Top 14 Orange
Lagisquet lashes out
Ian Moriarty
September 27, 2011
Perpignan scrum-half Florian Cazenave looks to release his backs, Biarritz v Perpignan, Top 14, Parc des sports Aquilera, Biarritz, France, September 23, 2011
Perpignan scrum-half Florian Cazenave releases his backs during his side's win over Biarritz © Getty Images
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Biarritz coach Patrice Lagisquet was quick to take aim at his players and match referee Jean-Luc Rebollal after the Basque side continued their winless start to the season with a 29-24 defeat at home to Perpignan.

"We're the Santa Claus of rugby, we gave them the points," an angry Lagisquet told Sudouest.

"We shot ourselves in the foot and scuttled it. One try was said to be forward -there was refereeing mistakes that I must moan about because it has been the same old story since the beginning of the season. You can believe what you want....

"A game like this shouldn't escape us. The players have not followed the instructions; I'm not on the pitch, they're not my choices. It's frustrating."

Tensions were also high at Agen, where a last-minute Luke McAllister try nicked a 24-23 win for Toulouse, prompting ugly scenes in the tunnel afterwards between Agen coaches Christina Lanta and Jean-Jacques Crenca, the match officials and their security guards.

With the game deep in injury time, a Toulouse knock on deep in the Agen 22 looked to have sealed the win for the home side but referee Lafon instead awarded another penalty to the French Champions, from which McAllister engineered the match-winning try.

Lanta told Midi Olympique: "There is a sense of injustice with these decisions which will have serious consequences and also in light of the number of penalties given against us. I don't believe the referee could have done any more to give the match to les Toulousains."

Meanwhile, Clermont Auvergne Coach Vern Cotter has paid tribute to the hard work of his players following a bruising 19-13 win over Bayonne at Stade Marcel Michelin.

"Above all I'm just happy for my players," Cotter told La Montagne. "Once again they showed their strength of character. We haven't been able to rotate the squad as we would have liked since the start of the season. The guys are really tired but they really showed what they're made of and have been rightly rewarded."

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