The gamble that the team from Nice pulled off during their last two victorious matches (a last-minute win against Romans and in Nรฎmes) did not happen, and this time, it was Castanet who, instead, clinched the victory in the final minutes of play on Nice’s turf.
While players and spectators believed that, after many efforts and great fatigue, the home team had finally secured the win, it was ultimately a cold shower from a well-executed driving maul by the suburban Toulouse side, culminating in a second try and especially the precision of their kicker for the conversion to win (23-22).
A mere one-point difference for a victory that, all things considered, was deserved, even if one cannot deny that the performance by the Nice team was not negligible, far from it, against a serious and well-organized opposing team.
Indeed, the touch of a skilled coach like Jean Anturville is now evident, and the “azure and gold” (who have returned to the colors of the late Racing Rugby Club de Nice of the golden years) demonstrated a compact and well-orchestrated game. Only the backlines, with their lack of penetration, were out of sync with the serious play of the forwards.
Ultimately, all these efforts were not rewarded, which is truly unfortunate because, in fact, the team from Nice missed a good opportunity to advance in the standings, and this before the arrival of La Seyne in a derby promising to be exciting in many respects.
It will also be an opportunity to make up for this misstep, which, in addition to ending a favorable streak of three matches, plunges Nice back into doubt.
It is worth noting, nonetheless, the enormous performance of an Adrien Malavard, monumental in the kicking game and positioning himself in the lineage of a certain Julien Caminati.
