The Setback

Sunday, January 10, 2010
On Saturday night Rugby Nice Côte d'Azur came face to face with a superior team who dominated the Nice pack on a pitch which had been transformed into a mud bath due to two days of incessant rain. The final score:12-18. Manu Boutet and Will Johnson's men managed to gain the defense bonus. The coaches were hoping for much more from this match between the top 2 teams in Pool 3 however the Béziers forwards pushed Nice into making mistakes in the ruck using their power and strength. Nice were consistent in the game and even led 9-7 going into half time thanks to intelligent play and good defense by Julien Caminati at full back. Sadly a foolish try coming from a loose ball at the beginning of the second half gave Béziers back their lead. In the final moments Nice were camped in Béziers' 22 and could have snatched an unexpected victory. With this victory Béziers have undoubtedly marked first place in Pool 3 as their territory. Now Nice have to bounce back from this match and consolidate second place in the table next Sunday in Tournefeuille. "This match has put Nice back in place, we can now see that we still have work to do" stated Manu Boutet "The result does not put into question how far we have already come, we just have to learn from it".

NICE-BEZIERS : 12-18 (9-7)
Referee: M. Lavit (Provence)
Nice : 4 penalities (10th, 21st, 40th, 54th) Caminati. White Card : Canizares (62nd)
Béziers : 2 tries, Bousquet (5th), Julien (46th) ; 1 T (5th) et penalities (52nd, 62nd) Dambielle. Yellow card : Catanzano (72nd)
Nice team : Caminati (A.Malavard, 76th) – A.Malavard (Dramé, 76th), Ngawini, Kacharava (Benstaali, 66th), Lapierre – (o) MacHugh, (m) Delmonte (cap, Chambon, 64th) – Sainte-Croix, Boukanoucha (Herrera, 52nd), Mezencev (Orméa, 72nd) – Derrstroff (Boukanoucha, 52nd), Beattie – G.Hill (Traversa, 52nd), MacKie (Feldis, 52nd), Canizares (Guarese, 72nd)