Frustrated O’Gara refuses to blame kicker as Castres leads 24-3 west

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Semi-finalist Ihaia West missed two last-minute penalties – including a very eliminatory one after the siren – as Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle lost a Top 14 thriller to Castres by just one point, 31-30.

Last week, after watching his side beat Lyon at home, O’Gara asked La Rochelle to play with more attacking intent and freedom on the road – and when they were leading 24-3 after 24 minutes with a try bonus in the bag, it seemed his players had heeded his wishes.

But the hosts managed two tries to reduce the score to 24-17 at half-time, and although West extended the visitors’ lead to 30-24 around the 50th minute, the game was still not over. . Vilimani Botitu scored another convert try for the hosts shortly after the hour to bring the score to 31-30 and set up a tense final.

West misses either side of the 80-minute mark – his first hit the post, the second moved away – kept the hosts’ Top 14 undefeated run at home going back to December 2020.

“This result is frustrating and disappointing for everyone,” O’Gara told French media. “I’ve said it several times, this season a game lasts 80 minutes. We were better today than in our last away games, but it’s not enough. When you score thirty points away from your goals, you must win the game. “

He refused to throw the blame on the door to the western half, insisting: “This is sport, it is like that. I will never criticize any of my players, he works hard with and without the ball. I will support him. a little more this week. What I do know is that we should have killed the game long before those kicks and we shouldn’t have relied on a last second kick. Luckily we have the opportunity to rectify the shooting against Toulon next week.

His third line Gregory Alldritt admitted: “We thought we were going to get a tryout bonus. It’s a big disappointment. But we were too imprecise and didn’t want the win as much as they did.”

Toulouse lacked “humility and composure” at crucial stages in their 16-13 loss to Clermont on Saturday night, according to head coach Ugo Mola – but even he will have wondered on the return bus how the defending champions managed to lose a game they had every chance of winning.

In a game that started to simmer – both teams scored in the first 12 minutes – but failed to overflow, it took the calm header of Camille Lopez, replacing JJ Hanrahan in the second half, to settle. The problems. . He evened the scores with a cool drop goal in the 67th minute and kicked the 72nd minute penalty to extend Toulouse’s 20-year losing streak to Marcel Michelin for one more season.

“Playing a great Toulouse team and beating them does us a lot of good,” Lopez told Canal +. “You have to give your all against a team like this where you collect 30 points.”

Three tries in the last 10 minutes flattered a match between Pau and Brive which had been long in effort and ineffective. But the former French under-20 phenomenon Jordan Joseph has regained his smile and his impact since joining Pau on loan with the hosts of Racing 92. He scored the first and made the last by winning 43- 20.

Stade Français, shy of the attack, pulled away from the relegation black hole on Saturday with an important 27-17 victory over struggling teammates Perpignan at the Jean Bouin stadium. Waisea Nayacalevu scored both tries for the Paris team and could have scored a third.

The Biarritz basement team couldn’t take full advantage of Perpignan’s unnecessary day in Paris – victory at Bordeaux was still a long shot – but they left Chaban Delmas 24 hours later with a potentially losing bonus vital after an exciting late response.

Francis Saili’s converted 85th-minute try made it 30-27 in favor of the Top 14 leaders – but head coach Christophe Urios was furious after seeing his side concede three touchdowns, while also scoring l one of theirs, after the stopwatch has passed 70 minutes.

“We gave up,” Urios said afterwards. “It’s a lost point. We haven’t played for three weeks, we’ve been in isolation, but it’s all just smoke. We lacked character.

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