Saturday evening and Canal Sport’s + gala match Agen v Montpellier, unfortunately the word Gala was only used in the introduction by the commentators, after that another hotchpotch of bad mistakes and very indifferent choices.

Although Montpellier started well, their attack on the Agen defence was inconsistent and of no real intensity, Agen defended their line with skill and courage and kept Montpellier out in the early stages of the game. 

The pitch was very greasy and with the humidity of an Autumn evening the high ball and passes were always going to be a problem, Agen being the home side used this to their advantage and kept Montpellier on the back foot for long periods of the game with the up and unders that the Montpellier defence were finding difficult to cope with.

Montpellier crept into a 6-0 lead with a Bustos-Moyano penalty and Santi Fernandez drop goal, but were soon caught infringing and sharp shooter Barnard the Agen no.10 was there to add the points, both Bustos and Barnard added another penalty each and the teams went for lemons and a break at 9-9 apiece.

The second half was again an affair of mistakes, errors, and misjudgements by Montpellier, whether the concentration is wandering after 40 mins who knows?  Barnard added another 3 penalties to only one by Bustos-Moyano, and to be quite honest Montpellier never really looked like scoring anything else. Twice Barnard hit the woodwork, once the post and then the crossbar, giving Montpellier a lifeline to hang onto that all important bonus defence point, which they probably deserved but absolutely no more.

The sporting gesture by Agen in the dying minutes after the siren had gone was rare to see these days. Agen were given a penalty which was kickable for 3 more points and the disappearance of the bonus defensive point for Montpellier, but they kicked the ball into touch to end the game. One could argue that if they had hit the woodwork a 3rd time Montpellier could have attacked and scored a converted try to win the game but there were no pigs flying over Agen on Saturday evening!!! 

A match well in the capabilities of Montpellier and wearing the right head set a match they could and should have won!!! 

Once again the discipline was nowhere to be seen, Montpellier are just about the worst penalised team in the TOP 14, and you cannot blame the man in the middle, he is continually blowing that whistle for a reason, off sides, bad placements at the rucks, pulling down the mauls, and the scrum work needs to be  looked at, the front row were having endless problems especially on the opponents ball, Scelzo giving Shvelidze a rough going over for the first 40 mins and the total lack of solidarity especially up front is not helping matters, those who continually argue with the Refs decision should pull their heads in and concentrate on playing rugby there is a Skipper on the park for that very reason.  All these niggling problems have to be resolved but the total lack of leadership is one problem that hopefully will disappear with the return of Club Captain Fulgence Ouedraogo from the World Cup. The sight of Vassili Bost and Benoit Paillaugue both arguing with the Ref, and each other in the final minutes is something that should have been left on the training park or in the changing room. 

Lyon next week away from home, which is if they have got rid of the bubonic plague  (a bout of man mumps) that has hit them this weekend cancelling their match against Bordeaux- Begles.

 

Steve Whittell.