Aurillac — CA Brive: 28:29, Pro D2

Brive defeated Aurillac 29-28 in a Pro D2 match on Thursday evening. The visitors completed a fourth consecutive victory while the hosts added another defeat to their record. The final margin was a single point, one of those games where momentum swings without warning.

Aurillac sit 13th with six points from four fixtures. Brive occupy third place with seventeen points and remain unbeaten. The gap between them is becoming more pronounced as the season progresses.

The home side had lost three of their previous four matches before this one. They beat US Dax 65-35 in mid-September but surrendered to US Oyonnax 52-17 the following weekend. Form has been inconsistent for the hosts.

Brive's recent run tells a different story. They beat Nice 38-17, Agen 37-14 and Valence Romans 23-21 in their last three outings. The attack has been productive, though defence remains the measure of any side at this level.

and here's the thing — we had backed Aurillac to win with 51 per cent confidence. The forecast didn't materialise. Brive's experience in tight matches made the difference when it mattered most.

The result keeps Brive in the upper half of the table while Aurillac drift further from the play-off places. Fourteen points separate them after four rounds of fixtures.