Stade Niçois suffered a heavy defeat with a score of (29-10) against Brive. With this 13th consecutive defeat, the Azuréens have never been closer to relegation to Nationale.
In both attack and defense, the players failed to keep up with the pace set by Brive. Yet, the start of the match seemed promising for the Niçois.
After some charges and breakthroughs, the Brivists quickly converted a penalty in the 15th minute. It wasn’t until the 33rd minute that Niçois player Idoumi scored the first try of the match, with a conversion by Gimbert (3-7 for Nice). The Maralpins executed some beautiful offensive phases, with runs up to the CAB’s in-goal area. But in the 39th minute, the referee issued a yellow card to Lafond, warned for repeated offenses. The Niçois were reduced to 14 players. To everyone’s surprise, Nice led at halftime on Brive’s field (3-7). The Amédée-Domenech crowd booed their team.
A one-sided second half
Four minutes after the second half began, Fijian Tevita Railevu scored a try for Brive. In the corner, Raffy added two points. The Corréziens went ahead of the Niçois on the scoreboard (10-7). In the 48th minute, Usarraga was penalized for collapsing the maul, which allowed Gimbert to equalize from 22 meters out, directly in front of the posts (10-10). The Niçois forwards put in significant effort and camped within the 22 meters. Until the 58th minute, when Francisco Coria-Marchetti scored a try in the Niçois camp. In power, the right prop outmatched the defense to ground the ball on the line. Brive regained the lead but missed the conversion to lead by seven points (15-10).
An hour into the game, the Azuréen defense was struggling, the Limousins missed a three-on-one opportunity but continued to dominate. Six minutes later, Paul Pimienta grounded the ball in the in-goal area, using a clear pass dummy, the Brive center outmaneuvered two defenders to reward the excellent work of his forwards. Fly-half Olding was precise with the conversion (22-10). Eight minutes before the end of regulation time, Brive’s Nathan Fraissenon secured the bonus point try for his team. Olding’s kick went through the posts (29-10). Brive won the match and moved up to 3rd place in the Pro D2 standings.