Saturday February 23, 2013

Rugby: Toulon suffer big chill in Castres

CASTRES, France: French Top 14 leaders Toulon slumped to a 25-20 defeat at a freezing Castres on Friday, their sole consolation being the 15 points from Jonny Wilkinson's boot salvaging a defensive bonus point.

Missing international stars such as Jocelino Suta, Mathieu Bastareaud and Frederic Michalak, who remain on Six Nations duty, Toulon also suffered for their indiscipline with prop Andrew Sheridan and hooker Sebastien Bruno both yellow-carded in the first half.

"It's difficult to produce anything when you play 20 minutes with 14 men," said Toulon forwards coach Olivier Azam.

"Castres made the most of their opportunities and Rory Kockott (17 points) was great with the kicking. We didn't expect anything else."

Castres were 19-9 ahead by the interval thanks to a 14th-minute try from winger Romain Martial and 14 points kicked by South African scrum-half Kockott.

Australian centre Matt Giteau grabbed a 68th-minute try for Toulon, but by that stage Castres were already out of sight. - AFP

Top 14 table after Friday's match (played, won, drawn, lost, points for, against, bonus points, points):

Toulon 19 14 0 5 530 309 11 67

Clermont 18 13 0 5 462 289 8 60

Toulouse 18 12 0 6 459 330 7 55

Castres 19 11 1 7 427 334 8 54

Montpellier 18 11 0 7 388 376 5 49

Grenoble 18 11 0 7 368 385 2 46

Racing-Metro 18 10 0 8 321 300 6 46

Perpignan 18 9 0 9 401 411 7 43

Stade Francais 18 9 1 8 419 434 3 41

Biarritz 18 9 0 9 328 351 5 41