European Challenge Cup round-up: Brive and Bayonne battle
for French pride
20
October 2008
French
misery continued in the European Challenge Cup with only two
out of seven sides victorious on the second weekend –
mirroring the success rate of the opening round- and one of
those was from an all Top14 clash between Mont-de-Marsan and
Bayonne.
Bayonne
won that one 26-8, but there were heavy defeats for
Montpellier and Toulon (again), with only Brive securing a
win against foreign opposition with their 36-22 victory over
Newcastle Falcons.
Brive’s
ex-Tigers fly-half Andy Goode racked up 21 points as Les
Correziens got their show back on track in Pool 4 (see
report), but Montpellier saw red as they were
thrashed 51-7 by Northampton Saints in Pool 2.
Captain
Julien Tomas and Fabien Rofes were both sent off as the
English side, which dispatched Toulon 56-3 last week, ran in
six tries as they breached half a century of points again.
Montpellier rested a number of first team regulars and paid
the price at Franklin Gardens with the Guinness Premiership
side opening the scoring when Scott Gray went over inside
the first minute.
Gancalo
Uva got a try back for the visitors but Steven Myler’s boot
and a Joe Ansbro try extended the lead to 20-7 before Tomas
was sent-off for punching on the half hour.
The home
side’s dominance resulted in a penalty try before the
interval and there were further scores for Chris Ashton and
Soane Tonga’uiha before Montpellier hooker Rofes was
sent-off for stamping.
His
replacement Joan Caudullo followed with a yellow as the
French side ended with just 12 men on the pitch, allowing
Paul Diggin to stroll over for try number six as the rout
was completed.
The
other match in Pool 2 saw Toulon humbled again, this time
losing 39-11 in Bristol as Tana Umaga’s side continued their
European travails.
The fact
that it was Bristol’s first win of any sort in 14 matches
will hardly ease the Toulon pain, as the pressure continues
to mount on Umaga.
After
admitting to being surprised by Northampton’s ferocity last
week he fielded a considerably stronger team on Saturday,
but not even the presence of Jerry Collins as captain could
not prevent another defeat.
Bayonne’s away win at Mont-de-Marsan in Pool 5 featured
second-half tries from Nicolas Laffite and Craig Gower, with
Manny Edmonds adding three penalties.
Les
Montois, bottom of the table in Top 14, only had a Frederic
Urruty penalty to show for their efforts until Simon
Ternisien’s last-minute try.
Elsewhere, a last-minute try by Warren Spragg condemned
Bourgoin to 28-29 home defeat by Petrarca Padova in Pool 3,
and Dax went down 24-11 away to Rugby Rovigo in Pool 1.
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