Brive pile on misery for Pau

Top 14 bottom club Pau could do nothing to blow away the clouds of crisis hanging over their Stade du Hameau on Saturday as they crashed to a 34-10 defeat in Brive.

Brive - also punching below their weight so far this season - were 17-0 to the good at the break, having played some excellent entertaining rugby. Fly-half Xavier Sadourny and wing Yves Donguy, returning from injury scored first-half tries, with full-back Maxime Petitjean converting both and also landing a penalty.

The second half was a little more even, with Pau winger Nicolas Mouret's try cancelling out the score from his opposite number Farid Sid of Brive, and Gonzalo Quesada's penalty cancelling out another from Petitjean.

But Brive got their fourth try, and the bonus point, with a penalty try three minutes from the end. The win moved les Correziens up two places in the table to ninth whilst Pau stay rooted to the bottom, pointless after five matches.

Bayonne were also pointless this week, going down 33-0 to Montpellier, who welcomed back five injured players with a performance of total domination.

Lock Michel Macurdy got them going with an early try, and David Aucagne kept the scoreboard ticking over with four penalties, before late tries by centre Alessandro Stoica and wing Laurent Arbo gave les Heraults the margin they deserved.

Further up the table, Agen indicated that their win over Biarritz a fortnight ago was no fluke, with a 40-16 pummelling of Castres.

Winger Luc Lafforgue was the hero for Agen with a hat-trick of tries, while centre Conrad Stoltz weighed in with the all-important bonus point try three minutes from time.

François Géléz converted all four, and landed four goals as well. Castres had initially shot to a 9-0 lead through three goals from full-back Romain Teulet, but thereafter they could only manage a late consolation from Samoan wing Laloa Milford.

Finally, Bourgoin moved into second place with a business-like 29-15 win away at Narbonne. Prop Benoit Cabello was driven over by the Bourgoin pack for a decisive advantage shortly before the break, after Narbonne fly-half Christopher Ruiz and Bourgoin's pivot Benjamin Boyet had shared six penalty goals between them.

Substitute fly-half Cédric Rosalen kept Narbonne in touch, but flanker Augustin Petrilli's try for Bourgoin took them further out of sight, and centre Guillaume Bousses sealed the game with his first try for Bourgoin after his summer move from Biarrritz. It was Narbonne's first home defeat of the season, after victories over Stade Français and Clermont.