London Stansted is a good place to people-watch rugby fans on a Champions Cup weekend. A hotbed of Ryanair planes departing to obscure continental cities, it’s the perfect place to catch flights to any number of European away days.

In one sitting, I see some Quins supporters supping pints in the Wetherspoons before flying to La Rochelle, a gaggle of Sarries fans checking out duty-free aftershave ahead of a hop north to Glasgow, and even one lonely Sale Sharks follower clutching a boarding pass on his way to Toulouse.

All of whom are happy as Larry in their club colours to be escaping the clutches of January in the UK for a few days away from home watching rugby.

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I have similar pangs of excitement running through my own bones. I’ve got an overpriced pint of 1664 and a packaged sandwich, and I’m about to hop on a budget airline to watch some rugby, like those fans.

Unlike my compatriots, however, I’m not following a team from British shores. Instead, I’m on my way to experience rugby when it blurs the lines into religion. I’m off to the foothills of the Pyrénées and a small city that orbits around its rugby club – Section Paloise.

French rugby is a religion

In France, rugby really does run parallel with religion. The faith and dedication its followers place in it is inspirational if you’re lucky enough to see it first-hand. And it’s no longer constrained to certain towns and cities across its western and southern belt. The country that spawned Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane and Kylian Mbappé is football mad but oval-ball fever has been creeping across the country’s sprawl.

Canal+, the main sport broadcaster in France, published viewing figures in late 2025 that showed Top 14 matches getting a higher audience share than Ligue One games happening at the same time. That’s the power of Antoine Dupont, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and this cavalier generation of les Bleus.

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Across the country, thousands are being converted to rugby as it bucks trends across the Channel in its persistence to grow. And while this is a national phenomenon, it’s in those small towns scattered south of the Loire valley where the gospel is still followed most vehemently.

Pau is in the Béarn Pyrénées, which itself is part of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the South to South-West corner of France which you would better know for skiing and Tour de France stage visits. There is also the religious pilgrimage site Lourdes up the road too.

That trio of attractions is what brings most outsiders to the region. It’s quiet, rugged and unassuming. But for us curious rugby fans, it is Top 14’s most recent surprise package that is currently making the trip worthwhile.

Section Paloise (or as you may know them, Pau) have long bounced between the first and second divisions of French rugby but are a key part of the nation’s rugby fabric. In existence since 1902, frequent gentry visiting for health tourism around the turn of the 20th century inspired a passion for British games, with rugby becoming the city’s vice, adored by the local industrial population.

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Which players have been developed in Pau?

The first half of the club’s 124-year history saw respectable success in the way of three national titles while the second saw financial struggles clipping a parachute to the club’s aspirations.

As this century turned, Pau continued to develop homegrown stock in the form of Damien Traille, Nicolas Brusque and Imanol Harinordoquy, but they struggled to keep hold of them for long as they proved to be of international quality, with all three ending up down the road at rivals Biarritz.

A smattering of global stars, including All Blacks duo Ben Smith and Conrad Smith, have kept fans entertained since but inconsistency has ultimately prevented any success. Until now. This season has probably been Pau’s greatest in the modern period. While only halfway through, they are on cloud nine.

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At the time of print publication, Pau sit second in the league, just one point behind Toulouse and comfortably ahead of Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Toulon. Long-time head coach Sébastien Piqueronies has utilised his experience of nurturing raw talent in France’s age-group set-up to bring through a pulsating bunch of young, homegrown stars in the shape of Hugo Auradou, Théo Attissogbe, Émilien Gailleton and Fabien Brau-Boirie, all of whom are under 23 years old.

All bar Brau-Boirie have been capped by Fabien Galthié. This has been supplemented by wily operators from across the globe like Argentina captain Julián Montoya, Facundo Isa, Luke Whitelock, Dan Robson and Joe Simmonds. This combination has proved a midas touch for Pau, who are now playing some of the most effective rugby in France.

What makes this trip south even more interesting is that this is Section Paloise’s first season in the Champions Cup since January 2001, when they were dumped out at the quarter-final stage by Stade Français. A quarter-century of absence has made the heart grow fonder for the Paloise faithful and so the club was treating this season’s Champions Cup with respect.

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La Honh’armada: Pau’s Ultras

I’ll be honest, though, the sheet rain that is pounding my face as I walk into the Stade du Hameau is threatening to dampen my excitement. The location of the stadium isn’t the best. It is out of town and in a retail estate of sorts.

My Uber driver was forced to dump me about 500m from the ground and I had to walk in the pitch black to the entrance. My feet are wet and all I want to do is go inside to the warm press room. Here, the noise hits me.

