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Jake White's Montpellier edge past Toulon
ESPN Staff
January 3, 2015
Alex Tulou scored Montpellier's try © Getty Images
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Montpellier started life under Jake White in the perfect way with a 16-12 win over Toulon at the Altrad Stadium.

It marked the perfect end to a turbulent week at Montpellier where White took over the reins on a six-month basis with previous coach Fabien Galthie placed on gardening leave. After a disappointing first half of the season, White seems to have made an immediate impact as Montpellier ground out a morale-boosting win on a poor surface.

In the first-half it descended into a battle from the kickers with the teams heading into the break six apiece with Benoit Paillaugue slotting two penalties for Montpellier and Leigh Halfpenny responding with two for the visitors.

Halfpenny gave Toulon a narrow three-point lead two minutes into the second 40 but Romain Taofifenua's yellow card in the 54th minute saw Montpellier seize the initiative. From the following penalty for the Toulon second-row's ill-discipline Montpellier kicked to the corner and the resulting driving lineout saw Alex Tulou power over the line.

Ben Lucas then stretched Montpellier's lead to 16-9 with a penalty from the tee and despite Halfpenny's 72nd minute penalty cutting the deficit to four points, the home side held on for a key victory.

Racing Metro's Brice Dulin is caught by the Bordeaux defence © Getty Images
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Two late penalties from Maxime Machenaud saw Racing Metro edge past Bordeaux-Begles 12-9 at Stade Yves-du-Manoir.

Bordeaux-Begles led 9-6 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game but Machenaud struck two penalties to guide Racing to their ninth victory this season. In a game played in poor conditions, neither side was able to put together much fluent play in the backs so it came down to a battle of the boots.

For the away side, ex-France fly-half Lionel Beauxis struck nine points from the tee with No.9 Machenaud bringing up Racing's 12-point total. Racing were reduced to 14 men midway through the second-half when second-row Francois van der Merwe was sin-binned for repeated infringements.

Castres stormed to a 30-15 win over La Rochelle as they outscored the visitors four tries to two. Castres were three tries to the good at half-time with Remy Grosso, Geoffrey Palis and tight-head Paea Fa'anunu scoring while ex-Chiefs and Exeter Chiefs second-row Romana Graham scored for La Rochelle. Come the second 40 the try-scoring rate decreased but Castres and La Rochelle managed to add one more each with Grosso grabbing his second for the home side and replacement Mali Hingano going over for the visitors.

Grenoble put Oyonnax to the sword as they prevailed 33-19 at Stade des Alpes. Rory Grice, Charl Mcleod, Xavier Mignot and a penalty try alongside 13 points from Jonathan Wisniewski brought up Grenoble's total with Silvere Tian crossing for Oyonnax along with 14 points from Benjamin Urdapilleta.

And a 25-point haul from Brive's Gaetan Germain saw them beat Bayonne 25-9. The Brive fullback scored a try, converted it and added six penalties to guide the home side to a key win. Christophe Loustalot scored Bayonne's nine points.

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