Is Pau Ready For All The Smoke? We'll Find Out Against Toulouse
Is Pau Ready For All The Smoke? We'll Find Out Against Toulouse
Pau is looking down on everyone this week on the Top 14 table, but here comes the big dog, Toulouse.
Bayonne took the rugby world by storm by beating Toulouse 40-26 at home and Toulon 35-32 in back-to-back weeks. Bayonne even topped the FloRugby Club Rankings.
Then, Bayonne went to Section Paloise and got punched in the face.
Pau leads the Top 14 table at 4-0-2.
Every team in the Top 14 has at least two losses, as international play—especially The Rugby Championship—has wreaked havoc on a lot of European club teams in this early part of the season.
Pau is not immune, as key offseason signing, Argentina captain Julián Montoya, hasn’t played yet.
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Technically, Pau is tied with three clubs at 19 points (three bonus points), but sits at the summit on tiebreakers.
Everything was going right for Pau this weekend, until Toulouse played Union Bordeaux-Bègles on Sunday night.
Remember the scene in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" when Théoden and the Riders of Rohan have beaten the Orc army and then the other army with the elephants appears? And Théoden’s face just loses all color and internally screams "really?"
When Toulouse went up 35-3 at halftime of that match, I assume the smiles of Pau fans got a little smaller as Toulouse prepares to ride its own elephants into the Pyrenees.
Is Pau Rugby Ready For All The Smoke?
Now the question is: with Toulouse rounding into form and getting its internationals back, is Pau ready for the show?
Is Pau ready to announce itself as a true contender, not just in the Top 14, but in the Investec Champions Cup?
If Joe Simmonds, who has scored 67 points, continues to play this well, it could happen. But this match week will be a barometer we may not see again in the Top 14 until December, as internationals will soon leave for the Autumn Nations, while the Champions and Challenge Cups begin in early December.
Pau is in a challenging Pool 4 of the Champions Cup. But if a win against Toulouse at full strength is possible, Pau can handle the likes of the Vodacom Bulls, Northampton Saints, Bristol Bears and—oh no, they put the one Welsh team to make the Champions Cup in this pool (face-palm)—Scarlets.
For Toulouse, the loss on the road to Bayonne was either concerning or a matter of roster dynamics. But handing UBB a 56-13 loss—its third bonus-point win at home this season—feels like a statement.
For Toulouse to cement itself as a Champions Cup favorite, it needs to win big away from home. Toulouse lost 44-14 to Montpellier—not a typo, it really was that bad—and then two weeks later fell to Bayonne 40-26.
If Toulouse drops to 0-0-3 on the road, then it’s concerning.
But again, this isn’t about Toulouse.
We know they’ll be there in contention, especially when Antoine Dupont—oh yeah, remember him?—returns. This is about Pau showing its can crack the Top 4 of the Top 14, or more.
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