Glasgow set up quarterfinal date with Lions
CHALLENGE CUP WRAP: Connacht exited the Challenge Cup at the Round of 16 stage following a 41-19 defeat at the hands of Benetton at the Stadio Comunale di Mongio on Saturday.
Conor Oliver and John Porch had given the Irish province a 12-0 lead early in the contest before their Italian hosts ran rampant with six tries – Marcus Watson (2), Edouardo Padavoni (2), Rhyno Smith and Federico Ruzza crossing the whitewash.
Wing Porch did add a consolation third for Connacht midway through the second-half, but it is Benetton who advance to the quarter-finals on the back of a breathtaking performance.
Connacht opened the scoring on 13 minutes, a line break from Porch set up the move as the visitors rattled through the phases, building pressure on the Benetton defense. Flank Oliver was the man to breach the defense to cross in the corner.
A second try followed four minutes later as the Irish province sustained a period of territorial domination.
Scrum-half Caolin Blade broke the line before offloading to Porch who dotted down, David Hackshaw adding the extras to give the visitors a 12-0 lead.
Benetton replied with a try of their own midway through the first-half. Wing Watson rushed on to a wonderful pass from Tommaso Menoncello to score from just outside the Connacht 22 – Jacob Umaga notching the extras, the first of four conversions for the fly-half.
The Italians took the lead with their second try of the contest. Benetton swiftly moved the ball from left to right on the back of a penalty advantage, allowing fullback Smith to power through a would-be tackler and across the whitewash.
A third try followed five minutes before the interval. The hosts, dominating possession, advanced deep into Connacht territory and switched play to the right flank, wing Padovani finishing well.
Padovani was back on the scoresheet just six minutes into the second-half – scoring his second try of the afternoon and Benetton’s fourth – as the hosts opened their lead to 26-12.
Seven minutes later the lead was extended once more, Watson adding his second try as the Italians romped towards the quarter-finals.
The Irish province would not give up the ghost, however, and notched their third try as Porch crossed the whitewash for his second try following a break by Mack Hanson, reducing arrears to 33-19.
The hope lasted a mere five minutes as Ruzza dotted down for Benetton’s sixth try of the contest just after the hour mark.
*Challenge Cup holders Lyon had to come from behind twice to win 41-24 at Stade Français Paris and earn a quarter-final berth on Saturday afternoon
They will face another TOP 14 side in RC Toulon next weekend as they continue a quest for a second successive title.
Stade Français were in front at the break thanks to a penalty try and a Joris Segonds penalty, but a hat-trick of penalties from Lima Sopoaga kept Lyon in touch.
And they turned it round in the second half courtesy of a penalty try, a Baptiste Couilloud cross, converted by Sopoaga.
Stade Français edged in front again courtesy of Segonds’s boot, but Lyon once again hit back as Sopoaga slotted two more penalties in quick succession.
And Guillaume Marchand and Ethan Dumortier both followed up with late tries to add further gloss to the scoreline and keep their cup defence alive.
*Five tries from Johnny Matthews steered a rampant Glasgow Warriors into their second successive Challenge Cup quarter-final after defeating Dragons 73-33 at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday.
Hooker Matthews is the first man to score five tries in one match for Glasgow and helped them earn a quarter-final at home to Emirates Lions next weekend.
Matthews crossed for a first-half quadruple after George Horne’s early score to put the hosts in front at the break, with Dragons down to 14 just after the half-hour mark due to a high tackle from Aki Seiuli.
Dragons kept plugging away, though, with tries from Jordan Williams, Rio Dyer and Jared Rosser keeping them within 14 points at the break.
But Glasgow and Matthews were simply unstoppable, as he added another before George Turner and then Cole Forbes notched their seventh and eighth scores.
Huw Jones scored the ninth on the hour, with Kyle Steyn crossing for the tenth eight minutes from time, and then the 11th in the closing seconds.
*Cardiff reached the Challenge Cup quarter-finals in dramatic fashion as they edged Sale Sharks 28-27 in a thrilling contest at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday night.
The Welsh region will travel to Treviso to play Benetton Rugby next Saturday after the Italian side beat Connacht Rugby earlier in the day.
The two sides were evenly matched over the opening half an hour, with Cardiff fly-half Jarrod Evans giving his side the lead from the tee before hooker Akker van der Merwe hit back with a try for Sale, converted by George Ford, who would end with a match haul of 12 points.
Fly-half Ford extended Sale’s lead with a long-range penalty on 29 minutes, but Cardiff, aided by their dominant scrum, took control of the contest as they crossed for three unanswered tries.
