O'Gara sees red again as La Rochelle collapse in 13-try chaos at Pau

Joy at Antoine Dupont’s return to the Toulouse matchday 23 for their 48-24 win over Racing 92 was tempered by regret at the final appearance of centre Pita Ahki, who will join Auckland Blues for the 2026 Super Rugby season.

Sun, 30 Nov, 2025 - 22:27

James Harrington

Ronan O’Gara faces another touchline ban after seeing red for dissent an hour into La Rochelle’s bewildering 13-try 53-33 loss at Pau.

He had already incurred the public wrath of referee Jeremy Rozier after audibly questioning his decision to send off fly-half Antoine Hastoy after 34 seconds. The referee summoned a furious O’Gara from the sidelines to warn that further dissent would see him sent to the stands.

Rozier had reached for red after a leaping, unbalanced, Hastoy kicked out at the advancing Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, making contact with the Pau winger’s face, as he took the first high ball of a game of aerial bombardment at Stade du Hameau.

Moments after O’Gara’s dismissal, Dillyn Leyds scored the Rochelais’ fourth try to bring them briefly to within a score of their hosts. It had been that kind of game. And there was still plenty of drama to come.

Sebastien Piqueronies’ young side have made aerial bombardment a key tactic. They used it great effect minutes later, to score the game’s opening try.

Gregoire Arfeuil beat Jack Nowell to a well-weighted Axel Desperes kick. Emilien Gailleton picked up the loose ball, and released Fabien Brau-Boirie to score.

But La Rochelle weren’t cowed by their early numerical disadvantage. Nowell gave way to Ihaia West, and he sent UJ Seuteni over following phases of hard work from his pack.

Arfeuil then scored one of his own after gathering another Desperes kick, and engineering a one-two with Reece Hewat, before Jules Favre answered back for the visitors following a break from Leyds.

Argentinian hooker Julian Montoya scored following a penalty to touch shortly before halftime, and Grandidier-Nkanang extended the hosts’ lead after the restart.

Another 5m lineout led to France international tighthead Thomas Laclayat’s first try in green following his summer move from Racing 92.

The visitors’ replacement tighthead Aleksandre Kuntelia scored their third, to keep them in the hunt with half-an-hour to play. Then O’Gara was sent off, Leyds touched down, and Charles Kante Samba was sin-binned for pulling down a fast-moving maul to reduce La Rochelle to 13 for 10 minutes.

Two players up, Beka Gorgadze scored for Pau, and rising star Brau-Boirie got his second, beating the ball into touch for the bonus-point try 10 minutes from time.

There was still time for Favre to score his second to rip the bonus away again; for the La Rochelle pack to annoy the referee; for Pau's Dan Robson to be held up over the line; for a Robson chip ahead to bounce cruelly over everyone with the tryline begging, for Kante Samba to return and for La Rochelle lock Thomas Lavault to see yellow. And for replacement hooker Youri Delhommel to get Pau's try bonus back with the clock in the red.

Castres backed-up their victory at La Rochelle with an unconvincing 23-7 home win over Perpignan, while Bayonne’s 22-20 home ‘success’ over Lyon was as gloomy as the conditions in south-west France.

A disputed refereeing decision decided the result of Stade Francais’ trip to Clermont. The refereeing team decided there was no clear evidence of a knock-on in the lead-up to Lucas Tauzin’s game-deciding try in favour of the hosts at the end of a 36-32 thriller.

Lenni Nouchi was the star as Montpellier came from behind to beat Bordeaux 28-24 at the Septeo Stadium. And Toulon eased to a 54-28 win over Montauban.