Clermont and Scarlets march on

FRIDAY WRAP: Bristol Bears exited the Challenge Cup at the Round of 16 stage as they fell to a 26-33 reverse at the hands of ASM Clermont Auvergne at Ashton Gate.

Tries from Harry Randall and Semi Radradra late had put the hosts up 20-17 two minutes before the interval – AJ MacGinty adding 16 points from the tee in the contest – but four tries from the visiting French outfit condemned the 2020 winners to defeat.

Damian Penaud (2), Tomas Lavanini and George Moala dotted down for the visitors in a clinical display in addition to 13 points from the boot of Anthony Belleau.

A MacGinty penalty opened the scoring on 11 minutes, but Clermont responded with a kick of their own in front of the posts, Belleau good from the tee. MacGinty restored Bristol’s lead three minutes later with his second penalty.

It was the French outfit, however, who notched the first try of the contest with 23 minutes played, lock Lavanini with the close-range finish following a series of pick-and-goes. Belleau was successful with the extras to put Clermont ahead 10-6.

The visitors furthered their lead four minutes later, French international Penaud with a stunning line break to scamper home. The wing picked up the ball at the back of the ruck just outside the Bristol 22 to run in untouched, Belleau again adding the extras.

Clermont was then reduced to 14 men on the half-hour mark as Fritz Lee made head contact with Bristol centre James Williams in the tackle and was shown a yellow card.

Three minutes later Bristol took advantage of the extra man to roll through the phases, scrum-half Randall with the dot down next to the posts.

Two minutes before the interval the hosts re-took the lead. Williams was the catalyst as he broke from inside his own half before offloading to Radradra, who limped home from the 22, the centre injuring himself as he crossed over.

That wasn’t the end of the scoring for the half as Clermont capitalised on a messy restart, centre Moala the beneficiary to score in the corner.

Belleau added a further three points in the opening salvos of the second half with his second penalty of the contest. MacGinty replied with a Bristol penalty five minutes later to reduce the deficit to 23-25 before another Belleau penalty extended the lead to five points once more.

Bristol’s Ratu Naulago then committed a crucial mistake for Clermont’s fourth try of the contest. A kick from Penaud was bouncing towards touch and wing Naulago was eager to let the ball drift out of play, but Penaud had the pace to dive in the knick of time and dot down his second of the afternoon.

MacGinty hit a penalty with two minutes remaining to reduce the deficit to a converted try, but Clermont held out to secure a quarter-final trip to Parc y Scarlets next weekend.

* Meanwhile Scarlets scored a battling 19-7 win over CA Brive at Parc y Scarlets.

Second-half tries from Vaea Fifita and Aaron Shingler proved the difference in a rainy affair in the south of Wales, with Sam Costelow notching a trio of penalties from the tee before the break.

A scintillating run and score from Stuart Olding, converted by himself, was the lone blemish on the night for the hosts as Brive closed the gap to 9-7 for a brief period in the second half.

Scarlets opened the scoring with three minutes on the clock, fly-half Costelow dissecting the uprights from the left flank. He added a second penalty on the quarter-of-an-hour mark and a third with half an hour played as the Welsh region built a 9-0 lead at the interval.

Brive played a large portion of the first half down to 14 men, first fullback Nic Krone, then flank Said Hireche was sent to the sin bin for offences on nine and 19 minutes respectively, but the visitors produced commendable resistance despite their reduced numbers.

And it was Brive who scored the first try of the contest seven minutes into the second period – flyhalf Olding scampered onto a Setariki Tuicuvu kick from inside his own half, outpacing the Scarlets’ defence and sliding over in the corner before converting the try himself.

Scarlets found a response precisely three minutes as lock Fifita broke from the back of a ruck on halfway and sprinted across the whitewash for a stunning try, putting the home side 14-7 up.

With just two minutes remaining in the contest, flank Shingler added the cherry on the top of the cake as he powered over from close range to cement their place in the quarter-finals of the EPCR Challenge Cup, where they will host ASM Clermont Auvergne at Parc y Scarlets next weekend.

All Friday’s scores and scorers are below …

Bristol Bears 26-33 Clermont Auvergne

The scorers

For Bristol Bears
Tries: Randall, Radradra
Cons: MacGinty 2
Pens: MacGinty 4

For Clermont Auvergne
Tries: Lavanini, Penaud 2, Moala
Con: Belleau 2
Pens: Belleau 3

Yellow card: Fritz Lee (Clermont, 31)

Teams

Bristol Bears: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Ratu Naulago, 13 Semi Radradra, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall (captain), 8 Fitz Harding, 7 Sam Jeffries, 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Chris Vui, 4 Magnus Bradbury, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Will Capon, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 George Kloska, 19 Charlie Rice, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Andy Uren, 22 Sam Bedlow, 23 Ioan Lloyd.

Clermont Auvergne: 15 Alex Newsome, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Irae Simone, 12 George Moala, 11 Bautista Delguy, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Sébastien Bézy, 8 Fritz Lee (captain), 7 Lucas Dessaigne, 6 Killian Tixeront, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Thibaud Lanen, 3 Cristian Ojovan, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Etienne Falgoux.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Maxence Jules-Rosette, 17 Giorgi Beria, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Edward Annandale, 20 Loic Godener, 21 Baptiste Jauneau, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Alivereti Raka.

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

Scarlets 19-7 Brive

The scorers

For Scarlets
Tries: Fifita, Shingler
Pens: Costelow 3

For Brive
Try: Olding
Con: Olding

Yellow cards: Nic Krone (Brive, 9), Said Hireche (Brive, 19)

Teams

Scarlets: 15 Tom Rogers, 14 Steff Evans, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Joshua Macleod (captain), 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Vaea Fifita, 3 Javan Sebastian, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Shaun Evans, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Morgan Jones, 20 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Ioan Nicholas.

Brive: 15 Nic Krone, 14 Arthur Bonneval, 13 Nico Lee, 12 Sam Arnold, 11 Kevin Fabien, 10 Stuart Olding, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Retief Marais, 7 Said Hireche (captain), 6 Rodrigo Bruni, 5 Lucas Paulos Adler, 4 Mesu Kunavula, 3 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 2 Lucas Da Silva, 1 Daniel Brennan.
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Nathan Fraissenon, 18 Wesley Tapueluelu, 19 Renger van Eerten, 20 Sacha Gue, 21 Paul Abadie, 22 Tom Raffy, 23 Seta Tuicuvu.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (England)
Assistant referees: Harry Walbaum (England), Wayne Falla (England)
TMO: Steve Leyshon (England)

Source: @ChallengeCup