Bordeaux-Begles centre Nicolas Depoortere put his hand up for a place in France’s side for their November Tests with an impressive performance in an otherwise sluggish 32-20 French Top 14 win over Lyon on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Depoortere scored a try and set-up another at Stade Chaban-Delmas with his club team-mate and first-choice Test centre Yoram Moefana out injured, opening a berth in the Les Bleus’ midfield for games against South Africa, Fiji and Australia next month.<\/p>\n
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The 22-year-old’s performance and late efforts from France winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Fiji flyer Salesi Rayasi moved the Champions Cup holders to fourth in the standings despite a slow start to the season which included losses at Racing 92 and Stade Francais seven days ago.<\/p>\n
“It does us a lot of good,” Depoortere told Canal+.<\/p>\n
“There was some good stuff and some bad stuff in there.<\/p>\n
“It was reassuring after last weekend’s performance,” he added, in reference to the sorry 28-7 reverse against Stade Francais.<\/p>\n
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Lyon lost for just the second time in five games this campaign despite a double from 19-year-old scrum-half Esteban Gonzalez on his first Top 14 start.<\/p>\n
Earlier, former New Zealand centre Ma’a Nonu scored his second try in a week aged 43 as Toulon eased past Pau 33-17.<\/p>\n
The 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup winner crashed over as one of five try-scorers to move Toulon up to second place in the table.<\/p>\n
Last Sunday, Nonu became the oldest ever try-scorer in the league, crossing in the loss at Bayonne, having come out of a brief retirement initially as medical cover with Toulon last season.<\/p>\n
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He is in his third stint at Toulon, having originally joined in 2015, just after the club won the Champions Cup for the third year in a row in the most glorious era in its history.<\/p>\n
– Ollivon return –<\/p>\n
Pau dropped down to fifth in the standings despite efforts from Argentina No.8 Facundo Isa and Samoa centre Tumua Manu.<\/p>\n
Former France captain Charles Ollivon returned to action for the first time in nine months for Toulon after recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury.<\/p>\n
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The 32-year-old is likely to be a part of Fabien Galthie’s France set-up later this year.<\/p>\n
“We’re all very happy about Charles Ollivon’s return,” Toulon head coach Pierre Mignoni said.<\/p>\n
“He’ll play games and will rediscover his usual standards quickly. I’m not worried for him,” Mignoni added.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, one-time New Zealand fly-half Harry Plummer scored 23 points to help Clermont hammer promoted Montauban 84-31 in a 16-try spectacle.<\/p>\n
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The result broke the record for the most points scored in a Top 14 match, which had been the 102 when Les Jaunards smashed Dax 95-7 in 2008.<\/p>\n
Clermont’s 12 tries came from 11 different players, with winger Joris Jurand the only one to score twice.<\/p>\n
South African centre Jeremy Ward crossed twice as Stade Francais moved to the summit of the table in beating Perpignan 28-11.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, there is a re-run of last season’s Top 14 semi-final as Bayonne host Toulouse but livewire Fiji centre Sireli Maqala is sidelined for the Basques with concussion.<\/p>\n
Maqala has been nominated for the Top 14 player of the season prize for 2024\/2025, alongside Toulouse pair Thomas Ramos and Jack Willis, with the awards’ ceremony taking place on Monday.<\/p>\n
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