Gloucester edge Edinburgh in tough conditions

MATCH REPORT: Gloucester defied tough conditions to get their European Challenge Cup campaign off to a successful start with a hard-fought 15-10 win over Edinburgh at Kingsholm.

A second-half try from Albert Tuisue proved the difference in a tight encounter as the hosts took advantage of sin-binning for Edinburgh’s Tom Dodd and Marshall Sykes.

The score had been locked at 7-7 at the interval after Wes Goosen canceled out Seb Blake’s early touchdown.

The hosts’ other points came with a conversion and penalty from Santiago Carreras. Edinburgh, who at least left with a bonus point, also got on the scoreboard with a Ross Thompson conversion and a Ben Healy penalty.

Dragons were edged out 18-14 by Montpellier in their opener in the face of strong winds at Rodney Parade.

All the points were scored in the first half with the Welsh side battling back from an 18-point deficit.

Tries from Madosh Tambwe and Marco Tauleigne after two Aurelien Barreau penalties got the visitors off to a flying start.

Lewis Ludlow of @gloucesterrugby speaks after receiving the first Player of the Match award of his career tonight 👏

“First one in a couple of hundred games, so I’m pretty shocked to be fair!” 🗣️#ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/HTelUWiMmY

— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) December 6, 2024

Dragons fought back with tries from Taine Basham and Angus O’Brien, who converted both but could not maintain the momentum after the break.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries: Blake, Tuisue
Cons: Carreras
Pens: Carreras

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Goosen
Cons: Thompson
Pens: Healy

Teams:

Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Max Llewellyn, 11 Josh Hathaway, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Freddie Thomas, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Arthur Clark, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Ciaran Knight, 18 Afo Fasogbon, 19 Harry Taylor, 20 Albert Tuisue, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Will Butler, 23 George Barton

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Ross McCann, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Nathan Sweeney, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott (captain), 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Tom Dodd, 5 Sam Skinner, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Paddy Harrison, 1 Boan Venter
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Mikey Jones, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Robert Carmichael, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Ben Healy, 23 James Lang

Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France)
Assistant Referees: Jonathan Gasnier & Pierre Bru (France)
TMO: Denis Grenouillet (France)