Heineken Cup: Yachvili on song as Biarritz
send Gloucester crashing out
24 January
2009
Biarritz
continued their recent revival as they ended a generally
disappointing Heineken Cup campaign with an impressive 24-10
victory over Gloucester.
Not only
was it the first time this season Les Biarrots had managed
to record three successive victories, it was also,
incredibly, their first home win since mid-October.
The
English Guinness Premiership side had come in search of a
bonus-point win to keep their own European dreams alive, but
were blown completely off course during a frantic opening
quarter.
With the
wind and rain both lashing down it was the hosts who adapted
best as they ran in two tries – courtesy of Imanol
Harinordoquy and Dimitri Yachvili – en route to opening up a
rapid 17-0 advantage.
James
Simpson-Daniel swiftly responded for Gloucester, with Ollie
Berkley adding the conversion and a penalty to make it 17-10
after just 22 minutes, but their recovery largely stalled
thereinafter.
Iain
Balshaw’s dramatic dive earned home full-back Damien Traille
a 35th-minute yellow card, but even with
numerical advantage the visitors puzzlingly continued to
kick rather than play in hand.
True,
the conditions were tricky for running, but when you need
four tries and the win to avoid elimination then surely it
is worth having a go.
Any
hopes the visitors still harboured were then further dashed
when Julien Peyrelongue charged down Willie Walker’s
attempted kick to score Biarritz’s third try shortly after
the restart.
Yachvili
capped an impressive personal performance by kicking the
conversion to take his match haul to 14 points and that was
basically that. There was still time for Jerome Thion to
become the second home player to be sin-binned – this time
for punching – but Serge Blanco’s team will be buoyed by the
performance, and the result, as they seek to regain ground
and pride after a troubled first half to their season.
The
result also marginally improved the chances of Perpignan and
Clermont somehow squeezing through as it eliminated
Gloucester from the race to finish as one of the two best
runners-up.
Heineken Cup tables
Elsewhere, in the European Challenge Cup,
Mont-de-Marsan and Dax both lost, while Bourgoin ran in
eight tries in their 50-10 demolition of Bucuresti Oaks.
Mont-de-Marsan, currently bottom of Top 14, went down to
their sixth ECC defeat as they were beaten 24-3 at home by
Pool 5 leaders Saracens, while Dax were crushed 49-3
away to Irish side Connacht in Pool 1.
Bourgoin scrum-half Morgan Parra – who this week
confirmed he was joining Clermont next season – scored three
tries (and two conversions) after coming on as a substitute
with just 20 minutes to play against Bucuresti.
South
African centre Rudi Coetzee and starting scrum-half Mickael
Forest grabbed two tries apiece, while lock Albin Louchard
also got his name on the scoresheet.
The win lifted Bourgoin
into second place in Pool 3, but is still not enough to see
them through to the quarter-finals.
European Challenge Cup tables
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