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Perpignan miss bonus point

Friday 10th October 2008

Not good enough: Perpignan were unable to break free of Treviso

Perpignan got their Heineken Cup campaign off to winning start by beating Treviso 27-16 at Stade Aimé-Giral on Friday, but will be disappointed by the result as they failed to score a bonus point.

Perpignan struggled all night to find a solution to some rugged Italian defending, but can only blame themselves for an uninspired performance.

Whilst most pundits expected the Catalans to walk away with five points, missing a bonus point at home against to the group minnows could well cost Perpignan a place in the knock-out stages.

A try in the dying minutes of the first half from full-back Jérôme Porical to add to a penalty try and a drop goal from fly-half David Melé put Perpignan 17-13 up at the break .

Melé was the star of the show for the home side. Normally a scrum-half, the part-time number ten more than held his own in the absence of the regular fly-halves and earned himself the man-of-the-match award.

The Italians will rue their indiscipline as two yellow cards slowed their progress after having led for most of the opening period.

Another drop from Melé and a try from centre Jean-Philippe Grandclaude in the second half were enough for the Catalans to secure the win.

Treviso opened the scoring thanks to a Andrea Marcato penalty and moved further ahead when the TMO decided that right wing Emiliano Mulieri had scored after diving over in the corner.

10-0 down the home side finally reacted. The referee awarded them a penalty try when Porical was held back by Benjamin De Jager on his way to scoring.

Another Marcato penalty had the home fans scratching their heads as things were not turning out as they had expected.

Melé drop-kicked his first three points ten minutes from the break before Porical was allowed to score - for real this time. The full-back linked up with scrum-half Chris Cusiter as the duo sprinted 80m to score against the run of play.

The game was all but over as a contest when Granclaude scored in the 50th minute after lock Rimas Alvarez Kairelis stole possession off the visitors.

Despite being dead on their feet, Treviso hung on at the end to deny Perpignan a fourth try. The Italians can hold their heads up high after a solid performance, especially in the scrums. Full-back Brendan Williams had an excellent game and was behind Mulieri's try.

Perpignan will have to raise their game if they hope to beat the Ospreys in Wales next weekend.

The scorers

For Perpignan:
Tries: Penalty try, Porical, Grandclaude
Cons: Porical 3
Drops: Mele 2

For Treviso:
Tries: Mulieri
Cons: Marcato
Pens: Marcato 2 , Goosen

Yellow cards: De Jager (Treviso - 21st minute), Ceccato (Treviso- 60th minute)

Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Adrien Plante, 13 David Marty, 12 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, 11 Farid Sid, 10 David Mele, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Gerrie Britz, 5 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Perry Freshwater (c).
Replacements: 16 tbc, 17 Sebastien Chobet, 18 Kisi Pulu, 19 Guillaume Vilaceca, 20 Guilhem Guirado, 21 Nicolas Durand, 22 Philip Burger,

Treviso: 15 Brendan Williams, 14 Emiliano Mulieri, 13 Benjamin De Jager, 12 Fraser Waters, 11 Andrew Vilk, 10 Andrea Marcato, 9 Simon Picone, 8 Dion Kingi, 7 Hottie Louw, 6 Silvio Orlando, 5 Cornelius Van Zyl, 3 Salvatore Costanzo, 2 Augusto Allori, 1 Marco Riva.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Enrico Ceccato, 18 Marco Filippucci, 19 Enrico Pavanello, 20 Tobias Botes, 21 Marius Goosen, 22 Alberto Sgarbi.

Venue: Stade Aimé-Giral
Referee: James Jones (Wales)

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