Pau prove too strong for Dragons

Yesterday at 01:05 PM

MATCH REPORT: The Dragons' Challenge Cup hopes remain alive but slim after they were comfortably beaten 24-15 by Pau at Rodney Parade on Sunday.

Axel Desperes' trio of penalties was enough to take Section Paloise side into the break with a 9-8 lead after Aaron Wainwright muscled over to keep Dragons in it.

The French side scored their opening try in the second half through Clément Mondinat to go 19-8 up.

[rp-mc-teams-match-summary id="243|943452|2025"][/rp-mc-teams-match-summary]

Before adding a third through Dan Jooste, Rio Dyer scored a consolation for Dragons as Section Paloise won 24-15 and earned their spot in the Round of 16.

Filo Tiatia's side will face the Lions at high altitude in Johannesburg next Saturday

Scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Wainwright, Dyer
Cons: Evans
Pens: Evans

For Pau:
Tries: Mondinat, Jooste
Cons: Desperes
Pens: Desperes 4

Teams

Dragons: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Harri Ackerman, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Angus O'Brien (captain), 9 Che Hope, 8 Taine Basham, 7 George Young, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Barny Langton-Cryer, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Rodrigo Martinez Manzano
Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, 18 Dimitri Arhip, 19 George Nott, 20 Dan Lydiate, 21 Morgan Lloyd, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Ewan Rosser

Pau: 15 Clément Mondinat, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Eliott Roudil (captain), 12 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 11 Gregoire Arfeuil, 10 Axel Desperes, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Thibaut Hamonou, 7 Reece Hewat, 6 Mehdi Tlili, 5 Jimi Maximin, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Jon Zabala Arrieta, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1. Remi Seneca
Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Daniel Bibi Biziwu, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Remi Picquette, 20 Loic Credoz, 21 Thomas Souverbie, 22 Quentin Valentino, 23 Jack Maddocks

Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (South Africa), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)