Brive extend home unbeaten record against Toulouse

Toulouse's poor away form was exposed again on Saturday as Brive beat the 19-time French champions 25-13 in their Top 14 clash. Defeat prevented Toulouse from regaining top spot from Toulon, who beat strugglers Bordeaux on Friday. European champions Toulon stayed top despite Montpellier also moving on to 32 points thanks to a 25-18 win over Grenoble. Toulouse are fourth just behind Clermont, who drew with defending champions Castres on Friday, with both teams on 31 points. "Brive deserved the victory as they were very impressive," said Toulouse coach Guy Noves, who has guided his side to 10 domestic titles and four European Cups during his 20 years in charge. "We only woke up at half-time and won the second act 13-9. If you look closely you can see that the first-half served as our second training session of the week. "We expended a lot of energy in our previous matches," added Noves, referring to victories away in the European Cup over Saracens and then at home to Toulon in the Top 14 last Saturday, when they were once again scoreless in the first-half. His Brive counterpart Nicolas Godignon was ecstatic. "We are savouring our luck at being at this level," he said. "To have 27 points after 11 matches is more than we could have hoped for. This puts us in a great position to host Biarritz once the Test break is over but that break also gives us an opportunity to enjoy this victory."             Brive, who extended their unbeaten home record to five, burst out of the blocks from the start and thought they had scored a try inside the first minute. However, it was ruled out for the player having his foot in touch but from the resulting line-out Toulouse's South African hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle threw too long and it fell into the grateful hands of his opposite number Guillaume Ribes, who rumbled over the line from five metres out. Kicker Gaetan Germain, who came into the game with 108 points, converted and then added two penalties in the first-half against a Toulouse side that had French internationals Thierry Dusautoir and Maxime Medard sitting on the replacements' bench. Germain rounded off an excellent half for the hosts with another penalty on the stroke of half-time for 16-0, leaving the visitors pointless from the first period for the second successive time. Toulouse finally got off the mark in the 46th minute as Lionel Beauxis slotted a penalty -- Dusautoir, who had come on at half-time, was yellow-carded in the 52nd minute and Germain added two more penalties while he was off the pitch for a lead of 22-3. The visitors did manage to cross the Brive try line once as Yoann Huget ran in from a few metres out after a neat pass by Jean-Narc Doussain which Beauxis converted. However, the four-time European champions were unable to build on that and it was Brive who had the final say as the immaculate 23-year-old Germain added another penalty on full-time to give the hosts a much deserved 25-13 win. Montpellier, who had lost their last two games in the Top 14 and European Cup, saw off Grenoble 25-18 after their opponents were reduced to 14 men with a red card handed out to hooker Vincent Campo in the last 10 minutes. Georgian No 8 Mamuka Gorgodze scored the game's only try in the first half for Montpellier. Source: AFP