Fiji-born flyer Alivereti Raka and former Flying Fijians extended squad flanker Peceli Yato scored in ASM Clermont Auvergne’s 46-14 huge win over Sireli Maqala’s Bayonne in a French Top 14 fixture today.
Just two minutes into the match and Bayonne gave away a penalty to Clermont, Benjamín Urdapilleta knocked the ball in between the uprights.
Six minutes later, former Western Force Alex Newsome scored the opening try of the game and Urdapilleta converted to give Clermont a 10-0 lead.
Soon after, Bayonne responded with a try to Aurelien Callandret and Camille Lopez converted to merge the gap at 10-7.
Both sides battled for the next 12 minutes and it was Yato, who stormed over the try line to plant the ball in the left corner but Urdapilleta failed to convert.
In the 34th minute, Bayonne was reduced to 14 players when Arthur Iturria copped a yellow card for a foul play.
Clermont took advantage of a man down and scored their third try with Raka darting over for the first one for the night and this time Urdapilleta converted for a 22-7 lead at the break.
Bayonne made a quick start to the second half as Yan Lestrade dummied his way to the try line and Lopez got the easy conversion from right in front of the post.
It took some time for Clermont to regroup in the match through Newsome getting his second goal for the night but Urdapilleta missed again.
What went from bad to worse for Bayonne was when Tokyo Olympics Gold medalist Sireli Maqala was sin-binned for a foul and Clermont was awarded a penalty try.
Clermont kept their fine form throughout the match as fly half Anthony Belleau raced under the post for a converted try before Raka sliced through the Bayonne defence to get his second one and sealed the win.
