Pro D2: Brive lost to Colomiers, frustrating defeat 20 to 19

The future La Rochelle opener allows Colomiers to win by one point. Brive takes the defensive bonus point.

Dominant, but trailing for a large part of the match, Colomiers snatched victory against Brive (20-19), during the 22nd day of Pro D2, Friday. A success clinched at the very end of the match, thanks to a final penalty from Pacome.

From the kick-off, Brive put themselves in danger by seeing Curwin Bosch’s clearance blocked and going out of touch within 5 meters.

CA Brive gets out of it and manages to force Colomiers to make a mistake, who makes a series of mistakes in these first minutes. Bosch has the opportunity to open the score but his first attempt goes wide (5′).

Colomiers returned to the Brive camp and forced Brive to restart with a goal kick. On the kick, Ugo Pacome tried to drop the ball from his 40 meters but it went wide (7′). The Columérins, faithful to their playing principles, held the ball and progressed well in the Brive 22.

The defense made a series of mistakes and the referee did not hesitate to show the yellow card against Benjamin Boudou (11′). The sanction was immediate: touch at 5 meters, maul, pounding of the line and try for Anthony Coletta (7-0, 13′).

On the kick, Colomiers missed and Brive went to attack the local goal but the defense managed to stop the advance. But the Brive response was going to be quick. On a short touch found by Colomiers, Brive does what it knows how to do: taking the ball from Courtney Lawes, forming a maul, the maul advances and Lucas Da Silva scores (7-7, 17′).

Brive comes back to level then goes ahead, punishing Colomiers’ indiscipline with a penalty from Bosch, then two which put Brive six points ahead at half-time.

Brive is better and Colomiers makes a mistake with a forward pass taken in front. The Brive scorer has adjusted the sights (7-13, 30′). It’s the Brive turn to stand out in defense with a ball stolen in touch by Retief Marais and a rewarded scratch from Asier Usarraga (32′). Colomiers does not want to see the gap in the score widen any more and holds the ball. But the defensive line is dense and the « lighter » sizes of Colomiers have difficulty crossing.

In the second half, Brive kept their noses in the rucks to try to protect their lead. But Colomiers, a very instinctive team, made the Brive team at fault, who received two yellow cards almost in quick succession (Ratuva and Pimienta).

Solid, sure of their fundamentals and realistic, Brive continued to suffer, while taking advantage of their rare opportunities on foot (7-16 at the 46th minute). But Colomiers pushed, until causing a double numerical inferiority on the Brive side (Ratuva at the 49th minute and Pimienta at the 54th minute). Pierre-Henry Broncan’s men initially resisted, then cracked on a perfectly carried ball by Colomiers, finished by Lachaud, whose entry did his team a lot of good (59th minute).

But by dint of insisting, Colomiers would reward themselves by finally crossing the line. Following a penalty touch at 5 meters, Coletta is found in the line-up, the maul is formed and Théo Lachaud scores (14-16, 59′). The Columérine improvement will be short-lived. Brive steals a ball and projects itself into the opponent’s 22. Ten meters from the in-goal, Da Silva tries to leave but suffers a cynical foul from Sadek Deghmache. Yellow for the scrum-half and three easy points for Bosch and the CAB (14-19, 62′).

Colomiers to evolve in numerical inferiority, but Brive does not take advantage of it, by making a mistake in the ground game. Pacome passes the penalty (17-19, 64′). We arrive in the last quarter of an hour and like all recent Colomiers – Brive, it will be decided by very little.

The Columérins will try to get closer by scoring a try by Lachaud, the replacement hooker. Still in front, the Brivistes take advantage of the handling errors of Colomiers who loses a lot of balls and cannot score. Until this error in the 79th minute committed by Lucas Da Silva in the ruck. The locals finally obtained a decisive penalty in front of the posts, successful by Ugo Pacome, 19 years old, takes his responsibilities and will score the points of the victory (80′) 20 -19.

Brive once again lets a victory slip away in the last moments, as in Nevers or in Provence.

Brive regains its place on the podium, left for one day to Montauban, but misses the opportunity to become the runner-up to Grenoble. Despite this victory, Colomiers does not progress in the ranking and could even lose a place in the event of a bonus success for Angoulême. Next week, Colomiers will travel to the Provence Rugby field for a new Pro D2 clash, eight days before the end of the season. For its part, Brive will host an out-of-form Mont de Marsan.

In the meantime, Brive is bringing back some damage from Haute-Garonne. Matias Moroni, the powerful Argentinian center, comes off in the 22nd minute, injured. He will be absent for the next match against Mont-de-Marsan because of a torn calf. As for hooker Benjamin Boudou, the staff fears a fracture of the jaw at the level of the front teeth. Additional tests will be useful to assess the unavailability.

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