Parra saves Clermont, Ebersohn bolsters Castres
Morgan Parra hit an injury-time penalty to hand Top 14 leaders Clermont a 16-13 victory over Lyon on Saturday as Castres ran out comfortable winners over Toulon. France international Parra kept his nerve to slot the winning points two minutes into injury time after Lyon brought down a maul. Two Parra penalties and one from Lyon's Jacques-Louis Potgieter were the sole scores in the first-half. Artur Iturria notched up a try, converted by Parra early in the second period to hand Clermont the advantage, but Baptiste Couilloud crossed for a try Potgieter converted having already landed a second penalty. South African centre Robert Ebersohn outplayed All Black counterpart Ma'a Nonu to lead Castres to a comprehensive 34-17 victory over Toulon in the early game. Ebersohn, who has played sevens rugby for the Blitzbokke, scored a brace of tries to cement Castres' comfortable bonus-point victory, full-back Geoffrey Palis contributing 14 points from the boot. Toulon went out to an early 6-3 lead after two penalties by Pierre Bernard to one from Palis before the home side crossed for the opening try. After some slack midfield defence, the ball was grubbered ahead, Ebersohn outsprinting ex-Springbok and compatriot No 8 Duane Vermuelen to the line for a try converted by Palis. Castres were unlucky to have a second try ruled out by referee Romain Poite for crossing, with Bernard and Nonu caught napping. Castres' high-octane, offloading game had Toulon at sixes and sevens for much of a non-stop first-half, home scrum-half Antoine Dupont at the heart of everything positive for the men in blue. Palis saw a long-range penalty effort drop short, but nailed his second shortly after to hand Castres a deserved 13-6 half-time lead. Bernard landed a 30-metre drop-goal before Ebersoh crossed for his second try, a mazy run seeing him easily outpace Nonu for a memorable touchdown. Replacement centre Mathieu Bastareaud pulled back a try for Toulon, juggling an offload over the line, Bernard converting. Castres responded through Palis, the full-back trading passes with ex-Toulon winger David Smith to go over in the corner for a try he converted himself. Ebersohn was ruled to have knocked on before crossing for what would have been his third try, with Castres in complete control of the game. Replacement prop Tudor Stroe had the last laugh when he barged over from short distance for a fourth try, converted by Palis, following a great break by ubiquitous winger Remy Grosso, to guarantee a bonus-point victory over the European giants. Elsewhere, Bordeaux-Begles scored a convincing 26-0 win over La Rochelle, defending champions Racing 92 edged struggling Grenoble 29-24, and Brive beat Pau 38-25 in a seven-try thriller.
