SATURDAY WRAP: Away teams dominate in first round

CHALLENGE CUP SATURDAY WRAP: A late brace of tries from Rio Dyer helped the Dragons to a 24-7 bonus-point win at Rodney Parade in the EPCR Challenge Cup against Oyonnax.

The game was tied at seven all until the 74th minute when Dragons RFC finally got over again, which triggered a whirlwind period as Dragons crossed two more times via Dyer to get the full five points on offer.

It took until the 21st minute for the game’s breakthrough, with Oyonnax Rugby centre Leo Trielles getting over in the corner, Jules Soulan adding the extras.

That was the only score of the first half, but the crowd at Rodney Parade did not have to wait long for some action in the second with wing Ashton Hewitt going over in the 43rd minute, flyhalf Will Reed kicking the extras to bring parity to the scoreboard.

Reed then had two chances from the tee to give Dragons the lead, but he missed penalties on the 58th and 60th minute and the scores remained level.

Dragons RFC put the pressure on for most of the half, but it wasn’t until the 74th minute that they finally made the breakthrough via lock Joe Davies.

Reed missed the conversion, as he did for Dyer’s first try in the 76th minute, but he added the extras with the clock in the red after Dyer went over for a second time in the 80th minute to secure a 24-7 win.

*Gloucester flyhalf George Barton was the difference-maker as they defeated Black Lion 15-10 in the EPCR Challenge Cup at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium on Saturday.

The 23-year-old was successful with five penalties, scoring all of Gloucester’sd points, in a war of attrition against the EPCR competition debutants.

In a battle of the flyhalves, Black Lion’s Luka Matkava notched all 10 of the Georgian side’s points – scoring the only try of the contest in addition to a penalty and a conversion from the tee.

Gloucester Rugby got on the scoreboard first as Barton kicked a pair of penalties in the 12th and 18th minutes.

*Castres Olympique fullback Julien Dumora was on top form as his side ran riot against Scarlets to win 34-16.

Castres Olympique were the main force of the first half, with Scarlets suffering two sin bins. The first came almost as soon as the match started, wing Steff Evans at fault, with the second coming in the 31st minute with scrum-half Kieran Hardy punished.

It meant Castres were able to rack up four tries via wing Josaia Raisuqe, fly-half Louis le Brun, scrum-half Jeremy Fernandez and Number 8 Abraham Papalii, with Le Brun only able to convert one.

All of Scarlets points came from the boot of Ioan Lloyd, who did his best to keep his side in it with three penalties.

Saturday’s scores and scorers:

Gloucester 15-10 Black Lion

For Gloucester:
Penalties: Barton 5

For Black Lion:
Try: Matkava
Con: Matkava
Pen: Matkava

Teams:

Black Lion: 15 Luka Tsirekidze, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Tengiz Peranidze, 8 Ilia Spanderashvili, 7 Sandro Mamamtavrishvili, 6 Luka Ivanishvili, 5 Mikheil Babunashvili, 4 Nodar Cheishvili, 3 Giorgi Chkhartishvili, 2 Irakli Kvatadze, 1 Dato Abdushelishvili
Replacements: 16 Beka Mamrikashvili, 17 Aliko Shamilishvili, 18 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 19 Demuri Epremidze, 20 Giorgi Kervalishvili, 21 Giorgi Margalitadze, 22 Tornike Kakhoidze, 23 Miriani Modebadze

Gloucester: 15 Jacob Morris, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Louis Hillman-Cooper, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Barton, 9 Michael Young, 8 Ben Donnell, 7 Harry Taylor, 6 Freddie Thomas, 5 Cameron Jordan, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Jamal Ford-Robinson
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Arthur Clark, 20 Lewis Ludlow, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Josh Hathaway

Referee: Adam Jones
Assistant referees: Elgan Williams, Tom Spurrier
TMO: Sean Brickell

Castres 34-16 Scarlets

For Castres:
Tries: Raisuqe, Fernandez, Papalii, Dumora, Le Brun
Cons: Le Brun 3
Pen: Le Brun

For Scarlets:
Try: Lloyd
Con: Lloyd
Pens: Lloyd 3

Castres: 15 Julien Dumora, 14 Josaia Raisuqe, 13 Adrien Seguret, 12 Vilimoni Botitu, 11 Antoine Bouzerand, 10 Louis le Brun, 9 Jeremy Fernandez, 8 Abraham Papalii, 7 Baptiste Cope, 6 Romain Macurdy, 5 Tom Staniforth, 4 Florent Vanverberghe, 3 Aurelien Azar, 2 Gaetan Barlot, 1 Wayan de Benedittis
Replacements: 16 Pierre Colonna, 17 Antoine Tichit, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Leone Nakarawa, 20 Yann Peysson, 21 Gauthier Doubrere, 22 Pierre Popelin, 23 Theo Chabouni

Scarlets: 15 Tom Rogers, 14 Steff Evans, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 7 Teddy Leatherbarrow, 6 Ben Williams, 5 Jac Price, 4 Morgan Jones, 3 Joe Jones, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Steff Thomas
Replacements: 16 Shaun Evans, 17 Sam O’Connor, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Ed Scragg, 20 Iwan Shenton, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Ioan Nicholas

Referee: Nika Amashukeli
Assistant referees: Shota Tevzadze, Saba Abulashvili
TMO: Matteo Liperini

Ospreys 43-34 Benetton

For Ospreys:
Tries: Lake 4, Thomas, Morris
Cons: Williams 4, Walsh
Pen: Walsh

For Benetton:
Tries: Ratave 2, Negri, Odogwu
Cons: Umaga 4
Pens: Umaga 2

Ospreys: 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 George North, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 Rhys Davies, 5 Adam Beard, 4 James Fender, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Dewi Lake, 1. Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Harri Deaves, 20 Tristan Davies, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Jack Walsh, 23 Mat Protheroe

Benetton: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Paolo Odogwu, 13 Nacho Brex, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Onisi Ratave, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro, 6 Sebastian Negri da Ollegio, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Giosue Zilocchi, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1. Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Filippo Alongi, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 Toa Halafihi, 22 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 23 Leonardo Marin

Referee: Ludovic Cayre
Assistant referees: Pierre Bru, Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy
TMO: Patrick Dellac

Dragons 24-7 Oyonnax

For Dragons:
Tries: Hewitt, Davies, Dyer 2
Cons: Reed 2

For Oyonnax:
Try: Treilles
Con: Soulan

Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Sio Tomkinson, 12 Steff Hughes, 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Will Reed, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Harri Keddie, 6 Ryan Woodman, 5 George Nott, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Rhodri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Chris Coleman, 19 Sean Lonsdale, 20 George Young, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Harri Ackerman, 23 Corey Baldwin

Oyonnax: 15 Maxime Salles, 14 Souleymane Coulibaly, 13 Leo Treilles, 12 Pedro Bettencourt, 11 Joe Ravouvou, 10 Jules Soulan, 9 Charlie Cassang, 8 Loic Godener, 7 Hugo Hermet, 6 Filimo Taofifenua, 5 Steve Mafi, 4 Victor Lebas, 3 Irakli Mirtskhulava, 2 Manu Leiataua, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements: 16 Julien Ratajczak, 17 Adrien Bordenave, 18 Antonin Corso, 19 Ewan Johnson, 20 Ilan El Khattabi, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alexis Pisani, 23 Thibault Berthaud

Referee: Eoghan Cross
Assistant referee: Keane Davison, Tomas O’Sullivan
TMO: Mark Patton

Source @EPCR