Biarritz end barren spell

Hot and cold: Yachvili lands eighteen points

Biarritz ended their run of twelve away defeats in all competitions as they defeated Mont de Marsan 33-6 at Stade Guy-Boniface on Friday.

The Basques side were boosted by the return of classy international trio Dimitri Yachvili, Imanol Harinordoquy and Nicolas Brusque for the trip to the les landes region - and that lift coupled with their experience proved too much for the league's bottom side as the visitors edged home.

Yet it was the hosts who struck first when fly-half Benat Arrayet landed a long-range drop-goal on five minutes, à la Hernández et Beauxis as their game-plan immediately came to the fore.

That seemed to stir the visitors into life though, as Yachvili's levelling place-kick two minutes later demonstrated he hasn't lost his calmness from the kicking tee.

The scrum-half's skills were again evident soon after as, this time, a cross-field effort found flying wing Takudzwa Ngwenya who finished well wide out with the nine adding two extras.

Moving into the second quarter and the gap in rank, but certainly not fight, started to show as the newly-promoted side's lineout and scrum set-piece became dominated by BO.

However, the visitors' struggling start to the season continued to trouble their cause in the second half as the game lacked any real clinical edge and excitement as Yachvili's boot and scores from Damien Traille and a penalty try ended their eight month dry spell on the road.

The game ended with former Wasps hooker Trevor Leota sent off for a high and late tackle before a mass punch-up soured the spectacle.

The scorers:

For Mont de Marsan:

Pen: Arrayet

Drop: Arrayet

For Biarritz:

Tries: Ngwenya, Traille, Penalty

Con: Yachvili 3

Pen: Yachvili 4

Red card: Leota (Mont de Marsan) - late tackle on 71 minutes

Yellow card: Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Blanco (Mont de Marsan) - punches on 77 minutes

Referee: Franck Maciello

Touch judges: Hervé Gilard, Eric Briquet Campin

Television match official: Gérard Borreani