It was a dominant Nice team that took to the field, immediately taking control of the game and drawing numerous penalties against Christophe Moni’s men, who scored 10 points in the first ten minutes from a Caminati penalty and a Ducourtieux try converted by the same Caminati. Just enough time for Millau to showcase some aspects of their play before the Nice players crossed the try line again, bringing the score to 17-0 after just twenty minutes of play.
Despite some good intentions on both sides, the following minutes won’t make it into the rugby annals, with a soulless game and a score that seemed reluctant to progress despite the temporary expulsion of Millau’s prop and a disallowed try for Nice due to a barely evident forward pass. Just before half-time, Benstaali embarked on a run filled with dodges that took him to the promised land, bringing the score to 24-0 at half-time.
The same pattern resumed in the second half. Nice dominated and Millau tried to contain the purple wave that crashed down on the red and yellow defense with a new try from Benstaali who doubled his tally and provided a fourth conversion to Julien Caminati. 31-0, the scoreline grew heavier for Millau who remained under the influence of a Nice game that was not of an exceptional level.
As minutes passed, the game balanced out. Millau made an incursion into the Nice camp, securing a good touch a few meters from the Azurean in-goal. Following a neat combination with the first jumper, it was Gonzales who finally touched down in the promised land, bringing the score to 31-7 after Mounier’s conversion. Barely time to savor their score, Millau had to defend their camp again. Through a fine breakthrough by Laurent Buchet who served Caminati perfectly, another try punctuated the persistent effort of the Nice players, enhanced by another conversion from Caminati bringing the score to 38-7.
This spells good prospects for an offensive bonus although Nice is used to experiencing difficult ends to the second half. And this proved true once again with the second incursion of the Millau players into the Nice camp resulting in a crafty try from Laveissiรจre who quickly played a penalty 10 meters from the Nice in-goal to comfortably touch down an unconverted try in the corner (38-12). One would think the Azureans would take heed, but it would be without counting on the numerous handling errors by Nice, one of which offered a beautiful line attack to Millau, reduced to 14 but still managing to send their winger Potier to the in-goal. 38-19, the matches come and go and unfortunately, they resemble each other at the Arboras.
Only 2 minutes were left to play, and the offensive bonus point seemed to slip away, but it was eventually rescued by the Nice forwards’ pack on a beautiful mauling that would certainly have ended its course behind the try line if the referee had not blown for a penalty try due to a blatant offside from the red and yellow. 45-19 and two minutes to play, the Arboras stadium could breathe as the ball no longer left the Nice hands until the final whistle.
With Domont beating Rouen (15-8), Nice is still two points shy of Domont who they will visit next on March 30 before heading to Rouen on April 6 and then to Millau on April 20. These are three matches that must be won to secure a spot in federal 1 next year, but this will require maintaining a consistent level of play through both halves of the game.
