Top 14: Tough debut for Healy as Pau punish La Rochelle

The former Munster fly-half made his bow for Ronan O'Gara's side. 

La Rochelle's Irish head coach Ronan O'Gara. File pic: XAVIER LEOTY / AFP via Getty Images

Former Munster fly-half Ben Healy endured a difficult debut outing for Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle as hosts Pau eased to a comfortable 39-17 bonus-point victory.

Healy scored the game’s first points with a trademark 50m penalty after 12 minutes at Stade du Hameau. But his unforced handling error a few minutes later led to the scrum from which Pau’s hooker Julian Montoya scored under the posts.

Ten minutes later fullback Theo Attissogbe and winger Rodrigo Marta made a mockery of La Rochelle’s defence for the Portuguese flyer to score his sixth try of the season. And prop Lesko Kaulashvili barrelled over for the hosts’ third try before the break.

The second half started more promisingly for the visitors, after O’Gara gambled almost all his bench minutes after the restart. Replacement hooker Quentin Lespiaucq mauled over for a try 15 minutes in to reduce the deficit as the Rochelais played with more precision.

A five-metre scrum led to Pau’s fourth score minutes later, as Beka Gorgadze blasted through a mismatched Healy from close range. And their fifth came three minutes from time, Temua Manu racing in to score in the corner as the game petered out – it was a score more notable for the fact Joe Simmonds missed his first kick of the season.

There was still time for Karl Sorin to score first professional try with the clock in the red – a scant consolation for the visitors.

Perpignan – with Luke McGrath on for the last 20 minutes – kicked off Top 14 proceedings on Saturday afternoon with a thoroughly deserved 38-25 win at home over a clumsy Bordeaux outfit, who had three tries ruled out.

Tries for Dave Ribbans and Junior Kpoku helped Toulon to their first win of the season after three narrow defeats against Bayonne, La Rochelle and Castres. Kpoku’s 75th-minute score handed them a try-scoring bonus in a 28-10 win over bottom-of-the-table Vannes.

Castres have not enjoyed their trips to Clermont in recent years. Saturday was no exception, notably in the first half, as they barely threw a punch in an utterly forgettable 20-6 defeat that was worth five points to the home side.

Lyon’s three-match winning start to the season screeched to a halt in a second-half collapse at Stade Francais’ Stade Jean Bouin. Having gone in at the break 10-5 up, the visitors failed to trouble the scoreboard after the restart, eventually losing 31-10.

Racing 92 successfully threw away victory over Bayonne in a dramatic conclusion to their match against Bayonne at their temporary home in Creteil, in Paris’s south-eastern suburbs.

Lucas Martin touched down in the 78th minute to give the Basque side a late 17-20 lead – and, though Racing hammered at their line deep into time added on, they were unable to break the visitors’ defence, and slipped to their third defeat in four outings.

On Sunday night, injury-hit Toulouse host Montpellier at Stade Ernest Wallon. With François Cros, Emmanuel Meafou, Anthony Jelonch and Jack Willis all absent, tighthead Joel Merkler is in line to cover the second row from the bench, with Argentine prop Tomas Rapetti set for his debut as a replacement on the right side of the front-row. Teenage backrow Marc-Elie Kouassi could also play his first Top 14 minutes.