Top 14 – Clermont's notes – UBB: Pita-Gus Sowakula sharp, Rohan Janse van Rensburg overtaken

ASM dominated UBB this Saturday, opening the ninth day of Top 14 (32-27). In this meeting, Pita-Gus Sowakula and Pierre Fouyssac were decisive. Rohan Janse van Rensburg suffered in the defensive sector.

The tops

The former Chief of Waikato had not started since September 28, on the pitch in Perpignan. Injured in the meantime, Pita-Gus Sowakula started his meeting in the best way. On the very first major action of the game, “PGS” delivered a marvelous pass in “rolling arm” mode worthy of a basketball player to send Joris Jurand to the promised land. A brilliant first action which launched Sowakula into a first period that lived up to his standards. Clermont's best tackler after forty minutes, the former All Black also increased his destructive charges. The Bordeaux center Van Rensburg also suffered the costs by conceding a yellow card… On arrival, Sowakula was the perfect symbol of a generally majority Auvergne pack. A major performance as the New Zealander reaches the end of his contract next June…

The Clermont center was lined up for the first time as a starter this season. Entered twice since the start of the season, the former Toulouse player appeared behind Moala, Tauzin or Darricarrère in the hierarchy of centers. But Pierre Fouyssac was able to prove to Christophe Urios that he was right to throw him into the deep end against the best attack in France. Perfectly launched to score ASM's second try, Fouyssac was especially valuable in defense to counter the Girondin attacks (5/6 tackles in the first period). Very available in the running game, Pierre Fouyssac could have been more judicious with a low kick shortly before the break. In the second period, Fouyssac continued to get going while touching, admittedly, fewer balls.

The flops

Rohan Janse van Rensburg : 3.5/10

The South African center had to bring his physical density to the center of the field but he was mainly highlighted for defensive problems. He was fooled on Fouyssac's try by climbing on the Clermont decoy, even though Tevita Tatafu was already covering the area. This created a gap and ASM took advantage of it to score. He also received a yellow card for a high tackle on Sowakula. On Darricarrère's attempt, he failed to stop the Clermont center. Despite a good charge before Swinton's try, he fumbled one of his attacking balls. Too much waste.

Like his team, he was surprised at the start of the match by being sucked into defense on Jurand's try. Repressed on his first percussion, he had a lot of difficulty finding his rhythm. He committed a forward on an inside throw and poorly secured a pass while the UBB was in the lead (43rd). The winger made a bad choice by tapping his foot while he was shifted to his wing in the Clermont camp. This allowed the Jaunards to recover the ball and restart (57th).