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G. Javakhia (12'), M. Bonnot (18'), S. Diakite (26'), G. Tilsley (42'), P. Berges (50'), M. Meite (72'), H. Texier (76')
Tries
M. Hannoyer (34')
P. Berges (13', 18', 27', 43', 51', 73', 77')
Conversions
H. Cerisier (34')
This didn’t tell us anything new so much as underline a pattern. Soyaux-Angoulême XV at Stade Chanzy are putting sides away early this season, and US Dax on the road are shipping points in bunches. Join those two trends and you get a heavy home win that felt inevitable from the moment the hosts got the gain line and stayed there.
SA XV were clinical, almost cold about it. Three first-half tries from the tight five – Giorgi Javakhia, Mathieu Bonnot, Seydou Diakite – said all you need about where this was decided. Lineout ball was clean, the maul was tidy, and when it wasn’t, pick-and-go carries smashed through Dax’s fringe. When Dax finally struck through Malo Hannoyer before the break, the only real question was whether the restart would give the visitors a foothold. It did the opposite. George Tilsley crossed on 42 minutes and any jeopardy evaporated.
The margin looks big because SA XV didn’t waste a visit. Seven tries from a team that actually made more tackles than Dax tells you they didn’t dominate territory for 80 minutes; they just finished almost everything they created. That’s been the story at Chanzy since September, where big totals against Montauban and Agen flagged an attack that knows exactly what it wants to run in the red zone. Here, the set piece fed the shape and the shape finished the job.
Paul Berges ran the game and banked the points. A try, seven from seven off the tee and a handful of telling touches with ball in hand – one clean break and three defenders beaten – kept SA XV on the front foot and the scoreboard moving. Behind a steady scrum (four from four) and near-flawless lineout (14 from 15), he could play field position when needed and strike when the chance came. His try on 50 minutes, off another settled platform, made it 35–7 and removed any remaining doubt.
Dax’s issues weren’t new either. Away from Boyau they’ve leaked in Colomiers and Agen, and the same holes reopened here. Edge defence in particular was fragile – Louis Couget ended with four missed tackles and seven turnovers – and when your wings are coughing up ball, you’re gifting entry points. They weren’t dreadful at source: 82% lineout, six from seven scrums, and plenty of possession. But it was slow, lateral ball too often, and SA XV’s defence could fold and fill without being stressed. Angoulême finished with 158 tackles to Dax’s 107; the home side absorbed long passages, then cashed in ruthlessly when they got upfield.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAK
DEFENDER BEATEN
TACKLE
MISSED TACKLE
TURNOVER WON
TURNOVERS CONCEDED
PENALTY CONCEDED
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
There were selection and game-state moments that mattered. SA XV lost No.8 Lucas Costa early and had to turn to Maxence Lemardelet after 12 minutes; far from disrupting them, it gave Chanzy a workhorse who piled into contact all night and helped close the inside channels when Dax prodded there. From the engine room, Richie Arnold quietly knitted things together – a dozen tackles and a deft assist – while Hubert Texier capped a busy shift with a late try that reflected SA XV’s dominance of the collision.
For Dax, Paul Laperne grafted (11 carries) and Hannoyer’s score gave them a pulse at 21–7. Arnaud Aletti hit his tackles, and there was the odd bright touch from Benjamin Puntous. But they never stitched phases together in the red zone and the discipline frayed as the chase became desperate. The yellow card to Romuald Seguy on 72 minutes preceded two more Angoulême tries – Mamoudou Meite and Texier – which did swell the margin. Even so, it flattered Dax more to keep it at 21–7 for as long as it did than it flatters SA XV to win by 42.
What should still bother the winners? The tackle count is a nudge. Against better sides than this, living without the ball for that long invites pressure you don’t escape with seven-pointers every time. There were also a few cheap penalties around the tighthead side that will be clipped this week. With Oyonnax looming, they can’t expect to defend that much and stroll out with a bonus point.
What should encourage the losers? The structure of the set piece and some of the carrying numbers say they can give themselves a platform away from home. But the first fix is obvious: shore up the edges and stop bleeding after turnovers. Conceding 20 missed tackles and nine penalties on the road is a recipe for repeat pain, and a trip to Provence next will be unforgiving if they don’t sort spacing and connection in the line.
In truth, this was the form book playing out. SA XV at Chanzy are efficient, varied and ruthless in the 22. Dax away from Boyau are porous once pressure builds. Angoulême take five precious points into a tough run and look more like a top-six side each time the attack clicks. Dax go back to the edit suite knowing the problem isn’t possession, it’s what they do – and how often they fold – when they don’t have it.
