French stars shine as Leicester Tigers ka-Pau'ed in Champions Cup

Ollie Chessum made a try-scoring return from injury but Leicester Tigers fell short in their opening Champions Cup clash with Pau in the south of France.

Archie van der Flier gave the Tigers a flicker of hope when his 54th-minute try put his side within touching distance but the hosts ultimately pulled away for a 41-17 bonus-point win.

Leicester went into the game on the back of two straight wins in the Gallagher Prem and their confidence was evident when the returning Chessum powered over in his first appearance of the season.

But tries from Rodrigo Marta and Jon Zabala gave Pau a half-time lead and when they stretched their advantage through Marta’s second early in the second half, it looked all over for the visitors.

Van der Flier had other ideas when he powered over, Billy Searle’s kick taking them back within seven points, but a silly penalty and a subsequent try from Aaron Grandidier Nkanang all but sealed it for the French side.

Pau sealed their bonus point in the dying stages when Searle’s attempted pass was intercepted and Fabien Brau-Boirie blazed home to secure an emphatic win.

Section Paloise: 15 Theo Attissogbe; 14 Clement Laporte (Quentin Valentino 75), 13 Rodrigo Marta, 12 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 11 Aaron Grandidier Nkanang; 10 Axel Desperes, 9 Thomas Souverbie (Gonzalo Garcia 63); 1 Alexandre Etchebehere (Hugo Parrou 33), 2 Youri Delhommel (Yon Caperaa 65), 3 Jon Zabala (Guram Papidze 42), 4 Thomas Jolmes (Santiago Grondona 50), 5 Mickael Capelli (Remi Picquette 57), 6 Sacha Zegueur (Facundo Isa 57), 7 Loic Credoz (c), 8 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward; 14 Adam Radwan (Gabriel Hamer-Webb 50), 13 Will Wand, 12 Orlando Bailey (Joseph Woodward 58), 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins; 10 Billy Searle, 9 Tom Whiteley (Jack van Poortvliet 50); 1 Archie van der Flier (Mako Vunipola 58), 2 Jamie Blamire (Sam Moli 58), 3 Joel Sclavi (Will Hurd 45), 4 Cameron Henderson, 5 Ollie Chessum (c) (James Thompson 50), 6 Finn Carnduff, 7 Joaquin Moro, 8 Olly Cracknell (Osian Thomas 74).