For this last long trip of the year, the players were eager to deliver a good performance on Isère soil. Unfortunately, against a strategically well-positioned team, the Nice team lost 15 to 12.
Despite great commitment throughout the game, the Nice team was defeated, bringing back another defensive bonus point. The red and black were leading 12 to 3 at the end of the first half before their opponents gradually caught up.
Faced with a minimalist but effective game (pressure kicking and maul), the Nice team, too penalized, couldn’t find a solution.
Yet the red and black opened the score rather quickly in the game with a brilliant kick pass from Maquaire, in his 22, to his teammate Fritz, who ended in the in-goal after an 80-meter run. 7 to 0 for Nice despite a numerical disadvantage following a card given to Dahbi. The engagement was high between these two teams and the two forward packs neutralized each other, but the Nice team found another breakthrough through Parcheminer. 12 to 3 for Nice.
The end of the first half saw the Nice team over-penalized, leading to a scrappy try by the Isère team. The halftime score was then 10 to 12 in favor of Nice.
In the second half, under the rain and on the slippery mud, the two teams neutralized each other. The Saint-Savin team offered a simple but effective game characterized by pressure kicks and mauls, too often forcing the Azureans into errors. They had to concede a try, not converted by the opposing kicker.
Despite the Nice team’s offensives in the last minutes, the score did not change until the end of the match. The Nice team thus left St Savin with another defeat but a valuable defensive bonus point.
Last match of the year 2014 in St Raphaël, next weekend, before the Christmas break.
The match sheet: Starting XV: Fritz; Parcheminer, Benstaali, Mège, Fatauli; (o) Maquaire, (m) Sonetti; Mgeladze, Catoni (c), Roth; El Ouertani, Herjean; Hahn, Commandeur, Dahbi. Substitutes: Soler, Martin, Boussetta, Cottet, Musso, Nègre, Courteboeuf.
Nice’s points: 2 tries: Fritz, Parcheminer 1 conversion: Maquaire (1/2)
