Thanks to a penalty from Antoine Aucagne at the very last second, Usap beat Pau this Saturday. Final victory with a score of 11-10 for the Catalans, who follow up after their improved victory against Clermont last week.
From the first minutes, individual errors took precedence over attacks. No team succeeding in keeping the ball for at least five phases of play. Pau wasted two penalties from 5m before Aucagne opened the scoring for Perpignan in the 13th after a foul by Jolmes. Simmonds answered him in the 20th.
Pau dominates the impacts but the score does not reflect it
Pau, away, tried to establish rhythm, but each offensive was thwarted by a hand fault from the Béarnais. Jefferson-Lee Joseph set the Pau defense on fire by quickly playing a touch at the halfway line, then Naqalevu tore the Pau defensive curtain before Aucagne dove into the goal to score the first try of the match. 31st.
Pau re-mobilized just before the siren. Clément Laporte performed a high-class action. After scratching a ball in his 40m, he launched a dazzling counter-attack with a good relay from Grandidier. Served by Robson one meter from the line, Laporte found the ball and completed this action. Simmonds transformed and Pau returned to the locker room with a 2-point lead with a score of 8 to 10.
40 minutes without a single point
This messy first half gave way to an equally unpleasant start to the second half for Aimé Giral’s audience. The two teams continued imprecise attacks, the forwards multiplied and the only decisive actions turned out to be fine offensive tackles.
Tommaso Allan missed a penalty around 40m after the hour mark then Sacha Zegueur received a yellow card after a high tackle on Joseph. Perpignan spent their 10 minutes in numerical superiority without scoring a single point, despite throwing 5m from the line. Pau thought they had done the tough thing by obtaining a scrum two minutes from time in the Catalan camp, but M.Brousset whistled a penalty in favor of Usap five seconds before the siren.
Ruiz thought he could offer victory by falling into the goal behind a confused action but a video call signaled Aprasidze’s forward effort hampered by a foul hand from Pau on the ground. Aucagne took his responsibilities about 30m from the posts and found the target. Perpignan dominates the Paloise Section with a meager point lead.
