Following Bristol Bears’ 61-12 win over Section Paloise, here are our five takeaways from Sunday evening’s one-sided Investec Champions Cup tie at Ashton Gate.
The top line
Pat Lam’s hungry Bears gave Pau the mother of all maulings to stay firmly on the coattails of Northampton and Bordeaux, last year’s finalists, at the midpoint of the Investec Champions Cup pool stage.
Bristol helped themselves to nine tries, two in the first 10 minutes, to breeze past the Top 14’s second-placed side, back up their opening day victory at Scarlets and move within a point of the leading two.
Player of the match Benjamin Grondona and brother Santiago each scored for the home side, with Ellis Genge, Kieran Marmion, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Gabriel Oghre, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Joe Batley and Aidan Boshoff also claiming a try apiece.
Pau’s former England scrum-half Dan Robson reacted by telling his team their performance was way below standard and that they need to get better and fast.
Bears firmly in hunt for a home tie to Round of 16?
When the draw was made and they were paired with Saints and UBB with only the top two in each group earning home advantage in the knockout stages, few gave Bristol much of a chance.
To be within a point of the holders and the team Bordeaux edged in that Cardiff final at this stage means their fate lies in their own hands.
Bristol next go to Pretoria to face the Bulls, who have lost both their games and have a minus 58 points difference. Win that and it will all come down to a bumper home clash against Jalibert, Bielle-Biarrey, Penaud and Co on January 18, the final pool weekend.
Given the way they took apart Pau without late withdrawal Louis Rees-Zammit, perhaps more to the point the manner in which they hammered Northampton 46-12 in the Prem last month, even mighty Bordeaux won’t fancy that trip to the West Country.
Pau cap lamentable weekend on road for French teams
Four French teams in action away from home in the Champions Cup on the second weekend of competition and four defeats, a week after three of the four visiting Gallic sides lost.
It has been a dreadful fortnight for Top 14 sides other than holders Bordeaux who have maximum points. Toulouse suffered the humiliation of blowing a 21-0 lead after half-time in Glasgow, while Bayonne and La Rochelle were crushed by Harlequins and Stormers.
Pau, second in the most competitive club league in the world, were never at the races at Ashton Gate once Genge crossed in the first minute. Bristol had the bonus point in 35 minutes, led 33-0 at half-time and got to 60 quicker than the clock.
Robson refuses to excuse Pau’s showing
The former England scrum-half was not about to sugarcoat his side’s display after 80 minutes in which two second-half tries by Fabien Brau-Boirie brought meagre consolation.
“There’s no excuses we can hide behind,” he told Premier Sports. “That, to be honest, was not good enough for this competition.
“We need to take a big look at ourselves. It’s our first time in this competition for a while and it’s not good enough from us.
“We will go back into the Top 14 but when we come back into the Champions Cup we need to be better.
“If it’s your first game or your 40th we need to be better and give this competition the respect it deserves. Today I don’t think we did that.”
Robson added: “The effort’s always there. But skill-wise, we dropped off a lot, made a lot of mistakes. Against a quality Bristol team they’re going to punish you.
“We’re probably a while away [from being able to compete in this competition]. We need to understand the jump in quality you get from a Challenge Cup game to a Champions Cup one.
“Hopefully after the last two weeks we’ll understand that because we can’t really put out another performance like that.”
Robson tight-lipped on Gloucester move
Robson, who was outstanding in Pau’s narrow home loss to Northampton last week on their first game back in the tournament for 25 years, is set to return to English club rugby with Gloucester.
The Daily Telegraph reported this week that the 33-year, who began his senior career at Kingsholm, has been offered a two-year deal to return to the club to replace Tomos Williams, who is expected to join Saracens.
“We’ll see, we’ll see,” he said, coyly. “To be honest, at the minute we’re just licking our wounds a little bit. Hopefully get back on a plane to Pau and try and get a big result next week.”