Agen
Biarritz
H. Bouyssou (2', 40'), I. Etcheverry (19'), N. Audoire (24', 57'), S. Tolofua (26'), P. Jouvin (66', 77')
Tries
M. Dawai (46'), J. Dyer (49')
C. Willis (19', 24', 26', 40', 57', 77')
Conversions
E. Retiere (46', 49')
Penalties
E. Retiere (6')
What this game really told us, even before the verified numbers land, is that SU Agen at Armandie still carry a punch few in Pro D2 enjoy facing. The margin looks absurd; the shape of it does not. Agen’s pack gave them a reliable launchpad, their nine played on fast ball, and they were ruthless in the red zone. Biarritz Olympique helped them along with a rash of cards. Without the usual post-match stat pack, we can’t tick off ruck speed or maul metres, but eight home tries and three visiting yellows are evidence enough of where this went.
It also underlined the home-ground trend between these two: recent meetings have favoured the host, and that held. Agen had been soft in the collisions at Colomiers a week earlier; here they flew into contact and forced Biarritz into scramble mode from the opening exchanges. When a side is chasing body height and tempo for 80 minutes, discipline tends to go. It did.
The first half was the contest. Agen were 33–3 up at the break, which tells you less about flow and more about control. Hugo Bouyssou bookended it with tries on two minutes and on the hooter, which is really a measure of who dictated ruck rhythm. If your scrum-half is crossing twice, your forwards are winning the gain line and your support lines are clean. In between, Iban Etcheverry, Nail Audoire and Sialevailea Tolofua cashed in while Biarritz repeatedly put themselves under pressure. Two yellow cards in that period — first to Dorian Laborde, then to Yann Lesgourgues — split the defensive line and the scoreboard. Yellow on 38 minutes and a try at 40 is textbook self-sabotage.
There was a wobble. Agen lost Valentin Gayraud to the bin early in the second half, and Biarritz briefly had a pulse. Mosese Dawai and Johnny Dyer both finished well, Edgar Retière knocked over the kicks, and at 33–17 with half an hour left there was a game to manage. That was the only time the visitors consistently got front-foot ball, and it came against 14.
Agen’s response was clinical rather than flashy. Back to 15, they marched downfield, Audoire picked up his second on 57 minutes, and the momentum was gone. From there the set piece shut it down. Replacement hooker Pierre Jouvin scored twice in the final quarter — the sort of pattern that tends to flow from a functioning lineout and a maul the opposition can’t legally stop. Another Biarritz yellow, this time for Charlie Shiel, cleared the lane. Craig Willis steered the scoreboard with six conversions; nothing spectacular, just steadying kicks that keep pressure where you want it.
Match Stats
YELLOW CARDS
If the final 15 made the margin ugly, the first 40 made it inevitable. Biarritz will point to a middle-third surge and the score while Gayraud was off. Fair; Dyer’s impact off the bench and Dawai’s punch in the 13 channel were the glimpses of cohesion they did produce. But three yellows away from home is a death sentence at this level, and two of them bracketed key moments: the flurry before the interval and the decisive squeeze when they needed field position most. Retière’s early penalty at 6 minutes felt like a settling act at the time; in hindsight, it was their last composed decision until after the damage was done.
Individually, Bouyssou was the tempo and the tone. He scored two, but more important was how often he had Biarritz folding around the corner. Tolofua carried like a proper eight, square and with late footwork, which kept the breakdown clean. Audoire turning two visits into ten points tells you the tight five weren’t losing the arm-wrestle. Off the pine, Jouvin’s brace reads “maul threat” in big letters. For Biarritz, Dyer looked their liveliest forward and Dawai their most dangerous back. The rest was fragments.
Does 52–17 flatter Agen? A little, because those late Jouvin scores arrived with Biarritz down a man again. But 33–3 at half-time isn’t a bounce of the ball; it’s dominance. The work-ons are obvious — avoid gifting a 10-minute swing with your own yellow, and tidy the exit that preceded the visitors’ first try — yet the backbone of the night was set piece efficiency and breakdown speed. After last week’s fade, that matters.
What next? For Agen, this is a reset and a reminder that at Armandie they can bank five points without needing chaos. Keep the maul sharp, keep Bouyssou on fast ball, and they’ll stay in the mix. For Biarritz, the away frailty is the issue. They came in off a narrow win at home; this was a different ask and their discipline folded under it. Fix the penalty count and the cards — because the shape of the tries they conceded points to preventable damage — and their attacking pieces will have a platform. Until the verified numbers drop, the try-sheet is the truth: eight conceded, three yellows, and a long bus ride home.