Pau strike late for bonus-point win

Editor

Pau made it four wins from four in the Challenge Cup after they defeated Agen 26-12, giving them an eight-point cushion in Pool 3.

The hosts followed up last weekend's 40-21 victory over the same opposition but didn't have things all their own way at Stade du Hameau.

Pau led 14-0 at the interval thanks to tries from hooker Lucas Rey and centre Benson Stanley, both converted by fly-half Brandon Fajardo.

Agen had a period without Denis Marchois when he was binned on 11 minutes, while Pau's Paddy Butler was also carded before half-time.

The visitors hit back in the 48th minute when replacement Yoan Tanga scored to narrow the margin to nine points and give Agen a boost.

But Pau made sure of the four points with eight minutes remaining when flanker Sean Dougall went over, with Laurent Bouchet grabbing the bonus-point try at the death, which came shortly after Tanga's second try for Agen.

The scorers:

For Pau:
Tries: Rey, Stanley, Dougall, Bouchet
Cons: Fajardo 2, Lebail
Yellow Card: Butler

For Agen:
Tries: Tanga 2
Con: Lamoulie
Yellow Card: Marchois

Pau: 15 Mathias Colombet, 14 Adrien Planté, 13 Pierre Nueno, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Watisoni Votu, 10 Brandon Fajardo, 9 Clovis Lebail, 8 Peter Saili, 7 Sean Dougall, 6 Paddy Butler, 5 Masalosalo Tutaia, 4 Fabrice Metz, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Lucas Rey, 1 Jamie Mackintosh
Replacements: 16 Laurent Bouchet, 17 Jérémy Hurou, 18 Matthew Tierney, 19 Dave Foley, 20 Giovanni Habel Kuffner, 21 Christopher Kaiser, 22 Antoine Hastoy, 23 Florian Nicot

Agen: 15 Florian Denos, 14 Loris Tolot, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Alban Conduche, 11 Clément Laporte, 10 Hugo Verdu, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Marco Kotze, 6 Antoine Miquel, 5 Corentin Braendlin, 4 Denis Marchois, 3 Vakhtangi Akhobadze, 2 Paula Ngauamo, 1 Quentin Bethune
Replacements: 16 Clément Martinez, 17 Morgan Phelipponneau, 18 Kamaliele Tufele, 19 Christiaan Van der Merwe, 20 Yoan Tanga, 21 Paul Abadie, 22 Pierre Fouyssac, 23 Mathieu Lamoulie

Referee: Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Chris Harrington (Ireland)
TMO: Kevin Beggs (Ireland