A spoiled party for Aviron Bayonnais. The Basques, who had decided to relocate their match of the 20th day against Toulon to San Sebastián, in fact lost heavily this Sunday (10-46). The Varois, liberated and conquering, scored four tries (compared to just one for the Bayonnais) and thus won the offensive bonus. The RCT performed well in the ranking, moving up to 4th place, tied with La Rochelle. For the second year in a row, Bayonne decided to relocate to the Spanish Basque Country and lost once again, last year it was against Pau (20-30).
In the grounds of the Real Sociedad football club, which has 40,000 seats, the pressure was too great for Aviron Bayonnais in Anoeta. From the start, the Toulonnais showed their superiority. The locals did not touch a single ball during the first 10 minutes, during which Jaminet scored his first two penalties. The domination resulted in a first try on an interception by Paia’aua, who went alone towards the opposing line (20th). The Blue and White still reacted immediately, through Iturria at the conclusion of a long highlight (25th). Ten minutes followed before seeing Toulonnais’ second try. This time, Alainu’uese completed a Var sequence on the right of the goal (39th). At halftime, Bayonne was already heading towards its first defeat of the season in front of its home crowd.
When we returned from the locker room, nothing worked out for the Basques. From the outset, the Bayonnais gave in to opposing pressure and conceded another penalty from Jaminet. Without further ado, Serin enhanced his great performance with a try, which came after an interception by the Frenchman (45th). After that, the RCT took place. Jaminet scored new penalties (6 in total), and Faiga’Anuku hit the nail on the head in a relay with Ollivon (71st). Enough to get the offensive bonus, and five important points to tie La Rochelle (4th). Note that this is also their first victory “in Bayonne” for almost 10 years (last success 29-15 in August 2014).