Biarritz swat Gloucester
Holders Biarritz pulled off a pulsating 41-31 win at English side Gloucester on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the European Challenge Cup.
The French Basque side will now take on either London Wasps or former European champions Leinster, who face off Friday, at the end of this month for a place in the final.
Biarritz went over for three first-half tries while first Gloucester's prop Dario Chistolini and then hooker Koree Britton were sin-binned, with France Under-20 wing Teddy Thomas bagging a pair on his European debut.
Hooker Arnaud Heguy also touched down, with centre Damien Traille landing a goal and scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili adding three conversions and a penalty as the visitors moved to a 27-14 interval advantage before a 10,000 crowd.
Benoit Baby added another try on the hour, converted by Yachvili – who had an early spell with Gloucester – and the latter did likewise with substitute Seremaia Burotu's late score.
Mike Tindall, Shane Monahan and Huia Edmonds went over for Gloucester with Freddie Burns converting two – Burns also kicked four penalties.
But Biarritz rarely looked threatened, despite being without former Gloucester and England wing Iain Balshaw owing to injury.
The scorers:
For Gloucester:
Tries: Tindall, Monahan, Edmonds
Cons: Burns 2
Pens: Burns 4
Biarritz:
Tries: Thomas 2, Heguy, Baby, Burotu
Cons: Yachvili 5
Pen: Yachvili
DG: Traille
The teams:
Gloucester: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Mike Tindall (captain), 11 Jonny May, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Dave Lewis, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Tom Savage, 5 Will James, 4 Lua Lokotui, 3 Shaun Knight, 2 Koree Britton, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Andy Hazell, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Shane Monahan.
Biarritz: 15 Marcelo Bosch, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Benoit Baby, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Jean-Pascal Barraque, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Raphael Lakafia, 6 Tanguy Molcard, 5 Mathias Marie, 4 Erik Lund, 3 Gomez Kodela, 2 Arnaud Heguy, 1 Eugene Van Staden.
Replacements: 16 Benoit August, 17 Thomas Synaeghel, 18 Ben Broster, 19 Pelu Lan Taele, 20 Seremaia Burotu, 21 Yann Lesgourgues, 22 Charles Gimenez, 23 Paul Couet-Lannes.
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Dudley Phillips (Ireland), David Wilkinson (Ireland)
