Sapiac received a poster of extreme importance for the first reception of US Montauban in 2025. And this 17th day offered the penultimate in the ranking, Valence Romans, to Sapiacains, a duel between two teams in need of points accumulating between them 9 defeats in the last 10 matches. A match of fear in short between two clubs which no longer had much choice but to raise their heads. And perhaps the two clubs succeeded in this feat this evening despite the victory of the Sapiacains at the last minute in a suspenseful end to the match. US Montauban, led for a long time, ended up going in front at the very end to beat a very deserving but too undisciplined Valence Romans (25-23). It's a sigh of relief for Sébastien Tillous-Borde's players as the Damiers showed great things even when often playing with 14 players.
The matches not to be lost are often the most difficult to win despite the total absence of calculation. By receiving the penultimate, Valence Romans, the former leaders at the start of the season knew that any result other than a victory would plunge the club a little further into crisis. With guts more than with merit, the Montalbanais escaped from the trap set by the Damiers by stealing victory at the very end. Even if the match point was in the right foot of Lucas Meret, the Valencia opener, after the siren, the Sapiacains had managed to take the lead at the end of the 80 minutes. It's not a reassuring success in terms of content but it does too much good on an accounting level to be disdained.
A first act lacking in success
The first period was poor in points and even more in tries. Two teams on a mission to win, with a lot of pressure, but who did not close the game. However, if the intentions were there, the realization did not follow. On arrival, few testing opportunities and therefore few points. The match started at a good pace and above all without penalties. We had to wait until the 13th minute to notice the first foul in this meeting. Thomas Fortunel opened the scoring (3-0) then immediately confirmed his address (18th, 6-0). The Checkers began to crack by giving ammunition to the local players who in return missed their try attempts by overusing game launches. Worse, Valence Romans managed to stay in the match with the foot of Lucas Meret (30th, 6-3 ).
6-3 was the score at the break, despite the yellow card received by the Drômois (35th, Sven Girando) who could no longer endure the game despite the numerical inferiority. Even worse, at the restart, and still at 14 against 15, the Valence Romans players took the score by scoring the first try of the match on a perfect controlled game launch towards the left wing. Rozière, well served by his back Moura, was going to flatten without difficulty (43rd, 6-10).
-Montauban stumbles, Valence Romans relapses
This twist of fate did not plunge the Tarn-et-Garonnais into torpor and Fortunel reduced the score very quickly (46th, 9-10), showing that only pragmatism could save his team this evening in Sapiac. However, once again at 15, the Drômois caused the whole stadium to plunge into worry with a new try marking a presence within 22 m. A lucky combination at the end of the scrum benefited Anatole Pauvert who dove into the in-goal area to be the first to flatten a ball given to him by Marrou after a 9-10 combination (53rd, 9-17). The Montalbanais did not give up yet and got closer to 5 points thanks to the precision of Mouchous who had replaced the scorer Fortunel in the absence of Bosviel (58th, 12-17). It was then that the turning point of the match occurred.
More information to come…
