The boot of Argentinian fly-half Gonzolo Quesada put paid to Neath's hopes of
a first Heineken Cup win on French soil in a nail-biting and often controversial
encounter in the South of France.
The No 10, the leading points scorer in the 1999 World Cup, kicked all 21
points for the home side to put them top of Pool One in their debut season in
the competition.
Neath, who had opened the campaign with a battling home draw against European
champions Leicester, had plenty of opportunities to have won the game, but
somehow the home side managed to hang on in the dramatic final moments.
Much of the post-match talk was about the performance of Italian referee Marco
Selara, with both sides unhappy about a number of decisions.
Neath's coach Lyn Jones had his head in his hands on the final whistle with
his side camped on the home line, but it was not to be with Beziers breathing a
huge sigh of relief at the close.
After conceding two early penalties Neath put some impressive rugby together
which deserved far more than the three points from the boot of fly-half Shaun
Connor.
Hooker Barry Williams and Connor made promising breaks, only for poor passes
to deny the Welsh All Blacks at critical moments.
The precise boot of Quesada then made it 9-3 but Connor landed two kicks
before the break to level.
However, a high tackle on impressive full-back Julien Laharrague allowed
Quesada to strike an important blow with the last kick of an error-strewn first
half and give Beziers a 12-9 lead.
That soon became 15-9 after the Neath defence had been found wanting with
Quesada making up for an earlier penalty miss by slotting over a neat
drop-goal.
Beziers had clearly picked up the pace after the break, running with far more
adventure and pace with Laharrague looking a danger throughout.
More indisicipline by Neath saw fall behind 21-9 after 58 minutes, courtesy of
two more Quesada penalties.
A well worked line-out move saw prop Duncan Jones apparently cross the line
but the referee adjudged there had been a double movement and the score was
ruled out.
Neath were to be rewarded moments later when flanker Alfie Mocelutu crossed
for the game's only try, again from a short range line-out.
Connor converted, but then missed with a penalty attempt with seven minutes
remaining, and despite late pressure in some tense final moments Neath returned
home empty handed.
Teams
Beziers: Laharague, Escalles, Bonetti, Aue, Desjardin, Quesada,
Mignoni, Shvelivdze, Selua, Ratianidze, Nadiradze, Privat,
Martinez, Mounier, Ghezal.
Not Used: Swarzewski, Bonorino, S. Chobet, Nyan, Grandclaude,
Durand, Dubois.
Pens: Quesada 6.
Drop Goals: Quesada.
Neath: G. Morris, K. James, A. Bateman,
Tiueti, S. Williams,
Connor, Horgan, D. Jones, B. Williams, Millward, A. Newman,
G. Llewellyn, Jenkins, Mocelutu, Bonner-Evans.
Not Used: Marsden, Storey, Jarvis, G. Jones, Tandy, Martin,
A. Jones.
Tries: Mocelutu.
Cons: Connor.
Pens: Connor 3.
Att: 5,000
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook