AFTER making a whirlwind start to the season with four straight wins, Avignon suffered suffered three defeats in a row before finding their rhythm again with a 42-12 win over St Estève-XIII Catalan.
On his home debut, Jamaica international James Woodburn-Hall, a former teammate of Louis Jouffret at Halifax, was first to cross the Catalan line, followed by Théo Fouque, off the bench, from Fabien Jullien’s kick ahead.
St Estève replied with two tries of their own – the first from Léo Darrelatour, and another from Clément Troni, Samy Devoyon landing two goals to level at 12-12.
Shortly before the break, Jouffret took advantage of a strong run by fullback Baptiste Pourchi to give Avignon a lead they never lost.
With Jouffret influential, the Bisons controlled the second period.
Secondrower Rayan Bonte went over from the halfback’s pass, and again from winger Corentin Rey’s break.
Jouffret crossed for his second three minutes from full-time before centre Maxime Grosson signed off the big win with a try in the last minute, Pourchi landing seven goals from seven.
Bottom club Villefranche proved no match for leaders Carcassonne, who ran in seven tries in their 36-0 victory.
Already leading 16-0 at the break, thanks to tries from Edenn Rogers-Smith, Sophien Bitigri and Morgan Escaré and two goals from Lucas Albert, the Canaries simply increased the pressure after half-time.
They kept Villefranche scoreless while adding four more tries from forwards Maxime Belondrade, Maika Serulevu, Thomas Malfaz and Bastien Canet.
St Gaudens appeared to be heading for their first win of the season when they led 18-4 at half-time at home to Toulouse.
But they lost the plot in the second half, with the lead changing hands six times in all as Toulouse fought back.
In the first period, St Gaudens winger Lucas Sarda and halfback Valentin Dumas both touched down to add to Guillaume Gorka’s twelfth-minute effort.
Toulouse replied through winger Trajan Brunel before running in four second-half tries, three of them coming in six minutes, through Victor Collin, Brunel (his second) and two from fullback Tony Maurel.
St Gaudens’ only response was a Jérémy Ruffié try and a penalty-goal from Emmanuel Di Bartolo.
The final twelve minutes, with the scoreboard stuck on 26-26, proved tense as the game moved into extra time.
In the fourth minute, Brunel went over for his hat-trick try and the golden-point winner for Toulouse’s third victory of the season.
Albi, like Carcassonne, have lost only one match so far and in the end were too good for Villeneuve, winning 28-10.
Though the score could have been wider if Baptiste Fabre had not missed his first four conversion attempts, Albi notched four second-half tries within the space of 20 minutes.
Secondrower Corentin Le Cam twice proved unstoppable, winger Nittim Pedrero touched down a speculative kick from Romain Franco and Clément Tailhades forced his way over from close range.
Villeneuve’s Farid Nicolas went over wide out when Jack Aiken broke clear just after the hour, but that was the last of Villeneuve’s resistance.
Limoux took three valuable points from their visit to Pia, reversing an 18-14 half-time deficit.
Christopher Hellec narrowed the gap to two points with his fourth penalty-goal before centre William Partridge crossed for his second try to take the lead, extended when secondrower Yann Belmaaziz powered through for the winning try.
Pia winger Kelyan Giroud responded with his second try but it came too late to avoid a 26-22 defeat.
Results
Avignon 42 St Estève-XIII Catalan 12
Carcassonne 36 Villefranche 0
Pia 22 Limoux 26
St Gaudens 26 Toulouse 30
Villeneuve 10 Albi 28
Bye: Lézignan
Fixtures
Saturday 6 December
Albi v Toulouse
Avignon v Pia
Lézignan v Limoux
Sunday 7 December
St Gaudens v St Estève-XIII Catalan
Villefranche v Villeneuve
Bye: Carcassonne
Table
Carcassonne 22 pts
Avignon 18 pts
Albi 18 pts
Limoux 17 pts
Lézignan 14 pts
Pia 13 pts
Toulouse 11 pts
St Estève-XIII Catalan 9 pts
Villeneuve 7 pts
St Gaudens 5 pts
Villefranche 5 pts