Winners of the UBB 26-3 before the international cut, Ronan O'Gara's men did not leave the offensive bonus on the way this time, scoring five tries, four of which in a quarter of an hour over the two halves , terrible for the Béarnais who had nevertheless come with ambitions.
But that was not enough in the face of the steamroller which sits its place in the Top 6. The Section Pau, it will have to look behind, especially with the victories of the two promoted Perpignan and Biarritz who narrowed the gaps at the end of ranking.
Pau is ninth (22 points), four points behind Perpignan (twelfth) and Biarritz (thirteenth).
Everything went very quickly in this resumption match, barely five minutes before Jules Le Bail, directly opposed to his brother Clovis, went through a mouse hole and rewarded the work of his forwards;
barely three more so that Isabel-Kuffner does not respond in force to this exciting start (7-5, 8th).
Stade Rochelais then got their hands on the ball without being able to take the measure of Pau, initially catchy especially in the rucks.
But by dint of advancing, the Rochelais managed to materialize, first by Skelton in force (34th) then by Favre, author of his sixth try of the season, following a shift from Dulin (22-8, 38th) .
Back from the locker room, the locals did not let go of their prey, quickly reduced to 14 - yellow card for Manu (43rd) - and pierced twice again, first with Kerr-Barlow on a scrum exit (46th), then by the opener West, sneaking into a permeable rear guard (49th).
La Rochelle could have made the score a little more difficult but Paul Boudehent saw his try (62nd) refused after the use of video refereeing following a dangerous tackle shortly before Atonio, earning a yellow card to the international pillar for his return to club.
© 2021 AFP