Photo credit: Soane Deltour
A week after a frustrating defensive bonus in Lyon for the first day of Elite 1, the MHR girls were keen to unlock their victory counter in their Sabathé lair. But still in the absence of the internationals mobilized for the World Series, there are some great customers who stand in the way of the MHR this Saturday afternoon, since the players from Stade Toulousain crushed the Rennes team during the first day .
The Cists are determined to bravely defend their chances. Despite major difficulties in the touchline sector, they did better than resist in defense and recovered balls which allowed them to invest the Toulouse camp. They even quickly collect a first penalty in the 22m which they decide to play by hand. Pushed back by strong Toulouse players, they tried their luck again twice on penalties in the first quarter of an hour, with no more success than at the start of the match.
The small technical errors of the two teams prevent the Toulouse women from leaving their camp and the Montpellier women from concretizing their territorial domination on the scoreboard.
In this very fast-paced match, we had to wait until the 23rd minute to see the reds and blacks fleetingly return to the MHR camp. But the difficulties in touch still do not allow the balls won in defense to be used in attack.
The blue staff therefore decided to make an early change at the back with the entry into play of substitute Maelle Huiban in the 26th minute. The effects do not take long to be felt with a scrum won by the push and finally a clean first touch. Unfortunately, the improvement only lasts a few minutes. The new entry into the game was forced to come out with an injury in the 32nd minute and the game restarted in the Montpellier camp with 2 penalties. In the wake of Rkya Ait Lahbib and Morgane Peyronnet heroic in defense, the Montpellier team once again pushed their opponents forward. But they are put under pressure in the scrum and end up being penalized on contact. It didn’t take much for the Toulouse striker to open the scoring just before half-time (0-3 in the 39th minute, score at half-time).
Urged by their coaches to be more realistic, the blues attempted a first penalty as soon as play resumed. Missed but poorly received by a Toulouse player, this penalty opportunity transformed into a testing opportunity with a scrum at 5m for the locals. But this opportunity is in turn harvested by the MHR.
If the difficulties in conquest persist, the defense also continues to be united, intractable and conquering. Three times, the MHR players managed to accomplish small miracles. As in the 52nd minute where despite two Cists on the ground, the MHR once again contained the Toulouse attacks within its 22m. Or like a few minutes later when reduced to 14 after the yellow card inflicted on Ludmila Ripault, the Montpellier women recovered a ball following a well-defended and unproductive Toulouse maul. And finally, as with the intervention at the last minute of Maë Levy who made a Toulouse woman commit a forward attack in the corner who only had to flatten it.
But despite this defensive valor, the MHR still cannot resolve its problems in conquest. The scrum is once again pressed and offers a penalty within 22m to Toulouse who convert (0-6 in the 62nd minute).
However, the Blues do not seem determined to admit defeat and decide to rely intelligently on their defensive strength. From the kick-off, Lilou Cozar literally cuts the receiver and collects a penalty which allows Maë Levy to unlock the MHR counter. (3-6 in the 64th minute).
The MHR defense continues to thwart Stade Toulousain but unfortunately can do nothing against the failures in conquests. Once again penalized in scrums, the Cistes ended up giving in on the carried ball initiated after the penalty (unconverted tries, 3-11 in the 69th minute).
When play resumes, the defense recovers another penalty. But carried away by their generosity, the blue players decide to play it by hand, depriving themselves of the possibility of entering into the defensive bonus. They then obtain two new opportunities from a penalty but continue to come up against the equally intractable defense of the visitors. The last flash came in stoppage time thanks to a great breakthrough from fullback Maë Lévy. But picked up on the 22m line, she commits a forward which sounds the death knell for the Cistes’ last hopes of scoring in this match. (3-11, final score)
The women’s MHR will therefore still have to wait to achieve a first victory in this decidedly tough and demanding group of 10. But the group will be able to build on the good things seen today to achieve a first blow in three weeks against Blagnac, again at home (probably Sunday October 27 at 3 p.m.).
