Lane try treble is in vain
JOHN Mulvihill couldn’t quite match the exploits of Boris Johnson, the other leader of the Blues, but his team still produced a battling performance at Stade de Hameau.
They had looked in danger of getting a hiding after 50 minutes in southwest France, with Pau seemingly in control at 31-7 having dominated at forward and put together a number of sharp moves behind with the debut-making Ben Smith catching the eye.
But the French then came close to unravelling with three players heading for the sin-bin during the final half -hour.
They had to play for eight minutes with 13 men and against a back division as sharp as the one fielded by Cardiff Blues, that’s asking for trouble.
Three Owen Lane touchdowns and a five-pointer from Hallam Amos secured the Welsh team a try bonus and there was a point for finishing within seven when replacement Jason Tovey bagged a late penalty.
The Blues deserved their two points for refusing to give up when all had appeared lost.
The character they showed was impressive and better sides than Pau will be troubled by the Welsh team’s backline this season.
But Mulvihill will know he needs to sort out his front five.
They were sending out distress signals at the scrum virtually from the word go and they struggled to contain Pau’s heavy-duty driving maul. When the Blues tried to drive forward themselves, they were more often than not manhandled into touch.
Pau’s tries came from Mohamed
Boughanmi, Geoffrey Moise, Pierre Nueno, Bastien Pourailly and Baptiste Pesenti, but they should be kicking themselves for allowing the Blues back into the game.
Quite what their pair of newlyacquired All Blacks, Smith and No. 8 Luke Whitelock, made of it all is anyone’s guess.
Right now the side they have joined are all over the place: indisciplined, loose and prone to needless risks, but also immensely powerful up front and not short of skill behind. Let’s hit the cliche button and call them typically French.
Amid all that, Smith had a calmness and authority about him that suggests he will prosper in his new surroundings.
There was a moment of high quality from him midway through the first half, when he somehow came into possession at a ruck – Cardiff Blues will still be trying to work out what happened – and tore clear.
Faced by a visiting defender, the 84-cap All Black didn’t panic, instead sending out a beautifully delivered
pass to Nueno for the score.
It was a touchdown conceived out of nothing. But that’s what worldclass gives you for your money.
Most of the early damage, though, was done by the home heavy squad.
They had a tighthead prop in Mohamed Boughanmi who looked about the size of Brazil and nor was his mate on the other side, Geoffrey Moise particularly small.
The pair were at the fore of a demolition job on the Blues scrum during the opening 40, while the relentless home maul was hard to combat.
Boughanmi and Moise both found their way over after forward drives had softened up the Blues defence, while centre Nueno and wing Bastien Pourailly crossed before the break in response to Lane’s early touchdown.
When lock Baptiste Pesenti ploughed over after good work from Whitelock, some pessimists in the Blues ranks might have considers reaching for their calculators.
But the French started to lose the plot with Tom Taylor and Giovanni Kueffner making their way to the bin, later to be followed by Lucas Pointud.
The Blues had stuck with the game and had a cutting edge behind.
Morgan helped work over Amos against depleted opponents and then
Amos turned creator with a lovely break and pass before Lane grounded his second score.
Morgan had kicked cleverly behind the defence all game and another such effort was gathered at full pelt by Lane, who thundered over for his third try.
There was still time for Pointud to come up with the indiscretion that saw him leave the pitch.
Tovey, who came on after Jarrod Evans had taken a bump, added the all-important late penalty.
■ In the other game in the pool, Leicester scrambled a 20-13 win at Calvisano.