Saturday 17 January 2015 21:58, UK
Gloucester sealed their place in the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals with a solid 33-3 victory over Oyonnax at Kingsholm Stadium.
Gloucester needed only to avoid defeat to secure their place in the knockout rounds and top Pool Five, but they maintained their perfect group-stage record with a bonus-point win against the French side, who went into the game trailing the Cherry and Whites by seven points.
Gloucester scored five tries in total – with a penalty try and Billy Burns, Jonny May, Mark Atkinson and Dan Robson crossing the whitewash – to seal a comprehensive victory.
A strong first half helped the Newport Gwent Dragons secure top spot in Pool Three by beating Newcastle 40-29 at Kingston Park.
It was all but over by half-time as Newport ran in five tries in the first period – a penalty try accompanying scores from Tyler Morgan, Andrew Coombs, Hallam Amos and Rynard Landman – as the Welsh side raced into a 35-3 lead at the break.
Newcastle, who can now only reach the last eight by finishing as one of the three best runners-up, replied after the interval with tries from Chris Harris, William Welch, Andy Saull, and Juan Pablo Socino to earn themselves a losing bonus point, but it was too little, too late to rescue a result.
London Irish fought back from a seven-point deficit at half-time to beat Grenoble 43-41 and move to within a point of Pool One leaders Cardiff.
A seventh-minute penalty try after Alex Lewington's third-minute score gave the Irish a superb start, but Grenoble hit back with a brace of tries from Laurent Bouchet to take a 27-20 lead into the interval.
Tom Guest and Geoff Cross touched down to put the Irish into the lead after the break, but Grenoble wrestled back control of the game through tries from Louis Marrou and Julien Caminati.
There was, however, a late twist in the tale as Myles Dorrian and Andrew Fenby dotted down to hand victory to the Irish, whose director of rugby Brian Smith stepped down in midweek for family reasons.
Stade Francais kept up the pressure on Newcastle in Pool Three with a 47-12 win against Bucuresti in Paris to keep their chances of reaching the quarter-finals alive.
Jeremy Sinzelle, Jono Ross and Djibril Camara each scored a brace of tries as the Parisians picked up their a bonus-point victory.
Montana Iaone also crossed the whitewash for the hosts, while scrum-half Vincent Mallet kicked six of his side's seven tries.
The clash between Pool Five strugglers Zebre and Brive went the Italian side's way at the Stadio XXV Aprile.
A 56th-minute try from Kelly Haimona, a penalty try six minutes later and 13 points from the boot of Luciano Orquera gave Zebre a 23-13 win – only their second of the European campaign.
Brive, who have lost all five of their games, replied with a consolation try form Venione Voretamaya and eight points from Romain Sola.
Bayonne ended a run of three consecutive Challenge Cup defeats with a 14-0 win over La Rochelle.
The Basque side had not won since their opening triumph against Exeter – losing twice to Connacht and once to La Rochelle – but were too strong for their Top 14 counterparts, who are currently bottom of their domestic standings.
A first-half penalty try and a late score by Mathieu Visensang wrapped up victory for Patricio Noriega's side.
Tries from Tim Visser and Dougie Fife were not enough for Edinburgh to take a win away from Lyon as their hosts won in the dying minutes of the game courtesy of a drop-goal from Fabrice Estebanez.
Lyon scored two tries of their own but Sam Hidalgo-Clyne kept the visitors ahead in the game with his boot before Estebanez brought an end to Edinburgh's unbeaten Challenge Cup run with his late kick to win the game 21-19.
