Ackermann's crucial score helps Gloucester upset Montpellier

SATURDAY WRAP: Gloucester produced a solid performance to advance to the Challenge Cup quarterfinals, beating Montpellier 24-17 at the GGL Stadium.\

Montpellier were on a mission from the get-go, grabbing the tie’s first score on four minutes through Anthony Bouthier.

Hugo Reus then inflicted more pain on the visitors six minutes later for a two-try deficit. But it wasn’t enough to sink the Gloucester hopes.

The English side saw two crosses ruled out by TMO but finally got themselves a legal score on 25 minutes thanks to Freddie Thomas.

That didn’t stop the Cherry and Whites, and they were level before long – Cameron Jordan went over to bring things level.

But it was Montpellier who went into the dressing room with their noses in front (17-14) at half-time through a Hugo Reus penalty.

Despite conceding that late score in the first-half, Gloucester were the dominant side coming out for the second-half.

After almost 20 minutes of second-half stalemate, Gloucester were the ones to get the next score through the hands of Ruan Ackermann.

With their noses now in front, it was going to require some sturdy and watertight defending from Gloucester.

And that’s just what the English side managed for the final 10 minutes, resisting any Montpellier attack.

Santiago Carreras put the cherry on the cake for the visitors to end it, converting a long-distance penalty.

* In the other Saturday matches Connacht beat Cardiff 35-20, while Racing sneak past Perpignan 24-18 in an all-French affair.

Connacht continued their pool stage form and held a 14-8 half-time lead against Cardiff, and exerted their dominance with three second-half tries to advance to the quarterfinals.

It was a cagey first half between the two French teams, with Perpignan holding a one-point (11-10) lead over Racing at half-time.

However, Racing burst out of the second-half traps to regain the lead – Jordan Joseph’s score setting up an Antoine Gilbert conversion to find a six-point advantage.

Perpignan’s Tavite Veredamu and Racing’s Nolann Le Garrec both crossed to cancel each other out before Wame Naituvi finally gave the Parisian outfit a sizeable advantage with his score.

All Saturday’s scorers and scorers follow below …

Montpellier 17-24 Gloucester

The scorers

For Montpellier
Tries: Bouthier, Reus
Cons: Reus 2
Pen: Reus

For Gloucester
Tries: Thomas, Jordan, Ackermann
Cons: Carreras 3
Pen: Carreras

Yellow card: Caolan Englefield (Gloucester, 51)

Teams

Montpellier Hérault: 15 Anthony Bouthier, 14 Pierre Lucas, 13 Thomas Darmon, 12 Arthur Vincent, 11 George Bridge, 10 Hugo Reus, 9 Leo Coly, 8 Billy Vunipola (captain), 7 Sam Simmonds, 6 Lenni Nouchi, 5 Mahonri Ngakuru, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Mohamed Haouas, 2 Christopher Tolofua, 1 Enzo Forletta.
Replacements: 16 Lyam Akrab, 17 Nika Abuladze, 18 Wilfrid Hounkpatin, 19 Nicolas Martins, 20 Alex Becognee, 21 Martin Doan, 22 Auguste Cadot, 23 Thomas Vincent.

Gloucester: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jacob Morris, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Jack Clement, 5 Freddie Thomas, 4 Cameron Jordan, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ciaran Knight.
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 18 Afolabi Fasogbon, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Harry Taylor, 21 Deian Gwynne, 22 Charlie Chapman, 23 Will Butler.

Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa) & Christopher Allison (South Africa)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)

Perpignan 18-24 Racing 92

The scorers

For Perpignan
Tries: Allan, Veredamu
Con: Allan
Pens: Allan 2

For Racing
Tries: Bamba, Joseph, Naituvi
Cons: Farrell 2, Le Garrec
Pen: Farrell

Yellow card: Apisai Naqalevu (Perpignan, 18)

Teams

Perpignan: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Tavite Veredamu, 13 Apisai Naqalevu, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (captain), 11 Freddy Duguivalu, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 James Hall, 8 Lucas Velarte, 7 Max Hicks, 6 Patrick Sobela, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Tristan Labouteley, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Seilala Lam, 1 Bruce Devaux.
Replacements: 16 Victor Montgaillard, 17 Giorgi Beria, 18 Akato Fakatika, 19 Adrien Warion, 20 Lucas Bachelier, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Valentin Delpy, 23 Riko Buliruarua.

Racing 92: 15 Tristan Tedder, 14 Donovan Taofifenua, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Vinaya Habosi, 11 Gael Fickou, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Antoine Gibert, 8 Jordan Joseph, 7 Noa Zinzen (captain), 6 Maxime Baudonne, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Junior Kpoku, 3 Demba Bamba, 2 Janick Tarrit, 1 Hassane Kolingar.
Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 18 Thomas Laclayat, 19 Boris Palu, 20 Shingi Manyarara, 21 Wame Naituvi, 22 Nolann le Garrec, 23 Sam James’.

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referee: Franco Rosella (Italy) & Lorenzo Pedezzi (Italy(
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)

Connacht 35-20 Cardiff

The scorers

For Connacht
Tries: Devine, Jansen, Treacy, Bolton, Boyle
Cons: Hanrahan 3, Ioane 2

For Cardiff
Tries: Lee-Lo, Thomas, Adams
Con: Thomas
Pen: Sheedy

Yellow cards: Josh McNally (Cardiff, 40), Ben Thomas (Cardiff, 76)

Teams

Connacht: 15 Mack Hansen, 14 Shayne Bolton, 13 Hugh Gavin, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Finn Treacy, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Matthew Devine, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Darragh Murray, 4 Oisin Dowling, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan (captain), 1 Jordan Duggan.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Denis Buckley, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Niall Murray, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Josh Ioane, 23 Piers O’Conor.

Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Harri Millard, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 James Botham, 6 Alun Lawrence, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Danny Southworth.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Alex Mann, 21 Thomas Young, 22 Ellis Bevan, 23 Rory Jennings.

Referee: Luc Ramos (France)
Assistant referee: Jeremy Rozier (France) & Flavien Hourquet (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)

* Source:@ChallengeCup_