Pau v Northampton: Five takeaways as Saints survive ‘sterile Piardi effect’ and the James Ramm red
Northampton captain George Furbank and, inset, Pau's Dan Robson.
Following a 35-27 win for Northampton at Pau, here are our five takeaways from the Investec Champions Cup encounter at Stade du Hameau on Sunday.
The top line
Last May’s beaten Champions Cup finalists Northampton got their 2025/26 campaign off to a successful start at Pau, scoring eight points in the closing minutes to break a 27-all stalemate between clubs who came into the match currently ranked third on the table in England and second in France.
Stuffed 12-46 in the Prem at Bristol last weekend, Northampton were in a determined mood to produce a sharp response. However, they were initially frustrated by poor finishing as the knocking-on Rory Hutchinson and the held-up George Furbank left tries behind them at a time in the match where Saints had built pressure by winning two scrum penalties.
It was costly. After a shanked Furbank clearance, French pressure eventually resulted in a converted Facunda Isa try on 19 minutes when he successfully drove low at the line on a penalty advantage. In contrast, Northampton continued to make handling errors in the opposition 22, with George Hendy and Callum Chick their next two culprits.
However, things eventually clicked after a Josh Kemeny penalty win at a ruck in his own 22 and then a third scrum penalty was followed by James Ramm getting in at the corner on 32 minutes thanks to a lengthy Alex Mitchell pass.
Fin Smith’s conversion kick from out wide levelled the score at seven-all, but parity didn’t last as Gregoire Arfeuil got the benefit of an offside debate to see his 34th-minute finish of a Dan Robson chip kick deemed good by referee Andrea Piardi and his review team.
No matter. Saints finished a super slick handling attack two minutes later through Fraser Dingwall taking a pass from Hendy. While the missed conversion left Pau taking a 14-12 lead into the break, the visitors hit the front for the first time four minutes into the second half.
A Tom Pearson breakdown penalty win got the restart off on a good note, and then came another sweeping attack that had Smith at its heart before Ramm was diving in at the corner for the unconverted try and a 17-14 advantage. The lengthy move was initially sparked by Ramm climbing to gather a Robson box-kick clearance.
Pau struck back to level with an Axel Desperes penalty kick, and things were further complicated for Northampton when Ramm’s mid-air collision with Thomas Jolmes resulted in a 20-minute red card.
Henry Pollock was soon summoned from the bench and while Saints quickly conceded again as another Robson kick-in-behind race was won by Arfeuil for a converted try and a 24-17 lead, Mitchell struck back to finish a break from Alex Coles to bag the four-try bonus point and Smith converted for 24-all.
Penalty kicks were then exchanged to shunt the parity onto 27-all by the time Saints’ 20-minute red expired and then came the decisive moment three minutes from time, Smith improvising when he ran out of space in the pocket for the drop goal.
With the ball instead passed left, Hendy had the gas to make the corner to grab the five-point lead that was then extended to eight by Smith’s clock-in-the-red penalty kick.
That’s what they DO 😤
George Hendy wins it late for @SaintsRugby in France 🤯
Watch instant #InvestecChampionsCup highlights ➡️ https://t.co/qBBIBK9ILi pic.twitter.com/SYJyB0NxdP
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 7, 2025
The sterile Piardi effect
This was another Piardi-officiated match where the rugby struggled to flow, leaving the fixture a tough watch even though there were eight tries and 62 points.
Scrum instability gave the fastidious Italian referee his initial invitation to frustrate spectators with multiple instructions about what he wanted on engagement. The net first-half result was time drifting on the clock and four scrums ending in infringements with three penalties going to Northampton and a free to Pau.
This trend led to Pau sacrificing their tighthead six minutes before the interval, but four more penalties followed for the Saints in the second period with the second giving Smith his shot at the posts for a 27-24 lead.
There were other Piardi talking points, though, including his decision to dismiss the argument that try-scoring Pau winger Arfeuil was offside on 34 minutes when Robson kicked ahead.
Then came the 20-minute red card awarded to Ramm eight minutes into the second half.
These decisions took up too much time, and there were other examples of intensity getting checked by the referee’s actions.
It meant what should have been a nail-biter was too often made sterile by the official.
Classy Robson
The phrase ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’ came to mind watching the polished 59-minute contribution of Dan Robson, the ex-England scrum-half who was lining out with Pau.
It was the winter of 2022, following the spectacular financial collapse of Wasps, when he jumped across the Channel and although largely out of sight since then, this match, which was live to Premier Sports viewers in the UK, provided plenty of evidence that the 33-year-old is enjoying himself in France.
A fractured fibula wrecked his start to this season but in his second game back, he was classy in casing headaches for the Northampton defence.
The Saints could be excused for getting caught once by a Robson kick-in-behind that created a try for Pau winger Arfeuil, but when it happened a second time, you could only admire the accuracy of the No.9’s play in creating the opportunity.
Of course, it can’t go unmentioned that opposite number Mitchell struck with a breakaway 51st minute try and that the score was 27-24 to Saints when Robson exited, but the veteran was easy on the eye because of the efficient way he went about his business.
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Pau no fortress
The over-excited TV commentator lost the run of himself celebrating Northampton’s victory, claiming they had just won at another European fortress.
Yes, Pau hadn’t been beaten at home yet in this season’s Top 14, but they are a traditionally inconsistent French league side whose history was laid bare by the fact that Sunday’s match was their first in the Champions Cup since a January 2001 quarter-final appearance.
European fortress? Not by a country mile. This remark isn’t intended to be dismissive of Pau, though. Having fresh fixtures in this tournament can only be a good thing. Look at Saturday’s novel Bath versus Munster fixture, despite both those clubs having lengthy Champions Cup CVs.
Pau looked an organised side, but the loss of Argentina veteran Julian Montoya from their starting line-up was a big loss whose experience would have been invaluable in helping them to remain more composed in sticky situations such as their creaky scrum.
It was a pity as well that we only got to see six minutes of Joel Kpoku, the ex-Saracens player, while Joe Simmonds was sitting in the stands injured since the October win over Toulouse.
The Furbank verdict
Sunday was visiting full-back Furbank’s latest comeback since a calf issue forced him to miss the Autumn Nations Series with England.
Last week’s Prem return didn’t go well at Bristol after a Prem Cup tune-up, but he can take pride in skippering Northampton to his gutsy win when it seemed as if the match was destined to end in a draw.
He played a captain’s part in regularly saying his piece to referee Piardi, but there were parts to his play that still need to be ironed out.
Look at the two tries Pau created through Robson’s kicks. Furbank was nowhere to be seen for the first and wasn’t quick enough to prevent the second despite getting a tackle in.
There were also some attacking cobwebs, such as getting held up over the line in the opening minutes, but he can only benefit overall from getting more valuable minutes.
