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C. Timu (16'), L. Dobela (19'), I. Biscay (25'), S. Alaimalo (34'), J. Veyrier (73')
Tries
A. Luc (8', 22'), Penalty Try (39'), Y. Charcosset (53')
H. Goyenech (17', 35'), T. Santoro (73')
Conversions
L. Broncan (9', 54')
T. Santoro (68')
Penalties
This said more about how RC Narbonne want to play than any bounce-back cliché. Down a man after six minutes and still mired in a rough patch, they chose speed and insistence: keep the ball alive, recycle cleanly, and make Brive defend long phase counts. It wasn’t pretty throughout, but it was decisive late. Faster rucks and control of the last 10 minutes turned a one-point chase into a two-score finish.
CA Brive had the early edge you’d expect when the hosts lost Abraham Pole to a red card on six minutes. They struck first and were clinical per visit all night. But they never owned the contact speed. Narbonne hit the gain line more consistently, came again off the floor, and when legs went, that difference bit.
The game’s shape hinged on two momentum checks. Brive getting a penalty try just before the break dragged them back within five and kept the contest live when Narbonne looked dangerous despite the handicap. Then, at the other end of the match, Maxime Sidobre’s sin-bin on 65 minutes coincided with Narbonne’s bench lifting the tempo. Thibault Santoro arrived at 58 and immediately played in front of the line; his penalty on 68 minutes pushed Narbonne 27–26 ahead and put the squeeze on Brive’s exits. Five minutes later Jules Veyrier finished the key sequence, and Santoro’s kick made it an eight-point cushion Brive never threatened.
If you want the why, look at ruck speed and workload. Narbonne generated quicker ball throughout — 81% of their rucks under three seconds to Brive’s 61% — and simply played more rugby: 116 rucks won to 74. That tells on heavy legs, and it showed in the last 10 minutes where Narbonne owned 60% possession and won it 7–0. The visitors couldn’t get out, or when they did, they were back defending two sets later.
Set piece should have given Brive a foothold in a numbers game; it didn’t. Narbonne were perfect on their four scrums and picked off enough lineout ball to keep pressure on; Brive went 2/5 at scrum and 75% at lineout, neither platform robust enough to relieve a siege. Add 14 entries to the 22 for Narbonne versus Brive’s 10 and you’ve got the territorial picture: the hosts spent more time in the red zone, even if Brive were marginally tidier per visit.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAK
DEFENDER BEATEN
TACKLE
MISSED TACKLE
TURNOVER WON
TURNOVERS CONCEDED
PENALTY CONCEDED
YELLOW CARD
RED CARD
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
The individual contributions supported that pattern. Caleb Timu carried 22 times for 79 metres, smashed past the gain line and scored, the sort of relentless work that makes quick rucks possible. Lubabalo Dobela chimed in from the back for a try and broke from deep to turn static ball into front-foot. Solomon Alaimalo punched holes at 13, got his own score and forced Brive to fold defenders in, which only made Narbonne’s recycle cleaner. When Veyrier came on, his throwing was tidy and his tight carry work set up the very lane he later used to score.
For Brive, the strike pieces were there. Aymeric Luc finished twice and ran for 94 metres, Yanis Charcosset picked a good line for his try and was busy on both sides of the ball, and Leny Broncan steered them to the right parts of the field in patches. Their centres defended manfully — Georges Shvelidze piled up 23 tackles — but that stat betrays the problem: Brive had to make 202 tackles to Narbonne’s 105. That many defensive involvements under a rising ruck tempo is an invitation to late penalties and missed exits, and that’s exactly how it played.
Discipline mattered, and not just the Sidobre yellow. Brive’s card count hurt them at the wrong time, but Narbonne hardly wore a halo either: three yellows across the middle third and the early red would normally bury you at this level. That they survived comes back to control. They dictated how fast the game was played and where it was played. Even at 14 men, they were in front for longer spells, and when they finally put the scoreboard pressure on with Santoro’s 68th-minute nudge, Brive’s attack fell away.
Does the margin flatter the hosts? Not really. Brive’s finishing kept it tight and their penalty try changed the feel before half, but over 80 minutes the territorial pressure and ruck speed make an eight-point win about right. If anything, Narbonne will kick themselves for letting the visitors hang around with those mid-game lapses and cards.
What next? For Narbonne, this stabilises a season that was drifting after two heavy defeats. The blueprint is clear: back their carry profile, play fast off the floor, and let a lively bench close. But the discipline column is an alarm bell. You can’t spot good sides that many minutes with 14 on the park every week. For Brive, the concern is a trend — unable to accelerate late in games and too slow at the breakdown to manage tight finishes. They still create enough to beat most in this league, yet until they fix exit accuracy, set-piece reliability and ruck tempo under pressure, these closing quarters will keep slipping away.
