Despite a yellow card given to David Penalva (28) and facing the wind, Nice held firm. As soon as the Portuguese international returned, Manu Boutet’s men regained control and scored the first try of the match. Following a driven scrum, Sainte-Croix quickly took a penalty. Faurois crossed the line to put RNCA in the lead just before halftime (8-3, 39), but Malavard missed the conversion.
Shortly after the restart, Malavard successfully kicked a penalty (11-3, 45), then another (14-3, 58), allowing Nice to widen the gap. However, despite having the wind in their favor, Nice struggled to manage the match. Furthermore, Lavaur responded with a brilliant try, narrowing the score (14-8, 63).
Dominated, Nice defended fiercely on their line and reacted through Karim Dahbi. Very effective after coming into play, Dahbi exploded, like a strong mouthful of harissa (copyright JP), and countered to relieve his team. His numerous charges allowed the team to breathe.
This helped restore confidence. At the very end of the match, Kacharava energetically intercepted the ball in the opposition’s three-quarter line and passed to Benstaali, who scored between the posts. The try was converted by Malavard, definitively sealing a hard-fought victory (21-8, 80).
Reactions:
Manu Boutet: “It’s a sigh of relief. We saw a well-played match but we fell back into our bad habits. At 14-3, we had opportunities to score more tries before making too many mistakes. We played 20 minutes with 14 men which is a lot. Then, Lavaur was able to get back into the match due to big mistakes on our part. However, we were very brave and united on our line. We know we could have very easily lost this match. Currently, we are on the razor’s edge. We must continue to work relentlessly to keep climbing back up.”
Will Johnson: “After the draw last week where the final pass was missing, there was more discipline. There was more ambition in our play. Against the wind in the first half, we did a good job. We continued well for 20 minutes. We had opportunities to score points and widen the lead against a tired team. We let them back into the match. In fact, we stayed on our line for 15 minutes. Thanks to incredible defense, we managed to hold on.”
The lineup:
Guarese (Canizares, 47), Faurois, R. Sua (Hill, 67) – Boukanoucha, Penalva (Deerstroff, 57) – Espagno (capt), Sainte-Croix (Dahbi, 51), Moxham (Mezencev, 59) – Guerre, Mc Hugh – Roman (Dramé, 11), Mège (Benstaali, 62), Kacharava, Warwick – Malavard
Source www.rugbynice.com
