O'Gara's frustration: Third loss in four Top 14 games as La Rochelle lose at home to Castres

TOP 14: Castres win away from home, Racing 92 into Top three, Lyon defeat Clermont Toulon beat Oyonnax and Toulouse come from behind to defeat Bordeaux . Pic: LOIC VENANCE / AFP

La Rochelle twice let an 11-point first-half lead slip as they lost 24-27 to Castres in the first match at an expanded Stade Marcel Deflandre, as the Top 14 returned after an eight week non-compete pause for the Rugby World Cup.

The defeat - their third in four matches - saw Ronan O’Gara’s side slip to 11th. Castres ended the weekend in second place, behind first-time leaders Pau.

In February, La Rochelle became the first visiting Top 14 team to win at Castres’ Stade Pierre Fabre in 30 matches. That result prompted a change in coaching set-up at the 2018 French champions. Pierre-Henry Broncan was removed two days later, and former Ireland lock Jeremy Davidson, out of work since he was relieved of his duties at Brive the previous December, brought in.

Eight months later, Davidson engineered Castres’ first win at Marcel Deflandre since 2018, despite the fact they spent eight minutes reduced to 13 players in a first half in which they had three players sent to the bin.

They scored twice while at a numerical disadvantage, to remain - nominally, it seemed - in the match. But Castres’ scrum was going backwards; they were leaking penalties - 14 in total, most coming in that ill-disciplined first half. It was, surely, only a matter of time before La Rochelle pressed home their advantage.

But no. Changes on either side of the front row shored up their scrum, even giving them the edge. Their supremacy upfront cancelled, La Rochelle looked lost. Young 10 Hugo Reus kicked their only points of the second period in the 48th minute.

And when Uruguay scrum-half Santiago Arata, on his return to Castres after the World Cup and with the ink drying on a lucrative two-year contract extension, scored to level the scores at 24-24 seven minutes after coming on as a replacement, the visitors were in the ascendency.

Former La Rochelle fringe player Pierre Popelin kicked the decisive penalty with 13 minutes left on the clock, to take his tally to 10 on the evening.

“We're very disappointed - there are some sad guys in the dressing room,” La Rochelle coach Donnacha Ryan said. “We were pretty good in the first half, but we weren't efficient enough. We missed opportunities … We were very good in attack, but in the second half, we made mistakes.” 

Former Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster enjoyed better fortunes as Racing 92 climbed to third in the table with a 19-16 win at Montpellier. Only a last-minute try from the hosts’ replacement prop Vano Karkadze denied the visitors a try-scoring bonus.

Pau will spend the week at the head of the Top 14 for the first time in their history with a 34-29 victory over Perpignan at Stade Aime-Giral. The hosts, under Franck Azema - who returned to the club in the summer - have lost all four of their Top 14 matches to date, and already have a points difference of -110.

Georgia winger Davit Niniashvili scored twice on his return to club duties as Lyon recovered from a disastrous opening 15 minutes at home against Clermont, in which they allowed the visitors to race into a 13-0 lead, to pick up a bonus-point 41-22 win.

Bayonne ended Stade Francais’ winning start to the season, with a cagey 16-3 win at Stade Jean Dauger. The defeat - with new bosses Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal in attendance - saw the Parisians slip to third in the table, having led for the first three rounds of the World Cup-affected campaign.

After a difficult tournament, in which he lost his France place to young prodigy Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Gabin Villiere scored a try and was named player of the match on his return to Toulon colours, as they eased past Oyonnax 41-7.

And tries in the 74th and 75th minute helped Toulouse come from behind to beat Bordeaux 29-22 at Stade Ernest Wallon.