Toulon lose against Pau at the Stade du Hameau

The game is over and Toulon have lost 20-10 against Pau at the Stade du Hameau, on Day 2 of the Top 14.
Our men in red and black were dominant in the first half-hour and Josua Tuisova scored a try after Anthony Belleau passed the ball through a mostly accurate kick.
The end of the first half turned out to be more complicated. Toulon were back on the attack, but Pau were hard on the defense and resisted. Even worse: after the ball was kicked in the air, there was a misunderstanding between Messam and Nakosi at the reception. Colin Slade took advantage of it and sent the ball into his own side, then enabling Sean Dougall to score an unlikely try for Pau.
From then on, the home side had the upper hand and played well in the rucks. This gave them two penalties and Pau were leading 11-7 at half-time.
In the second half, Toulon had control of the ball: Charles Ollivon thought he had scored a try as he put the ball down in the in-goal area, but it was ruled out by video assistance – even though the end of the ball could be distinguished over the line…
A few minutes later, after another high ball, Ollivon was up against Votu and passed the ball into the Toulon side. After a few passes, Fekitoa looked set for scoring a try… but the assistant referee pointed out aggressive playing from the Toulon captain!
The Pau players benefited from these fortunate decisions – let us call them this way – and scored more points. Swan Rebbadj picked up a yellow card after a maul collapsed.
The Toulon players made numerous attempts in the dying moments of the game, but they could not score more points and pick up a bonus point for a narrow defeat.
The referee, who seemed to be in a hurry to relieve Pau, blew the final whistle quite early, which meant that our men in red and black lost 20-10 and did not pick up a single point.
Toulon will have to react next Sunday, September 9th, and we will need all the supporters to get our season started and beat Castres, the reigning champion (kick-off time: 4:50 p.m. / click HERE to get your tickets).