Qera stars as Gloucester win on the road
A hat-trick of tries from Fijian flank Akapusi Qera helped Gloucester end their Heineken Cup campaign on a high in Wales – recording a 32-23 victory over the Dragons in their Pool Two clash on Sunday afternoon.
The match was a tight affair right up until the final 25 minutes when, with Qera’s third try, the visitors stole the initiative and opened up a big gap on the scoreboard.
Down at half time, the Premiership side showed good composure to come back and record a good win away from home.
Welshman Nicky Robinson started the scoring with a penalty after just eight minutes but, after a tight ten minutes, Dragons No.10 James Arlidge leveled it up with a three-pointer from the kicking tee himself.
Just two minutes later the Cherry and Whites where back in the lead. Powerful flank Qera crashed over for his first try and handing the visitors a handy 10-3 lead early in the game.
A yellow card for Dave Attwood provided an unneeded disruption for Gloucester around the half hour mark and, at the same time, provided Arlidge with his second chance at goal.
A man down, Gloucester were soon on the back foot.
Centre Rhodri Gomer Davies scored for the home side just six minutes short of the break and, with a successful conversion and an Arlidge drop goal following, Paul Turner’s men took a 16-10 lead into the break.
Three minutes after the break and Qera was at it again. The back row star scored his second try of the afternoon to narrow the gap to just a single point. Robinson missed the conversion but it was clear that Bryan Redpath had sent his troops out of the tunnel with plenty of motivation to perform. A yellow card for prop Ben Castle with 56 minutes gone put the pressure on to the home side.
The final half an hour of the match then served up plenty of action.
Gloucester re-took the lead through a Robinson penalty on the hour mark and then extended their lead thanks to Qera milestone effort on 65 minutes.
Four minutes later and the match was effectively put to bed. Piling on the pressure, Redpath’s troops were awarded a penalty try. The successful conversion took the score up to 32-16 in favour of the home side and sealed a winning end to the Heineken Cup campaign for Gloucester.
Replacement centre Ashley Smith grabbed a last minute consolation try for the Dragons.
The win means Gloucester will finish second in Pool Two with seventeen log points while the Dragons, with just one win in their six pool matches, finish bottom.
The Scorers
For Dragons
Tries: Gomer-Davies, Smith
Pen: Arlidge 2
DG: Arlidge
Cons: Arlidge, Tovey
For Gloucester
Tries: Qera 3, Penalty
Pen: Robinson 2
Cons: Robinson 3
The Teams
The Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Aled Brew, 13 Rhodri Gomer Davies , 12 Tom Riley, 11 Richard Fussell, 10 James Arlidge, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 Lewis Evans, 7 James Harris, 6 Danny Lydiate, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Hoani Macdonald, 3 Gethin Robinson, 2 Tom Willis (captain), 1 Hugh Gustafson.
Replacements: 16 Steve Jones, 17 Ali McKenzie, 18 Ben Castle, 19 Gavin Thomas, 20 James Leadbeater, 21 Ashley Smith, 22 Jason Tovey.
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Tim Molenaar, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Gareth Delve (captain), 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Luke Narraway, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Olivier Azam, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Adam Eustace, 20 Peter Buxton, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Tom Voyce.
Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)
Assistant referees: Eric Gauzins (France), Jean-Luc Rebollal (France).