From the other side of the stadium entrance, I can hear the bellowing rumbles of fans chanting in a Friday night under the lights. The loudest of all are La Honh’armada. The best way to describe them is as Pau’s Ultras, responsible for most of the organised racket before the game and during.

Half of them have some form of instrument, the other half have massive flags, they all have pints and they all greet one another with two kisses.

When in their seats, they take up camp in the North Stand, should you ever wish to sit with them. Ninety minutes before kick-off and they are forming a tight guard of honour from the entrance, 300m back down the concourse to a gate.

Shouts of Allez Section! ring out in unison and continue to get louder. Both tonight’s opposition, the Bulls, and the home team then appear at once by the gates.

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Players and staff then funnel through this claustrophobic tunnel of noise. The South African guests are shown respect with a round of applause while the home heroes are met with feral war cries. Welsh No 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu trots through with a grin like a Cheshire cat, soaking up every last call to arms. Keeping the energy at this level for the next 90 minutes until kick-off is a tall order but the Paloise fans manage it.

Songs, disappointment and partying

It might be down to the cheap beer at €6 a pint or the prospect of reaching the knockout stages of Europe for the first time in 25 years.

The best bit comes just before the game begins. An anthem chimes around the stadium in the minutes before the teams step foot on the pitch, that of La Honhada. A tune in French and Béarnaise dialect sung by all 13,000 home fans in unison.

It was first heard among the Pau faithful in 2012 in a game against Grenoble, performed by a Gascon-Pyrenean choir and sung to the tune of a song by French chart-topper Renaud, who himself based it on the tune of the British folk song The Water is Wide. Its rousing, rolling beat gets the stadium sounding like Sunday service and even has a key change. It sets the tone of what is to come.

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As the game begins, the sound remains. There is no ebb and flow with what is happening on the pitch, the cries are constant. The brass band fires up and rattles through a repertoire of hits.

The press box is nestled among the general public and as Pau race into a 21-12 lead at half-time, I’m even treated to a big donk on the head from an older woman ecstatic at hooker Youri Delhommel bundling over for a second try. She apologises by hugging me from behind and shouting Allez Section! I don’t mind, it comes with the territory.

The sheet rain intensifies in the second half, preventing expansive rugby. The Bulls came up to France loaded with Springboks: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Marco van Staden, Handré Pollard and Willie le Roux. The latter duo ended up producing a kicking masterclass in the rain to get the visitors across the line and ultimately knock Pau out of the competition.

Pau’s late push not enough

It was even enough to stem the tide of Paloise’s late push for victory. At 26-24 down, the home team go through phase after phase of pick-and-go in the hope of earning a win. Starting from their own 10m line, successive carries from the base edge them to the Bulls’ 5m line.

The calls of Allez, Allez! from the crowd swing the momentum of the game, placing a tonne of bricks on the South Africans as they try to repel what feels inevitable.

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The odd whiff of Gauloise cigarette smoke wafts through the terraces as impartiality is thrown out of the press box. Gallic shrugs are offered at claims of Pau infringements; there are throws of the arms at players going off their feet, bangs on the desks with any phase that creaks over the gain-line.

My own impartiality begins to leave me in those final few seconds, knowing that a last-minute Pau win will send the town into mayhem until the early hours, something I would happily sample.

It was not to be, the Bulls pulling off a win that seemed frankly impossible at kick-off. It left the Section Paloise with Challenge Cup consolation. It did little to ruin the mood, mind. The noise of the fans kept on into the night as we left the stadium together.

Rings of La Honhada were heard faintly disappearing down side roads as fans headed home or out into the night. The chorus of hymn being followed by all ages, proof that in France and in Pau, rugby is religion. 

Away Day Tips: How to perfect a visit to Pau

Flights direct to Pau are sparse in winter. We flew to Lourdes from London Stansted with Ryanair for £25.50 but had to drop £90 on the 50-minute taxi ride between cities.

There is no reliable public transport in these parts of France. It helped that our Ibis hotel slap-bang in the middle of town was only £70 with breakfast included. Once you’re in situ, there are a few buses that can take you to Stade du Hameau. Alternatively, just catch a cab.

Read more: Don’t miss a minute of the Champions Cup

See multiple games in one weekend too.

If you’re planning on heading to France for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to watch rugby, schedule it right and you will be able to see more than one match across a weekend. In our case, we also attended Bayonne v Leinster on the Saturday afternoon, just 80 minutes away by train.

Former European giants Biarritz are only one further stop on the same line and regularly play Pro D2 games on Thursday and Friday nights.

Mont-de-Marsan and Dax are also in striking distance. You can even venture off the beaten path for real salt-of-the-earth stuff, like Bagnères-de-Bigorre, who play in France’s semi-pro third tier Fédérale One.

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