Dragons slay Pau in France
MATCH REPORT: Dragons secured a hard-earned win in the south of France on Friday as they recorded a 21-12 victory at Section Paloise in the Challenge Cup.
Ashton Hewitt and Max Clark crossed the whitewash in the victory.
Will Reed was the talisman for the Welsh region as he contributed eight points with the boot – a conversion and two penalties coming from the Dragons’ flyhalf.
Pau, in response, notched a pair of tries themselves, Daniel Ikpefan and Vincent Pinto the names on the scoresheet – Thibault Debaes and Alex Desperes contributed five points from the tee.
It was the hosts who got off to a fast start as they notched on eight minutes. Ikpefan latched onto his own kick over the Dragons’ defence to dot down for the first points of the night.
The visitors responded quickly, however, with Hewitt the try scorer as he took on a smart inside pass from the hands of Lewis Jones to breach the Pau line and level proceedings at 7-7.
Reed’s first penalty, before Max Clark powered over from close range, opened Dragons’ lead to 15-7 at the break.
The French side needed a quick start to the second half, and they duly delivered. Théo Attissogbe was the catalyst as he broke four tackles before offloading to Clovis Le Bail, who found try scorer Pinto.
Reed added his second penalty of the evening midway through the second period, setting up a nervy close to the game. A dramatic late ending was denied by the Welsh region when replacement JJ Hanrahan calmly extended the lead to nine points with just two minutes remaining.
Desperes did notch a late consolation for the hosts, but it was Dragons who took the spoils in the closely contested Pool B match-up.
Both sides remain in with a chance of advancing to the Round of 16 – Dragons host Lions next Sunday, while Section Paloise take on Cheetahs in Italy.
The scorers:
For Pau:
Tries: Ikpefan, Pinto
Con: Debaes
Pen: Desperes
For Dragons
Tries: Hewitt, Clark
Con: Reed
Pens: Reed 2, Hanrahan
Teams:
Section Paloise: 15 Théo Attissogbe, 14 Vincent Pinto, 13 Yvan Reilhac, 12 Nathan Decron, 11 Daniel Ikpefan, 10 Thibault Debaes, 9 Clovis Lebail (captain), 8 Brent Liufau,7 Thibaut Hamonou, 6 Sacha Zegueur, 5 Fabrice Metz, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Nicolas Corato, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1 Siegfried Fisiihoi
Replacements: 16 Youri Delhommel, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Siate Tokolahi, 19 Jimi Maximin, 20 Martin Puech, 21 Alexis Levron, 22 Axel Desperes, 23 Mathias Colombet.
Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Steff Hughes (captain), 12 Max Clark , 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Will Reed, 9 Lewis Jones, 8 Ollie Griffiths, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Sean Lonsdale, 5 George Nott, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Bradley Roberts, 1 Rob Evans.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Joshua Reynolds, 18 Luke Yendle, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Aaron Wainwright, 21 Che Hope, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Jack Dixon.
Referees: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Jonny Erskine (Ireland) & Keane Davison (Ireland)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)
Source: Challenge Cup