Pau
USAP
S. Zegueur (15'), G. Arfeuil (20', 29'), F. Isa (27'), J. Gilbert (33'), C. Laporte (35', 48'), Y. Delhommel (52'), J. Adam (77')
Tries
S. Reece (37'), T. Forner (42'), P. Tuilagi (79'), M. Durand (80')
J. Simmonds (15', 20', 27', 29', 33', 35', 48', 52', 77')
Conversions
A. Aucagne (42', 79', 80')
This didn’t say anything new about the Top 14 so much as underline what’s already true. Section Paloise are a nasty proposition at the Hameau, whatever the absentee list looks like. And USA Perpignan on the road still can’t live with sustained pressure or hold discipline when the gain line goes against them.
Even with more than 20 players missing, Pau looked deeper, fresher and far more coherent. Getting Facundo Isa, Baptiste Pesenti and Hugo Auradou back into the matchday group stiffened the tight five and gave Sébastien Piqueronies the power game his side leans on at home. From there, everything flowed: clean scrum ball, perfect lineout, quick ruck speed and a backline that ran onto front-foot possession all afternoon.
The game effectively swung in a brutal twenty-minute spell before the break. Pau didn’t just score; they stacked tempo on top of collision wins, then punished the first USAP crack in discipline. When Matto Le Corvec saw the first of his two yellows, Isa had already been dominant in contact and Pau were humming off nine. Tries came in bunches because Perpignan’s edges were constantly back-pedalling and their exits were ragged. By half-time the contest was over.
Look at the nuts and bolts. Pau’s set piece was spotless; Perpignan’s wasn’t. The hosts were 100% on their own ball at both scrum and lineout and nicked turnovers on the deck, which meant wave after wave inside the red zone with no need to force it. Perpignan coughed penalties, lost scrums, and finished a man down after Le Corvec’s double yellow became red, with Jonny Gray also binned. That’s not survivable away to a side this confident.
Match Stats
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAKS
TACKLE
TACKLES MISSED
TURNOVERS WON
PENALTIES CONCEDED
YELLOW CARDS
RED CARDS
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
The headline acts were built by the forwards but finished with variety. Isa’s 15 carries for 64 metres and a try were exactly the carry profile Pau have ridden all season. Sacha Zegueur hit everything (18 tackles) and picked a smart line for the opener. Joe Simmonds stitched it together, square at the line and ruthless off the tee: nine from nine for 18 points, plus a lovely release for one of the first-half scores when Pau punched through midfield. Outside him, Tumua Manu and Grégoire Arfeuil repeatedly won their one-on-ones; Arfeuil’s brace came off clear pictures and fast ball rather than broken play. Clément Laporte added two more with sharp timing and two offloads that kept Pau on the front foot even when the shape frayed.
Perpignan did what they’ve been doing all year: found moments with ball in hand, then undid them without it. There were flashes — Théo Forner off a tidy first-phase strike after the break, Sevu Reece snapping up their lone chance of the first half, and late consolations from Posolo Tuilagi and Martin Durand — but they were chasing a 40-point hole by then. The carrying numbers for Diego Mascarenc and Tristan Tedder show there’s willingness to play, and Antoine Aucagne put shape on a couple of sequences, yet it’s empty calories if the defence keeps folding. Four missed tackles for Tedder on the backfield tells you how stressed their back three were by Pau’s continuity.
Where this really finished was at the scrum and in discipline. Perpignan’s pack went at 40% on their own put-in, and when you’re conceding penalties in bunches and taking cards, the scoreboard snowballs. Any thought of a second-half rally disappeared around the twin sin-bins, as Pau scored either side and walked the field with 15 against 13. If anything, the final margin is kind to USAP; Pau led 63–12 on 77 minutes before those two garbage-time tries trimmed it.
There are work-ons for the winners. Conceding four tries, even with the game cooked, will annoy Piqueronies, and the injury list isn’t going away; he admitted earlier in the autumn, “It was important to freshen the pack with three or four men because our rugby is very combative in the Top 14.” Load management on Isa and the tight five will matter as Europe looms. But the template — brutal set piece, efficient 22 entries, and clinical edges — has now blunted Toulouse and blown USAP away in back-to-back home dates. Top-three credentials feel real.
For Perpignan, the pattern is now a problem rather than a quirk. They’ve already leaked 50 at Montpellier and 55 at Racing; 63 here fits the same road script: passive line speed, soft shoulders when momentum swings, and compounding errors after the first whistle goes against them. The attack is lively enough to bother teams at Aimé-Giral, but away to La Rochelle next, this defensive profile is a relegation flirtation waiting to happen.
The takeaway is simple. Pau’s depth is holding under strain because the core of their game travels week to week and their returning heavies reset the platform. Perpignan’s doesn’t. Until USAP can trust their set piece and defend a lead-up set without imploding, they’ll keep scoring pretty tries in heavy defeats. One of those is a foundation for spring; the other isn’t.