Rugby: Nice beats Beaurepaire in pain

They had to win to avoid being eliminated, and the men under Christophe Moni knew this very well as they entered the Arboras field, and it was they, through Thibaut Déjardin, who opened the scoring with a penalty following an offside. A fitting response from the home side in red with a successful attempt by fullback Bonnet. The Nice players, stung to the quick, quickly take control and Ludovic Dauchy adds five points to the scoreboard with the first azure try in the 26th minute converted by Déjardin. 10-3, the lead was certainly slim but highly appreciated. The same Dujardin adding three more points with a penalty to give his teammates a ten-point advantage at the half-hour mark. We would have been satisfied with this margin at halftime, but we hadn’t counted on another crossing of the Isère try line through Erwan Bechec followed by another conversion by a Dujardin in great form that Sunday. And it was finally with a score of 20 to 3 that the thirty men went into the dressing rooms.

Kicking will make the powder speak again on both sides after the break with three new points in each camp bringing the score to 23-6. Nothing to worry about except that Nice’s game will crumble as the minutes pass and, consequently, lead to countless handling errors and blunders readily taken advantage of by a reinvigorated Beaurepaire side. The collective spirit was missing on the azure side and it was collectively, on the other hand, that the Isère forwards crossed Nice’s try line to reduce the score with a try converted by the usual Bonnet (23-13).

Just a ten-point lead, the offensive bonus point is now just a memory and we think that the worst that could happen would be to lose on Nice’s side, especially since the clever Bonnet continues to score, bringing the score to 23-16. It will ultimately be the final score and President Baldacchino’s protégés come out rather well against a Beaurepaire team that showed no great ability, relying on its excellent kicker.

A short week of work and next Sunday it will be the derby against neighboring La Seyne where Nice fell in the first round (18-6). They will once again need the warriors of the first half next Sunday because the Nice of the second half certainly won’t weigh heavily against the tough Varois side that occupies a fine fourth place in the standings.

**Match Sheet**

**Nice:**

2 tries: Ludovic Dauchy – 26th and Erwan Bechec – 36th
2 conversions: Thibault Dejardin – 26th and 36th
2 penalties: Thibault Dejardin – 15th and 32nd
1 drop: Rudy Dames – 63rd

**Beaurepaire:**

1 try: Collective – 65th
1 conversion: Bonnet – 65th
3 penalties: Bonnet – 22nd, 43rd and 80th

**The Teams:**

**Nice:** Demni, Bechec, Traversa, Rouillier, Dauchy, Ducourtieux, Schmidt, Herrera, Rey, Dames, Roman, Moxham, Benstaali, Malavart, Dejardin, Guarese, Piraux, Canizares, Derrstroff, Sirray, Boyer and Drame.

**Beaurepaire:** Poipy, Prat, Gonsaud, Allard, Domocos, Eynard, Monier, Nemechek, Eynard-Veyran, Mazoyer, Mergoil, Dumitru, Lacroix, Fiard, Bonnet, Grange, Barchi, Effantin, Martin, Dye, Berruyer, and Maettel.