Top 8: Blagnac go top

Romane Ménager scores the opening try for Lille v Montpellier (Photo: Eric-photos.com)

Broadcast live by regional TV station Wéo, Twice, the game was a predictably close affair. Lille lead twice, first from a try by Romane Ménager in the first half, and then from a penalty try in the second. But on each occasion the champions, who probably had most of the possession in the game, responded with scores of their own, first through Julie Billes and then at the end through Elodie Poublan who kept her nerve to convert Melanie Kawa’s try to level the scores for a second time.

"You cannot be ashamed of a draw like this against a big team. We put in a lot of commitment individually, but failed to work together as well as we might, "was captain Alexandra Pertus’ analysis after the game. "The girls were a bit too generous in defence, and our yellow card did not help. And against Montpellier, there is no room for mistakes, "added coach Damien Couvreur, who remains confident for the rest of the championship.

One result of the draw was that, although Lille remain unbeaten, they are no longer at the top of the table.

After an opening round win against Caen, and a walkover against Perpignan, Blagnac Saint-Orens (BSORF) have now overtaken then following a successful trip to Paris where they beat Bobigny 23-18.

Defeat in Paris last year (29-14) undermined BSROF’s championship campaign, and it looked like the Parisian might repeat that result. The home team were leading 18-15 going into the final two minutes of the game before Audrey Forlani took advantage of a quickly taken penalty to cross the line. With Audrey Abadie ending the game with a 40m drop goal shortly after the restart, BSORF had dramatically turned defeat into victory.It was an outcome that delighted captain Marjorie Mayans: "It was a good match.We were always felt we could come back even while Bobigny took control, especially in the first period.We were getting better throughout as the game went on"

It was a Sentiment shared by Éric Carrière, the coach of BSORF." This was hard but not undeserved.We finished much better than.They were on the back foot at the end when we began to turn the game around.Using out aggression we found the answer""We had suffered a big defeat in Montpellier two weeks ago (42-3) and had prepared all this week”, said Fabien Antonelli, Bobigny’s coach. “It was much better performance but it was not enough.I am disappointed, although we saw a good rugby match.We had chances that we did not take.Out target is the play-offs and we knew that we would need to play well to beat a team like Blagnac."

Finally, BSORF’s near neighbours, Stade Toulousian (the teams are only a couple of miles apart) continued their great start to life at the top with a huge 55-5 win away at Caen, who – having now conceded 100 point in their opening three games, will be delighted that relegation is unlikely to be an issue this year after Perpignan’s resignation from the league.

Scores came a regular intervals, withJennifer Mengué opening the game with a quick brace of tries before Marion Peyronnet, Latoya Blackwood and Gaëlle Hermet extende d the lead to 27-0 at the break. The pattern continued through the second period with four more tries, all converted by Sabathié Caen, to give the newcomers a runaway win and fourth place in the table.

CLUB

P

W

D

L

F*

PD

B

PTS

1

BLAGNAC SAINT ORENS RUGBY FEMININ

3

3

0

0

0

52

2

14

2

LILLE METROPOLE RC VILLENEUVOIS

3

2

1

0

0

58

2

12

3

STADE RENNAIS RUGBY

3

2

0

1

0

12

2

10

4

STADE TOULOUSAIN RUGBY FEMININ

3

2

0

1

0

40

1

9

5

MONTPELLIER R C

3

1

1

1

0

32

2

8

6

A C BOBIGNY 93 RUGBY

3

1

0

2

0

-19

2

6

7

L OVALIE CAENNAISE

3

0

0

3

0

-100

0

0

8

U S A P XV FEMININ ROUSSILLON

3

0

0

3

3

-75

0

-6

*Games forfeit (-2 points, recorded as a 0-25 defeat)