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S. Ahmed (7'), N. Kanika (50'), E. Herve (52')
Tries
A. Roussel (12'), F. Joly (16')
E. Herve (8', 50', 52')
Conversions
L. Matkava (12', 17')
E. Herve (74')
Penalties
L. Matkava (6', 10', 56')
This one told us two things that matter. First, US Montauban have a game that travels under pressure: tempo, backs running hard off 10, and enough abrasion in contact to live with a heavier pack. Second, league-leading US Oyonnax can be dragged away from the areas where they normally suffocate you. When the contest loosened, their edge defence and discipline blinked.
It wasn’t dominance. Montauban’s lineout creaked and the scrum didn’t fancy much of what came at it. But they controlled the pace of the second half, won the gain line in phase play, and trusted their decision-makers. From 13 points down, they were the side forcing choices rather than reacting to them. That flip – and the refusal to panic after being torn apart a week earlier at Dax – is the meaningful bit.
Look at where the game turned. Oyonnax had already banked their kind of points: three early shots from Luka Matkava and two tight-five tries, with Alban Roussel and François Joly finishing off structured pressure. They were ahead, the set piece was largely theirs, and Montauban’s lineout (7 from 12) was coughing. Then the hosts pulled the contest into the spaces where Oyonnax rarely get dragged. A bruising passage around the 50-minute mark produced back-to-back tries – first Noa Kanika punching over, then Enzo Hervé streaking through off a flat touch at the line – and suddenly it wasn’t a forward’s grind anymore. That was deliberate: quicker ball, more width off 9 and 10, and runners coming hard off shoulders rather than waiting for structure.
Hervé was the hinge. Fourteen points, yes, but more important was how he kept Oyonnax guessing: two clean breaks, two offloads, and a constant willingness to play flat enough to tempt inside shoulders. With Joey Walton straightening and Dachi Papunashvili tearing backfield lanes – 72 metres, 10 defenders beaten – Montauban consistently bent the line on first or second phase. You don’t do that to Oyonnax very often. On the other touchline, Josua Vici and Stéphane Ahmed were happy to carry into contact and recycle on the front foot rather than chase width for width’s sake. It looked simple because it was.
Oyonnax will kick themselves, because the stuff they usually bank didn’t cash out after the break. The scrum held an edge and the lineout delivered enough ball to play from, but they got lured into more unstructured exchanges and their edges leaked. Full-back Paul Auradou had a rough night without the umbrella closing around him, and the wings coughed up ball and penalties under pressure. The back five of the pack grafted – Koen Bloemen (16 tackles), Wandrille Picault (17) and Loïc Godener (44 metres from 12 carries) did plenty – but too many tackles were made without a dominant collision. That’s the cue Montauban needed to keep playing rather than kick the corners and roll the dice at a wobbly lineout.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAK
DEFENDER BEATEN
TACKLE
MISSED TACKLE
TURNOVER WON
TURNOVERS CONCEDED
PENALTY CONCEDED
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
The numbers say as much. Montauban made 142 carries to Oyonnax’s 96 and produced seven clean breaks to one. That gap is initiative. Oyonnax actually beat one more defender overall, which speaks to their individual threats – Iñaki Ayarza in particular beat five – but most of that traffic never connected to field position or repeat entries. When they did get into the red zone after the interval, they came away with just Matkava’s 56th-minute penalty. From there, the leaders conceded three more penalties and missed enough tackles in the wide channels to keep the hosts asking. Hervé’s 74th-minute winner, from a breakdown infringement, didn’t come out of nowhere; it was the scoreboard reflection of who was dictating the final quarter.
Selection and in-game adaptations mattered, too. Montauban lost JT Jackson early and still found a steady midfield picture with Simon Renda slotting in and supplying a neat assist later on. Up front, Vaiolini Ekuasi was the glue – 15 carries, 11 tackles – and the kind of eight who turns half-metres into momentum without the flash. Oyonnax’s bench brought energy through Antoine Miquel (37 metres) but not the control they needed; once the tempo got frantic, their breakdown accuracy dipped and the off-ball spacing followed.
Does the margin flatter anyone? Not really. A point either way is about right when one side owns the set piece longer and the other wins the carry fight late. If anything, the ledger’s quirk is that Oyonnax led by 13 at the break without truly stretching the hosts; Montauban’s seven-one break count tells you who carried the bigger threat across the 80.
What next? For Montauban, this is a blueprint. Keep Hervé on the ball, keep the back three active off nine, and tidy the throw. Their lineout success rate and a 50% scrum return will get punished on other nights; the fact they won in spite of that is heartening, not a habit to lean on. For Oyonnax, it’s a nudge rather than an alarm. The pack is still a weapon, Matkava’s radar is fine, and their maul platforms will win them plenty. But when someone refuses to live in your game, you have to be ruthless at the edges and tidier at the defensive breakdown. They weren’t, and Sapiac – awkward as ever – made them look human.
