After a very good fight, Villeneuve defeated Lézignan (18-20), during the 11th day of Super XIII.
Luc Brocas is very close to breaking the score, but the visiting defense throws him into touch at the moment of flattening. Villeneuve reacted quickly and, on a superb play at the foot of Jackson Moule, Jack Aiken failed to control the ball when it was time to score.
In the twentieth minute, after a slow down of the down whistled against the Villeneuvois at the very end of the chain of play, Valentin Ferret, on a beautiful pass feint, breaks the defensive curtain to serve on a board Eddy Perramond who only has to mark between the posts.
Villeneuve reacted immediately through Jack Aiken who, on a hand attack on the fifth down, finished his race by scoring his eighth try of the season. The Leopards increased the defensive pressure, led in particular by the entry into play of the very young and already talented Mahault Beauvilliers, to push the Lézignanais into error. Anthony Ors tries a jump pass in his own 20 meters, but Hamza Bachoukh reads his opponent's intention perfectly and grabs the ball to place it between the poles.
Villeneuve even came close to scoring a third try, but Gabriel Riguet lost the ball when diving in the corner. And as at the start of the match, Lézignan immediately did the same, and Mr. Nicaud logically refused the try before sending the two teams back to the locker room with a score of 12 to 6 in favor of the visitors.
The last word for Villeneuve
From the restart, Lalotoa Mata'afa, very opportunistic, took advantage of a kick from Vincent Calvayrac to grab the ball first and put the two teams back on an equal footing. A very short tie since Jack Aiken, always him, breaks the opposing line and finds Hamza Bachoukh on the relay for a one-two concluded in the corner by Jakob Giles.
Lézignan got his hands on the ball again, twice managed to approach the opposing goal without managing to score, thanks to last-minute defensive returns from the Leopards. Outnumbered after an angry gesture from Fabien Flavie, Lézignan manages to regain the lead thanks to a refereeing error from Mr. Nicaud who forgets to whistle a forward. Stuart Mason inherits the ball and just has to place it in the opposing goal.
The crossover continues since, just before the last quarter of an hour of play, Paul Meliet, on a pass from Jack Aiken, dives in the corner. Jackson Moule's transformation misses the target, but Villeneuve then leads the score 20 to 18. The suspense is untenable on the Moulin lawn. Lézignan plays his all but commits another hand fault while he is in a good position. The Leopards let the clock tick down to sign a very important victory in the race for qualification.
