Dominated at the start of the game, Union Bordeaux-Bègles conceded their third defeat of the season at Clermont (32-27). But the Girondins were able to console themselves with a defensive bonus at the death.
ASM Clermont maintained their unbeaten home record with eight tries in a thrilling match. with a 32-27 win over Union Bordeaux-Bègles.in the opening match of the 9th day of the Top 14 season, at a sold-out Marcel-Michelin stadium for the first time this season.
But Bordeaux’s Temo Matiu (80+1) scored an injury-time try, with both sides down to fourteen men, to give Bordeaux the defensive bonus point and deny Clermont the attacking bonus point.
Despite all this, the Jaunards, who endured a complicated week after the rout in Paris, have provisionally climbed to third place in the table, dominated by UBB, their bête noire, whom they haven’t beaten since March 2022. Struggling away from home, ASM are forced to be uncompromising on their home turf, where they have been unbeaten since February 25.
UBB wake up too late, full house for ASM
So far, they’ve managed it: this season, the Auvergnats have taken 23 points out of a possible 25, i.e. five wins out of five, including three with an attacking bonus. This time, they scored five tries, the first of which was scored by Joris Jurand after just 45 seconds.
Thereafter, despite conceding twenty penalties to Bordeaux-Bègles’ ten, ASM were always in the lead, even if they did lose the lead towards the end of the game. In addition to Jurand, goals from Pierre Fouyssac (14th) and Bautista Delguy (25th) gave Clermont a 17-6 half-time lead, before Léon Darricarère (53rd) and Barnabé Massa (65th) in turn gave the Jaunards a healthy lead (32-13, 65th).
For their part, the UBB, in addition to Matiu’s try, scored two other tries, converted by Joey Carbery. The first was scored by Lachlan Swinton (48th) to reduce the lead to 17-13, giving Bordeaux hope, and the second by Maxime Lamothe (74th) to pull them back to within twelve points (32-20) with six minutes remaining.