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Challenge Cup: Scarlets and Benetton book home ties
By PA
Scarlets finished top in Pool B of the Heineken Challenge Cup with an impressive 20-7 victory over Bayonne.
Jonathan Davies, Joe Roberts and Steff Evans all scored tries, while Leigh Halfpenny struck a conversion and a penalty to ensure a fourth victory from four matches.
The Welsh side will now enjoy a home fixture in the round of 16, while Bayonne end a poor campaign without a single point.
Benetton finished behind Scarlets but ensured a home tie in the next stage following a bonus-point 35-32 win against Stade Francais.
A brace from Mattia Bellini, and additional tries by Tommaso Menoncello and Rhyno Smith, paved the way for the Italian side to edge out their French opponents in a closely fought contest at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo.
Cardiff failed to take top spot in Pool A following a 37-24 defeat at Brive.
The Welsh side had already secured a place in the last 16 prior to Saturday’s fixture, but knew a bonus-point victory would see them move ahead of Toulon and Glasgow Warriors.
However, Cardiff trailed 17-3 at the interval following tries from Motu Matu’u, Mathis Ferte and Kevin Fabien.
Arthur Bonneval extended Brive’s advantage in the second period, and despite James Botham, Jason Harries and Rhys Priestland responding, the visiting side were comprehensively beaten.
Newcastle ended their campaign with a 35-21 victory over Connacht at Kingston Park.
Following three straight defeats in Pool A, Michael Young, Matias Orlando, Mateo Carreras, Josh Barton and Pete Lucock all scored tries to help restore some pride.
Connacht had already booked their spot in the knockout stages, but the defeat means they will miss out on home advantage in the round of 16.
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That's really stupidly pedantic. Let's say the gods had smiled on us, and we were playing Ireland in Belfast on this trip. Then you'd be happy to accept it as a tour of the UK. But they're not going to Australia, or Peru, or the Philippines, they're going to the UK. If they had a match in Paris it would be fair to call it the "end-of-year European tour". I think your issue has less to do with the definition of the United Kingdom, and is more about what is meant by the word "tour". By your definition of the word, a road trip starting in Marseilles, tootling through the Massif Central and cruising down to pop in at La Rochelle, then heading north to Cherbourg, moving along the coast to imagine what it was like on the beach at Dunkirk, cutting east to Strasbourg and ending in Lyon cannot be called a "tour of France" because there's no visit to St. Tropez, or the Louvre, or Martinique in the Caribbean.
Go to commentsJust thought for a moment you might have gathered some commonsense from a southerner or a NZer and shut up. But no, idiots aren't smart enough to realise they are idiots.
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