The China Mail - Toulouse thrash Castres as Top 14 pursuers stumble

Second-placed Bordeaux-Begles lost 21-10 at home to La Rochelle while third-placed Toulon fell at bottom club Vannes.

The only black spot for Toulouse was a knee injury to Scotland full-back Blair Kinghorn, the front runner for the number 15 shirt for the British and Irish Lions' summer tour of Australia.

Elsewhere two more star backs, Scot Stuart Hogg, who plays for Montpellier, and France's Melvyn Jaminet of Toulon, suffered severe injuries.

Toulouse, who play Bordeaux-Begles in the Champions Cup semi-finals next week, scored seven tries against Castres in an emphatic display.

Dimitri Delibes, Malachi Hawkes, Simon Daroque, Alexandre Roumat, Julien Marchand, Pierre-Louis Barassi and Mathis Castro Ferreira all crossed the whitewash for the home side, Thomas Ramos kicking all the conversions and a penalty for a personal haul of 17 points.

Castres' sole contribution was two penalties by Georgian fly-half Luka Matkava in his debut for the club.

"I think we put in a decent performance," said Toulouse captain Anthony Jelonch, whose team visit Bordeaux next weekend for a European semi-final.

In the Top 14 standings, Toulouse pulled 10 points clear of Bordeaux-Begles and 12 clear of Toulon.

Bordeaux-Begles lost 21-10 at home in a scrappy match to La Rochelle, who seem to have rediscovered their form and rose to just outside the playoff places.

Jack Nowell, Paul Boudehent and Levani Botia scored tries as the visitors pulled 18-3 ahead after 53 minutes. Ugo Boniface replied for the hosts with 16 minutes to play, but the visiting defence survived the final battering attacks.

In Vannes, Jaminet kicked 14 points before he was carried off on a stretcher as Toulon lost 29-19 away to the basement club.

"It was a game of life and death," said Theo Beziat, the hooker who scored an early try for the hosts.

Jaminet was kneed in the head by Swan Rebbadj. The Toulon lock had an eventful afternoon, coming off the bench twice as a replacement and also collecting a yellow card before knocking out his team-mate.

"I feel ashamed for all the fans who made the trip," said Pierre Mignoni, Toulon's director of rugby. "You can lose a game, but it's hard like this, and you have to admit that we weren't there."

Vannes scrum-half Stephen Varney scored two tries as they collected a bonus point to close to within a point of Perpignan and Stade Francais at the foot of the table.

Perpignan lost 19-13 at Montpellier where Hogg kicked 11 points for the hosts but suffered a suspected torn Achilles tendon. Montpellier coach Joan Caudullo said that Hogg's season was over.

The 32-year-old Hogg, who was in January sentenced to supervision by a Scottish court after admitting he had abused his estranged wife, had already said he was unavailable for the Lions.

T.Luo--ThChM