli Daunivucu passed to back-row Semisi Lagivale, who scored his first try of the season. Two more Reus penalties stretched the lead again, and two minutes from the end La Rochelle replacement Andy Timo scored a try. The conversion from the touchline was taken by 18-year-old scrum-half Valentin Bouju, who was forced to take over the kicking duties after Antoine Hastoy left the field with an ankle injury. The ball went wide of the post, and the home side lost the losing bonus point for a defeat by seven points or fewer.

Standings and other results

After seven rounds Bordeaux have 23 points — five fewer than leaders Toulouse and one more than third-placed Pau. Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle remain fourth. On Saturday, defending champions Toulouse strengthened their lead by beating Perpignan 38:33, while Pau, who had been second, suffered a heavy defeat to Toulon — 20:41, where Melvyn Jaminet scored 26 points, including the first hat-trick of his career. Promoted Vannes claimed their first win of the season: former France international Anthony Belleau converted a try in the 80th minute to give his side a 27:26 victory over Clermont.

What the result means

An away win against Ronan O'Gara's side puts Bordeaux into the direct contenders for the top places as early as the seventh round, while La Rochelle's loss of the bonus point due to Bouju's missed conversion directly affects the distribution of points in the middle of the table. For fans, this means the battle for the top spots remains tight: the gap between second and fourth place is just one or two points.