European Rugby Challenge Cup round-up: Gloucester and Edinburgh progress

European Rugby Challenge Cup results

Friday January 12

Pool 3

• Agen 24-45 Gloucester

Pool 4

• Edinburgh 34-33 Stade Francais

Saturday January 13

Pool 1

• Bordeaux Begles 36-28 Dragons

Pool 2

• Sale 15-13 Lyon

Pool 3

• Section Paloise 42-14 Zebre

Pool 4

• London Irish 47-17 Krasny Yar

Pool 5

• Worcester 24-24 Connacht
• Oyonnax 19-29 Brive

Sunday January 14

Pool 1

• Newcastle 64-7 Enisei-STM

Pool 2

• Cardiff 18-13 Toulouse

European Rugby Challenge Cup round-up

Cardiff Blues secured a quarter-final place in the European Rugby Challenge Cup with an 18-13 win over Toulouse.

Jarrod Evans kicked Cardiff into an early lead before Cheslin Kolbe crossed first for the French side after 24 minutes, but just six minutes later Cardiff retook the lead as Tomos Williams went over.

A Thomas Ramos drop goal on the stroke of half-time sent the sides in level, and Toulouse led 13-10 when Ramos repeated the trick 10 minutes after the break.

However, good work by Alex Cuthbert set-up a 58th minute try for Gareth Anscombe, who then kicked a penalty with three minutes remaining.

The win guarantees the Blues top spot in Pool 2, although they are not yet assured of a home quarter-final.

Pool 1 winners Newcastle will be at home in the last eight after they thrashed Enisei-STM 64-7, with Adam Radwan grabbing a hat-trick as the Falcons ran in 10 tries.

Tom Penny went over following a lineout after just 44 seconds, with Joel Hodgson's solo effort and scores from Simon Uzokwe and Glen Young securing a bonus point before the break.

Hodgson and Radwan crossed after the break, with the latter adding a second after a length-of-the-field move before Zach Kibirige added an eighth Newcastle try.

Valery Morozov pulled one back for the Russians with 10 minutes left, with Iurii Kushnarev converting.

Radwan completed his hat-trick with three minutes left and Ryan Burrows took Newcastle's try count into double figures in the closing seconds.

Connacht booked their place in the quarter-finals after a 24-24 draw with Worcester.

A second-half fightback helped the visitors preserve their unbeaten run in Pool Five after the draw against the Aviva Premiership side at Sixways.

The Irish province did lose their 100 per cent record but they still hold a six-point advantage over the Warriors.

Tries from Perry Humphreys and Sam Lewis and a conversion from Chris Pennell saw Worcester race into a 12-0 lead just four minutes into the game.

Connacht responded with tries from John Muldoon and Niyi Adeolokun, while further scores from Humphreys and Josh Adams sent the Warriors into the break 24-14 up.

But the Guinness PRO14 side secured a share of the spoils with a second-half try from Tiernan O'Halloran and a penalty and conversion from Craig Ronaldson.

Brive moved to within three points of Worcester following a 29-19 bonus-point triumph over Top 14 rivals Oyonnax at the Stade Charles Mathon.

Alfi Mafi, Felix Le Bourhis, Seremaia Burotu and Benito Masilevu all crossed for the visitors, with Nicolas Bezy converting three of the scores and adding a penalty.

Julien Andy kicked four penalties for the hosts, whose try came from replacement back Jose Lima in the closing stages.

Theo Brophy-Clews ran in four tries to lead London Irish to a 47-17 Pool Four victory over Krasny Yar at the Madejski Stadium.

Giorgi Pruidze crossed for a try and Lasha Malaghuradze converted and added a penalty to give the visitors a 10-7 half-time advantage, Ben Loader scoring a try in response for the Exiles.

But after the break it was a different story as Brophy-Clews scored his tries and replacements Lovejoy Chawatama and Joe Cokanasiga also went over, with Jacob Atkins slotting over four conversions and Thomas Bell another to add to one in the first half.

Andrei Ostrikov and Josh Beaumont went over to help Sale to a narrow 15-13 Pool Two win over Lyon - a result which saw the Sharks leapfrog Lyon into second place in the group.

The Pau v Zebre clash went to form in Pool Three, with leaders Pau beating the bottom team 42-14.

Jale Vatubua, Laurent Bouchet, Masalosalo Tutaia, Peter Saili and Frank Halai all crossed for the hosts. Clovis Lebail converted all of them and the scoring was completed by a penalty try.

Giovanni Locata crossed twice for the Italian side. with Guglielmo Palazzani converting both scores.

Pau, who moved back above Gloucester with the win, have also qualified for last eight as they - like the English side - are guaranteed to be one of the three best second-placed teams at least.

In Pool One, Newport Gwent Dragons are now five points behind second-placed Bordeaux-Begles after losing 36-28 away to the French outfit.

The Dragons led 23-15 in the 52nd minute when Sarel Pretorius crossed, adding to James Benjamin's first-half try, and Dorian Jones converted.

But the hosts were strong thereafter as Fa'asiu Fuatai went over and Geoffrey Cros claimed a brace with Matthieu Jalibert converting each time. Jalibert and Blair Connor had earlier crossed for Bordeaux-Begles.

Carl Meyer scored a late try for the visitors, with Jones missing his subsequent kick.

Gloucester and Edinburgh became the first teams to secure their spots in the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals after contrasting wins over French sides on Friday night.

In the early kick-off, Gloucester ran in six tries as they recorded a bonus-point 45-24 victory over Agen to move ahead of Pau to the head of Pool Three.

Pau will reclaim first place if, as expected, they beat rock-bottom Zebre on Saturday and then it will be a showdown between them and Gloucester for top spot at Kingsholm next Friday.

However, Gloucester will now go into that match with a knock-out berth already assured, thanks to Edinburgh's thrilling 34-33 win over Stade Francais at BT Murrayfield in the evening's late game.

That result not only saw Edinburgh secure a home quarter-final, thanks to their 100 per cent record after five matches in Group Four, but also meant Gloucester are sure to finish as a best runner-up at least.

Edinburgh only led 12-6 at half-time - four Sam Hidalgo-Clyne penalties cancelling out two from Jules Plisson - but the game exploded into life in the second period with the two teams scoring six tries between them.

Stade Francais looked to have clinched victory when Giorgi Melikidze's try saw them leading 33-27 heading into the final three minutes, but Junior Rasolea latched on to Damien Hoyland's kick to touch down and give Edinburgh a lifeline and Blair Kinghorn's subsequent conversion earned the hosts a dramatic one-point win.

Hamish Watson and Jaco van der Walt had earlier crossed for Richard Cockerill's men with Sekou Macalou and Waisea Vuidarvuwalu notching for Stade.

Gloucester earlier boosted their hopes of pipping Pau to top spot with a convincing win over Agen - although a quarter-final was not yet guaranteed when the final whistle went at Stade Armandie.

Henry Purdy crossed twice in the opening 10 minutes to put the Cherry and Whites 14-0 up and further converted tries from Callum Braley and Jason Woodward saw Gloucester extend their lead to 28-5 by half-time, while wrapping up a bonus point in the process.

Mark Atkinson's try immediately after the restart further emphasised Gloucester's dominance and, although Agen rallied through scores from Johann Sadie and Akapusi Qera to add to Marco Kotze's first-half effort, the English side never looked in serious danger of letting the match slip away.

They finished off Agen's slim hopes with a 68th-minute try from captain Ed Slater - influential Wales fly-half Owen Williams again adding the extras with his sixth conversion - before Jessy Jegerlhener earned Agen a bonus point of their own with his side's fourth try.