Try by teenager condemns Dragons to late defeat
MATCH REPORT: Teenage fullback Theo Attissogbe scored the most vital of tries for Pau as they grabbed a last-minute 24-21 win over the Dragons in Pool 1 of the EPCR Challenge Cup.
The match at Stade du Hameau was a slow burn to begin, but once the scoring started there was a flurry of points.
Dragons RFC flyhalf Cai Evans kicked a brace of penalties in four first-half minutes, but they were swiftly cancelled out by hooker Romain Ruffenach's 27th-minute try, converted by Axel Desperes.
Another hooker crossed the line one minute later - this time James Benjamin putting the Dragons in front again.
Pau went in 14-11 ahead at the break, though, with No. 8 Thibaut Hamonou scoring a try in the last seconds, again converted by Desperes.
Evans and Desperes both added penalties in the opening 15 minutes of the second half to maintain the gap before flank George Young thought he had sealed it for Dragons with a try on 70 minutes, converted by Evans.
But once again Pau kept working until the end, and Attissogbe was rewarded with an 80th-minute try, Desperes maintaining his perfect record by adding the extras and wrapping up the win.
Scorers:
For Dragons:
Tries: Ruffenach, Hamonou, Attissogbe
Cons: Desperes 3
Pen: Desperes
For Pau:
Tries: Benjamin, Young
Con: Evans
Pens: Evans 3
Teams:
Pau: 15 Axel Desperes, 14 Aminiasi Tuimaba, 13 Nathan Decron, 12 Jale Vatubua, 11 Thomas Carol, 10 Thibault Debaes, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Thibaut Hamonou, 7 Martin Puech, 6 Mehdi Tlili, 5 Brent Liufau, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Nicolas Corato, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1 Facundo Gigena
Replacements: 16 Lucas Rey, 17 Paul Tailhades, 18 Siate Tokolahi, 19 Mickael Capelli, 20 Josselin Bouhier, 21 Thomas Souverbie, 22 Emilien Gailleton, 23 Theo Attissogbe
Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Jared Rosser, 13 Steff Hughes (captain), 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Cai Evans, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Taine Basham, 7 Harri Keddie, 6 Ryan Woodman, 5 Matthew Screech, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Bradley Roberts, 1 Aki Seiuli
Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Rodrigo Martinez, 18 Luke Yendle, 19 Sean Lonsdale, 20 George Young, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Corey Baldwin, 23 Ewan Rosser
Referee: Federico Vedovelli
Assistant referees: Alex Frasson, Manuel Bottino
TMO: Stefano Roscini
Source @EPCR