Prop Corey Domachowski powered over before wing Josh Adams finished off two brilliantly-worked scores, Sale prop Nick Schoner heading to the sin bin for a scrum infringement moments prior to the latter effort on the stroke of half-time.
Full-back Rhys Priestland extended Cardiff’s advantage with a penalty shortly after the break as their scrum dominance continued, but Sale would string together their best move of the game to send wing Thomas Roebuck over on 51 minutes.
And Sale would continue to chip away at Cardiff’s lead with two Ford penalties, and when replacement hooker Ewan Ashman burrowed over from close range, the England international’s conversion put the visitors in front.
But Evans was on hand to slot a 71st minute penalty as Cardiff rallied, and roared on by a boisterous home crowd, they clung on for a brilliant victory.
All Saturdays' results and scores:
Benetton 49-19 Connacht
For Benetton:
Tries: Watson 2, Smith, Padovanie 2, Ruzza
Cons: Umaga 4
Pen: Umaga
For Connacht
Tries: Oliver, Porch 2
Cons: Hawkshaw, Forde
Teams:
Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Nacho Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Marcus Watson, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (captain), 8 Henry Stowers, 7 Michele Lamaro,6 Seb Negri Da Oleggio, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements: 16 Siua Maile, 17 Thomas Augustin Gallo, 18 Filippo Alongi, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Izekor, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Tomas Albornoz
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 John Porch, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Mack Hansen, 10 David Hawkshaw, 9 Caolin Blade (captain), 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Niall Murray, 4 Leva Fifita, 3 Jack Aungier, 2 David Heffernan, 1 Peter Dooley
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney Martin, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Oisin Dowling, 20 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Cathal Forde, 23 Shane Jennings
Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)
Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace (England) & Gareth Holsgrove (England)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)
Stade Francais Paris 24-41 Lyon
The scorers:
For Stade Francais:
Try: Dachary
Con: Segonds
Pens: Segons 4
For Lyon:
Tries: Couilloud, Marchand, Dumortier
Cons: Sopoaga 2
Pens: Sopoaga 5
Teams:
Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Nacho Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Marcus Watson, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (captain), 8 Henry Stowers, 7 Michele Lamaro,6 Seb Negri Da Oleggio, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements: 16 Siua Maile, 17 Thomas Augustin Gallo, 18 Filippo Alongi, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Izekor, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Tomas Albornoz
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 John Porch, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Mack Hansen, 10 David Hawkshaw, 9 Caolin Blade (captain), 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Niall Murray, 4 Leva Fifita, 3 Jack Aungier, 2 David Heffernan, 1 Peter Dooley
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney Martin, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Oisin Dowling, 20 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Cathal Forde, 23 Shane Jennings
Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)
Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace (England) & Gareth Holsgrove (England)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)
Glasgow Warriors 73-33 Dragons
The scorers:
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Horne, Matthews 5, Turner, Forbes, Jones, Steyn 2
Cons: Horne 8, Miotti
For Dragons:
Tries: Williams, Dyer, Rosser, Dee 2
Cons: Reed: 4
Teams:
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Kyle Steyn (captain), 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Cole Forbes, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Sione Vailanu, 6 Rory Darge, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Lewis Bean, 21 Ryan Wilson, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Tom Jordan
Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Steff Hughes, 12 Max Clark, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Will Reed, 9 Rhodri Williams (captain), 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 George Nott, 4 Ben Carter, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Bradley Roberts, 1 Aki Seiuli
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Huw Taylor, 20 Sean Lonsdale, 21 Ben Fry, 22 Lewis Jones, 23 Ioan Davies
Referees: Tual Trainini (France)
Assistant Referees: Adrien Marbot (France) & Benoit Rousselet (France)
TMO: Eric Briquet-Campin (France)
Cardiff 28-27 Sale Sharks
The scorers:
For Cardiff:
Tries: Domachowski, Adams 2
Cons: Evans 2
Pens: Evans 2, Priestland
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Van der Merwe, Roebuck, Ashman
Cons: Ford 3
Pens: Ford 2
Teams:
Cardiff: 15 Rhys Priestland, 14 Owen Lane, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Max Llewellyn, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 James Botham, 6 Josh Turnbull (captain), 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Lopeti Timani, 3 Kieran Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Corey Domachowski
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Thomas Young, 21 James Ratti, 22 Lloyd Williams, 23 Ben Thomas
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Jono Ross, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Jean-Luc du Preez, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Raffi Quirke, 22 Sam James, 23 Arron Reed
Referee: Luc Ramos (France)
Assistant referees: Evan Urruzmendi (France) & Kevin Bralley (France)
TMO: Patrick Dellac (France)