Rugby: CERN move up after victory over Nyon

CERN team manager Beren Evans told Swisster that he was “totally thrilled” after his team converted promise into points during Sunday’s bottom-of-the-table clash at home to Nyon. CERN powered over three tries, thanks to second-rower Raphael de Guillebon, Emmanuel Floristan (back row) and centre Gianni Di Martino, in a 25-10 result, their first win of the 2009/2010 campaign.

“An unrelenting 80 minutes was the key to victory and we just kept going at them,” said Evans. “Our forwards played particularly well but we could have put more points on the board if we had been a little bit fitter,” he added before expressing some concern about Nyon’s “uncharacteristic” performance.

Nyon president Alain Winterhalter however, is sticking with the club’s long-term vision: transition. “We got beat by a better team, no doubt about it, but we’re seeing progress week-after-week and we’re very confident that we’re on the right track. We’ll prove that later on,” he said.

“We’ve had three matches to have been able to observe players in both first and second teams, and we’re going to be selecting a squad of 30,” he pointed out.

The CERN victory sees them climb to fifth place in the table, while Nyon are now languishing at the bottom with only one point to their name.

In Zurich, table leaders Stade Lausanne were proving that their squad is already the force to be reckoned with after overcoming a Grasshoppers side for the first time. The score: 36-3.

Stade Lausanne coach Andy Whitlow told Swisster: “After some early pressure from them – we had to defend on our line for three or four minutes – we gained control and dominated them in the fowards,” he said. “The backs created tons of space as well and it was a very good rugby to watch – the best so far this season,” a statement backed up by six Lausanne tries with lock-forward Bastion Sachet claiming two.

For Zurich, the game was a bridge too far. "We had nine guys playing against Germany on Saturday and that can take the wind out of your sails," said injured skipper Josh Bjornson.

"Honestly though – they played well and it was a tough, well-contested match. Their scrum looked solid the whole game and got stronger as it went on, while their backs did a good job of getting through our first line of defense and setting up opportunities," he said.

Lausanne are five points clear at the top of the A League table ahead of Geneva Plan-les-Ouates who maintained their strategy of grinding opponents down before winning by just a few points. On Saturday, it was the obdurate Yverdon on the wrong end of an 18-16 result.

An unbeaten Geneva are now well in contention in second place with a game in hand over Lausanne.

The following day it was a return to the nightmares of last season for Bern who made the trip to Hermance to receive a severe rugby tutorial as the home side romped over to accumulate no less than 72 points.

Hermance’s new sporting director, Carter Croft told Swisster. “We’re beginning to improve a bit and there’s some very talented backs here,” he said.

“Bern were poor and I felt sorry for them. We out-scrummed them in every department. We’re lacking a quality kicker though, and there are some other things to work on like not giving away stupid penalties at the break down,” said Croft.

Hermance climb to third in the standings, four points behind Geneva and just ahead of Yverdon.