Gloucester beaten by Top 14 newcomers Vannes in France
Gloucester’s hopes of a second successive EPCR Challenge Cup win disappeared without trace as they lost 43-19 to French club Vannes.
After beating Edinburgh in their tournament opener, the west country club conceded three early tries against the Top 14 newcomers at Stade de la Rabine.
It was 14-0 inside three minutes as Enzo Benmegal and Michael Ruru crossed, before Ruru claimed a quickfire second after centre Chris Harris opened Gloucester’s account through a try that George Barton converted.
Benmegal’s second try appeared to take Vannes out of reach, yet Gloucester narrowed the gap to just seven points after touchdowns from Gareth Blackmore and Jacob Morris, with Rory Taylor kicking one conversion.
But Vannes were in no mood to let things slip, and further tries by Karl Chateau and Cyril Blanchard underpinned an emphatic success.
The Ospreys, meanwhile, suffered their record European defeat as they were crushed 59-15 by French hosts Montpellier.
The Welsh region conceded nine tries, and could only manage touchdowns from Evardi Boshoff and Keelan Giles, with fly-half Dan Edwards adding a drop-goal and conversion.
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Everybody trying to copy Quade Cooper these days. Even Dan Carter tried it with a few sidesteps but failed miserably.
Looking forward to an article on Nucifora's latest move.
Go to commentsCompletely agree, some universities provide that age group but UVIC has recently relinquished that division to the clubs. That is our next step at CW. We now 3 women's divisions and that lower division provides that link for the graduating players that do not go on to University. It is a VERY important gap in the pathway. Alas many clubs think 2nd and 3rd division fill that gap, which is not really the right place for that age group. We will keep driving that agenda, it took almost 10 years to get local clubs to buyin to the female pathway but they are all moving that direction. It should really driven by the sub-unions initially and then nationally once the critical mass is there. We see massive dropoff of players that don't to UNI as the jump to Prem or Prem Reserve is too high. Your insight is bang on, now let's get all clubs thinking that way!
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