After two consecutive defeats in Pro D2, Valence-Romans is back on the path to victory. This Friday evening, the Dromois hosted Stade Montois in a match at the bottom of the Pro D2 rankings. At the Stade Georges-Pompidou, Lucas Meret's teammates won against Montois (28-23) as part of the fourteenth day of Pro D2. In a match marked by complicated weather conditions, the locals won and took off from the relegation zone.
This Friday evening, Valence-Romans had the opportunity to relaunch in a decisive match. Facing Mont-de-Marsan who could do well in the event of a victory, the Dromois finally won (28-23) at the Georges-Pompidou stadium as part of the fourteenth day of Pro D2.
Imprecise Montois
At the Stade Georges-Pompidou, the meeting between the Dromois and the Montois took a while to start. We had to wait until the twentieth of the game to witness the opening of the score. The former Valence-Romans player, Iashaghashvili does not release the ball on the ground and Lucas Meret does not miss the opportunity to unlock his counter (3-0, 19th). In the process, the locals distinguished themselves by pushing the Montois into their end zone after a throw-in. Second row Yassine Maamry recovers the ball following a mix-up. Opportunistic, he flattens while the try is transformed by the best scorer in the championship (10-0, 25th). The minutes follow each other and are similar. If Meret completely misses his drop attempt (28th), the Montois experience enormous difficulties with throws into touch: no less than five rounds of ammunition lost during the first act. Finally, the mistakes continued on both sides at the end of the first period. Willie Du Plessis took the opportunity to unlock the Mons score (10-3, 38th). After the siren, Mathieu Guillomot inherits a ball in the opposing camp and shows off his speed against the forwards. The three-quarter center serves Joris Moura who scores his team's second try (17-3, 40 + 2nd).
Wake up late
From the start of the second period, Lucas Meret and Willie Du Plessis returned the favor (20-3, 43rd then 20-6, 45th). Despite the numerous changes made shortly after returning from the locker room, the visitors failed to gain the upper hand over the Dromois, who were solid in defense. The flawless performance continues for the local scorer before the hour mark (23-6, 55th). If the score remains unchanged for a large part of the last 40 minutes, the Montois wake up at the start of money-time. Before the last ten minutes, Simão Bento restarts his team. After numerous pick-and-go phases, Willie Du Plessis sends a long cross towards the Portuguese winger who gets rid of Lucas Meret to flatten in the right corner (23-13, 70th). Hope is short-lived for the visitors. Two minutes later, the Drôme scrum half faked the pass and attempted a low left-footed kick. Launched at full speed, Thomas Rozière throws himself and scores the third try for Valence-Romans (28-13, 72nd) before Meret experiences a failure in the transformation. Just before the siren, Semi Lagivala is launched on the left wing. The winger flattens with force in the corner (28-20, 78th). The Montois are one penalty or one try away from the defensive bonus and Yoann Laousse Azpiazu delivers his team with a penalty after the siren (28-23, 80+ 4th).
Stade Montois leaves Valence-Romans with the defensive bonus point and will try to regain victory by hosting Béziers next Friday, in the last match in 2024. For their part, the Dromois will challenge the ogre of Provence Rugby.
