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B. Daguerre (9'), N. Leatigaga (16'), T. Gatelier (19', 42'), J. Barrere (66'), X. Mariluz (76'), P. Laperne (77')
Tries
J. JACKSON (0', 40'), V. Ekuasi (68')
R. Seguy (16', 42', 66', 77'), (77')
Conversions
T. Fortunel (0'), B. Mouchous (40', 68')
R. Seguy (7', 13', 36')
Penalties
This was supposed to be a tight mid-table measure of where both clubs sit. It ended up telling us that Dax are far more comfortable living off pressure and chaos than US Montauban are right now. They conceded in the first minute and still walked away, because they were calmer, took points when offered, and punished lapses without mercy. Montauban, fresh from a good win last week and trying to steady themselves after relegation, unravelled in the areas you simply cannot in Pro D2: the penalty count and the card ledger.
The game turned on decision-making under stress. Dax’s response to going 0-7 was to bank points with Romuald Seguy’s boot, then strike wide when the line bent. Montauban’s response, too often, was an arm in the ruck or a late hit. By the time Fred Quercy had collected a yellow and then a red before the break, Dax had three tries on the board and a grip on field position they never really loosened. The scoreboard swelled late, but the argument was settled much earlier.
What decided it wasn’t possession or phase count so much as what each side did when they sniffed the red zone. Dax were clinical: Bastien Daguerre finished the first wave, Nephi Leatigaga muscled over to turn pressure into seven, and Théo Gatelier twice picked the right line when Montauban’s edge defence lost its spacing. They married that with pragmatism. Seguy kicked three penalties in the first half that made Montauban chase from too far out, and every subsequent defensive mistake was punished with territory or points. When it was time to close, the bench added bite: Xan Mariluz and Paul Laperne finished late movements that came from tired defenders and quick ball.
Montauban had their moments, which makes the collapse more frustrating. John Thomas Jackson struck immediately and again on the stroke of half-time to drag it back to 26-14, and after Dax’s yellow to Charlie Matthews, Vaiolini Ekuasi picked a smart line for 40-21. There’s finishing power in that backline, and off the bench. But those flashes were islands. The 10 minutes either side of the break were the tell: Dax down to 13 after Jope Naseara’s red and a sin-bin, Montauban with a permanent extra man after Quercy’s dismissal — and the first score of the second half still went to Dax. That’s shape, composure and kicking accuracy beating raw numbers.
Discipline isn’t a sidebar here; it’s the story. Quercy’s early yellow stalled Montauban’s kick-pressure and exit rhythm, his red on 35 minutes took a carrier and breakdown presence out of the game. A late yellow for Kevin Firmin killed any hint of a comeback, and by then the travelling defence had been forced to fold and scramble so often that Dax were finding clean edges without needing elaborate shapes. Referee Thomas Charabas was consistent; both teams were warned, and both lost men. The difference was who adapted.
Individually, Seguy’s management mattered. He chose the posts early, turned penalties into a platform, and nailed the key conversions that kept the gap at two and then three scores. Gatelier’s brace wasn’t about pace so much as timing and communication with Sylvère Reteau inside him; the wing popped up in the right channel twice when Montauban bit in. In the pack, Jean-Baptiste Barrere’s second-half try summed up Dax’s night — on the shoulder when the carry finally pierced the gain line, and accurate enough to finish. If there’s a blot, it’s the home discipline: a red and two yellows is not a recipe you can repeat against better-organised sides.
For Montauban, Jackson’s two tries are the genuine bright spot — running good pictures off Thomas Fortunel and Baptiste Mouchous — and Ekuasi’s impact hints at depth. But the spine faltered under pressure. Too many penalties in their own half gifted Dax field position; too little patience with ball meant they never really kept the hosts on the rack after that lightning start. The most damning sequence remains conceding on 42 minutes to 13 men. That’s focus, not talent.
Does 54-21 flatter Dax? Somewhat. Two tries in the last five minutes, with both sides short-handed and Montauban visibly gassed, stretched the margin beyond the balance of play. But it doesn’t change the truth of the contest: Dax were smarter when it counted and far sharper in the red zone. They turned a mid-table arm-wrestle into a comfortable night by refusing to feed the chaos and trusting their skill.
What next? Dax bank belief from the way they controlled a game that threatened to get messy, and they’ll know the attack can cut mid-table defences when the kicking plan is nailed. They can’t carry that card count into tougher fixtures. Montauban take away a harsher lesson. Their backs can score, but unless the tackle technique and breakdown discipline improve fast, the climb back to the top end of this league will be a long one — and with leaders looming on their slate, there’s no soft landing to find that fix.
