Deserved victory for RCSA against Rivesaltes (35-23)

Victoire logique pour les Saint-Affricains qui ont dominé la seconde période. MD

The Saint-Affricains built their victory in the second half.

On a pitch made particularly greasy by the rains, the RCSA could not have started the game worse by conceding a try in the 2nd minute of play. Picked cold, the Saint-Affricains however put the game back hand on the ball and managed to equalize by Ferrero with a corner try.

The game was subsequently balanced, the Sud-Aveyronnais regained the initiative but were still under the threat of attacks from the particularly dangerous opposing back lines.

More enterprising with the desire to speed up the game despite some blunders, they validated their highlights with two penalties from the excellent Garvi allowing them to lead 16 to 13 at half-time. The Catalan striker, for his part, scored two penalties. Half-time was whistled with a score of 16 to 13 in favor of the locals.

At the restart, the Catalans made a successful start by occupying the opposing camp and benefiting from a successful penalty by Raspaud (16-16). The two teams surrendered blow by blow but the Saint-Affricains gradually took control of the game. They tried to alternate  the game and occupied the opposing camp without however succeeding in deceiving the Catalan defense.

This domination was not in vain thanks to Garvi who scored no less than 5 penalties allowing his team to lead 28 to 16. We thought the match was over but the Catalans were far away to have abdicated. 

Three minutes from the end on one of their rare highlights near the line, they scored a try by Dagneaux allowing them to come back to within 5 points of their opponent. The fate of the match was definitively sealed with an interception by Antoine who scored between the posts allowing his team to logically win with a score of 35 to 23.