125 to 0. 19 tries scored. The score speaks for itself. On this beautiful Sunday at the Stade des Arboras, under the January sun, the players from Rugby Nice Cรดte d’Azur steamrolled over the team from Martigues who had nothing but their courage to offer due to a diminished squad. Firmly last in pool 4 of Federal2 rugby with no victories and 585 points conceded in twelve matches, the Provenรงals only held out for three minutes with an initial try from the Azurรฉen center, Fabrice Bourroul. Two minutes later, Julien Kinane, playing today on the wing, demonstrated his impressive speed by breaking through for 60 meters. The men of Olivier Achaintre led 14 to 0 after five minutes, 26 to 0 after 25 minutes, and 52 to 0 at the break. The yellow and violet team were sharp in game starts, quick releases, and passes after contact. Martigues acted as sparring partners and offered little resistance. The tackles were missed. They could not respond to the Niรงois accelerations. Each contact hurt. The Azurรฉens were a head taller; had arms and thighs twice as thick; and the slowest from RCNAUR ran faster than the speediest Provenรงal. Only the front row competed. But with injuries, the scrums were quickly simulated.
The second half saw more tries scored (11 in total). The latest recruit, Laurent Buchet, made his debut and joined the scoring spree. Among the array of tries, it’s worth mentioning those by Guillaume Guiran (second row) and Khaled Khalouchi (hooker), who played as three-quarter center tearing through the opposing defensive line and sprinting for about twenty meters. Fly-half Jauffrey Marras totaled the points with 15 successful conversions and a try (35 points).
With this victory, Nice is now virtually the leader of the pool, benefitting from Romans’ defeat at Chatorange but their two closest challengers (Grasse and Romans) have a match in hand. Next Sunday, RNCA will travel to Hรฉrault in Bรฉdarieux before hosting Saint-Raphaรซl Frรฉjus on January 28.
